Black and White Observational Animal

This is an observational drawing of an elephant figurine that I created with graphite on paper, with a pattern of circles in the background. To start this piece I sketched the major contours of the elephant figurine in hard graphite. I then sketched all of the wrinkles that I saw before moving on to the shading. I ended up doing a few full layers of shading to attain a full range of value. After shading the whole surface, I used a tortillon to blend the graphite, while adding darker values in pencil where needed. Finally, I used a stencil to draw the circle pattern in the background, and shaded the spaces in between circles in soft graphite. I chose to draw the elephant figurine because I found the wrinkles if the skin and the long trunk interesting, visually complex, and intriguing.

For the composition, I applied the rule of thirds by putting the elephant off the the left side of the paper. I also created a degree of artificial selective focus by giving the elephant a lot of detail and making the background out of simple shapes. This project evolved in that I originally had the first piece at the top of the page as my finished composition. I later decided to add the background to give a better sense of space for the elephant. The dark spaces in between the circles also serve to create more value contrast for the piece as a whole.

I was drawn to the elephant figurine partially because I found the face very expressive. I tried to replicate this in my drawing and I think that I accurately depicted the drawn-out, sad looking features of the eye and mouth. This piece relates to my life in that I am interested in and care about wildlife. I think that depicting any type of life in art can be powerful because of the emotion that can be expressed, as I think is true of this drawing. I think this piece could be stronger if I had been able to make the three dimensional shapes of the elephant's head more realistic. I was able to show the bulge around the eye well, but the lack of proper highlights makes the rest look relatively flat.