Creative Colore Still Life

This is an observational drawing of a pencil sharpener, to which I added bright and unrealistic colors. I used graphite and charcoal colored pencil for my media.

To create this piece I first sketched the outlines of the pencil sharpener in graphite. I then chose specific color schemes for different areas of the surface. I bunished around the darker parts and colored more lightly and with lighter colors in places where light reflected off of the sharpener. Color was the most important element of this piece because it was specific to the assignment. The way that I chose to play with colors was by coloring the least colorful areas with the brightest colors and the most colorful areas with the dullest color. For example, I colored the black side of the sharpener red and orange and used grey for the colorful shavings. This piece evolved in that I was considering drawing the triangular holes that dot the middle green surface on the actual sharpener. I decided against it because I thought it would take away from the uniformity that had developed in the piece.

I chose this object for the subject of this observational piece because of its sleek and smooth appearance and also because it has some complexity in the inner shapes. This piece and project relate to my life in that I like adding color, or exciting elements to many things in my life, outside art class. I think this piece could be stronger if I had left open white space on the transparent plastic part to show the reflection of the light and make appear transparent. A shadow at the bottom would also help put the sharpener in space. The most challenging part of creating this piece was depicting the highlights and making them look realistic. I am most proud of my shading, values and color transitions, which I think all came out looking smooth. This piece illustrates my strength as an artist in my observational drawing skills and weakness in lack of attention to elements of detail that help add realism.