Given that it was my first time using charcoal, I decided to use create this sketch using more simplistic lines. My plan initially was to get an overall feel of the medium and what techniques worked best while using it. I began by outlining the positions of each of the objects. I decided to use compressed charcoal to create the basic form of the objects, however this decision quickly proved to be a mistake. For one, once a mark is made by the charcoal, it is very difficult to erase from the paper. The perspective of the objects in this sketch ended up being off and surrounded by faint smudges from my attempts to erase it. The driftwood in the front was especially irritating with this medium as the actual object's form was paler around the edges. When I decided to experiment briefly with shading this sketch, I was unable to do very much with the driftwood as a result of it's thick dark lines. However, this sketch did help with realizing how not to use the medium.
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QUICK DISCLAIMER: The notations I made were difficult to capture on camera as I wrote in pencil, which was less distracting for me while drawing and less harmful on the paper. (I tested out writing in pen and marker on another piece of newsprint and accidentally ripped the paper several times.) The bold text below and the captions are what it's supposed to read. I apologize for any inconvenience and hope this helps.
As I went along sketching, I decided to make quick notes as I went along. Here I wrote "String needed?" during my attempt at illustrating the positioning of the dice. From where I was standing, the string was tucked away out of view. However, I questioned whether I should attempt to move the string so that it was visible. I decided against it as doing so would impact the overall imagery in my sketches and possibly skewer the positioning of the objects, meaning I'd have to start over. For the sake of my sanity, I decided against this action. |
Here I made notes reading (from the top) "Better pattern (areas in middle are darker)" and "Smooth out shadow". Once again, my line work was very thin as a result my cautious approach with using the compressed charcoal. It was also due to my realization that vine charcoal would be a better medium to outline the objects' positioning. Sketching out the objects in this position also helped me realize that the driftwood shouldn't be in the front of the piece as the shape of it made it difficult to lay flat, therefore making the perspective of the piece appear awkward and tilted.
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For my second sketch, I decided to focus mostly on shading, hence why the objects are much darker than in the previous sketch. I also altered the position of the objects slightly, placing the bottle in the bowl rather than the fuzzy dice. I also included the string from the dice as well to see if it added anything interesting the piece. The dice and wood perspectives look neater in this sketch compared to the previous one, however the bottle, though shaded better, looks slightly squished. I attempted to focus more on the dice on this sketch as previously I had put more effort into the bottle. I'm actually very glad that I did this as I was able to better understand the shape and perspective of the dice. I enjoyed including the string hanging loosely from the top dice as I had felt that the dice in the first sketch just resembled overgrown playing dice. Regretfully, I had also decided to once again use compressed charcoal to draw the objects' outlines rather than vine, which further caused their dark appearances.
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Taking the idea from my previous sketch, I continued to take notes on different sections of my piece. For this one here, I noted "Good string position, maybe make three dimensional next time" and "Use string on final". For my second sketch, I briefly added in sort of a vague outline of a string to experiment with how it would look. This helped me realize I wanted to include the string in my final, which I made sure to note for my next sketch in order to determine how to best arrange it. I liked how I drew the string so that it was just a thin black line, however the literal string was white with thickness, so I knew I had to replicate that in my final.
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I noticed that regarding the dice, I often constructed the form using harsher lines, hence my note "Make edges softer". This is because the shape of the dice was rounded and softer appearing. In terms of drawing the dice later on, I realized that it was during my completion of this sketch that I realized how much I struggled with the dice. My previous sketch just consisted of me learning the best way to use to use the medium whilst creating a basic outline of the objects. Here I began to try to make the figures appear somewhat decent by better drawing their shapes and smoothing out the darkened areas made by the compressed charcoal. In regards to the difficulty the dice possessed, it was here I realized how difficult drawing cubic objects is. The perspective of the dice here is very unbalanced and awkward, which frustrated me into just leaving it and hoping the problem would not be carried into my third sketch or final piece, which sadly was wishful thinking.
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For my third and final sketch, I decided to completely change up the positions of the present objects (though the bottle still remained on the left). I separated the dice so one was perched in the bowl behind the wood while the other was placed slightly in front. I was curious about how objects would look behind the bottle given it's translucent property. This idea ended up being transferred into my final piece as I liked how it turned out in this sketch. I also altered the positioning of the dice as I was curious about whether they would work better separated or together. I also attempted to add in more detail to the string as well. Admittedly, this sketch was my favorite out of the three as I already had experience with the other two sketches to understand how to use the medium and mimic real-life objects. This was also the only sketch I did whose outline of each object was done with vine charcoal rather than compressed. Admittedly, having not had prior experience with this material was difficult as I should've incorporated it into my previous two sketches. However, it was much better to outline with and also helped this sketch look a little nicer.
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I was able to make quite a few notes for this sketch, these reading "Smoother line work here (less harsh angles)" "Shadow possibly not needed" and "Thinner outline". As previously mentioned, this was the only sketch I did by starting with vine charcoal and adding in compressed charcoal gradually. However, that did not stop me from abusing the compressed charcoal when a section was darker than the rest. Here I noted to thin the outline as to remind myself not to bring this desire to darken every outline into my final. I also added in a shadow on the left to experiment with shadow positioning, something I had briefly done in previously.
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Taking inspiration from my second process sketch, I attempted to draw the string in a different position and with a more realistic thickness. Here I write "Nice idea to make string thicker" and "Perhaps darken". I had difficulty mimicking the shape of the string on the actual pair of dice, but I was glad I got the basic idea on how to create it. In my second note, I referenced the shadow surrounding the base of the die. I mentioned how in this sketch I was attempting to focus on areas I previously hadn't, such as shadows and better constructing the form of each object. I personally think I went a bit overboard with adding shadows as a result, meaning my comment to darken one is irrelevant.
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1.) The first, and strangely the longest step, was trying to find a suitable drawing surface for my final. For my sketches, I found a smooth board with similar dimensions to the newsprint and propped it up against a chair with a dictionary for support. However, the dimensions of the Bristol paper were much larger than the newsprint, which meant I had to find an acceptable surface. I ended up finding a packaged poster of the required dimensions that worked well, which I propped up on a chair with the dictionary for support. I moved the whole lot so that it was about a foot to the left of the table with my objects, and about two feet in front of it as well.
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2) Once this was established, I began to outline the basic forms of each object using
vine charcoal. I decided to draw center to left, starting with the bowl and adding lines to indicate the place of the bottle as well as their corresponding shadows. The figure shown here acted as a placeholder, later to be thoroughly edited after I went back in with compressed charcoal. |
3. From there, I was able to lay out the basic forms of the other figures such as the bottle, and the dice. I also drew in a wavy line in the background to indicate the position of the driftwood. For the bottle, I decided to draw in a horizontal line connecting the two sides of the bottle in order to make the sides of the bottle proportional. Previously, in my sketches, I struggled with making the bottle even, so I decided to add something to help me with that. I also added in the bowl's rim and outlined where the darkest and lightest parts were.
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4. I then began to add in more detail to the figures and neaten the figures. I added in lines inside of the bottle to represent the placement of the driftwood. Something to note here was that the top dice ended up being erased as its perspective per side was very off. However, everything else stayed basically the same. I then began to go back in with compressed charcoal, which is shown here with the bowl, it's outline darker compared to how it was previously. I proceeded to shade the rest of the figures first, though instead of starting with the bowl as I had done previously, I instead started the bottle first. I ended up having to widen the form slightly in order to perfect the dimensions of the bottle and make the shape similar to the real object.
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