B&W Figure

For this project we continued using the figurines, but instead of blind contour we were now doing realistic paintings in black and white. I used ink in order to paint my figure and gather different tone variations. The figure I chose to paint was an alpaca. First I drew a circle for my border and then drew the outline of my alpaca. After I got it to the shape I wanted, I went in and outlined the alpaca with ink and created the texture of the fur using lines. Then I went in with different shades of black-to-gray in oder to create shadows. I got these different shades by mixing the black water color with varying amounts of water to dilute it. I painted in the darker spots of fur and shade on his face.

Because we were only working in black and white, it was important for me to get a great range of values. This made the piece stand out more instead of it being only two, plan values on the paper. The outlines were important as the pull the alpaca out from the background gray tones. They also provide the texture of the alpaca fur and the way the hair is moving. The sharp outlines of the alpaca provide a hard focus while the background is a blurry, blended space.

I definitely didn't like doing this piece because of the I started out. I should have done the background first, but but I did the outlining first. Then when I went to color everything in it all blended together and the lines got messy and blurred.