observational black and white mini figure

I created a drawing of a toy turtles shell. It was between the two legs of the turtle. I created this drawing using an eraser, a tortillon, and a variety of graphite pencils. This project used a lot of value to define each part of the shell. I also lifted highlights using my eraser to create a broader value scale. The shell pieces were also their own shape, each had a slightly hexagonal shape made out of raised areas of shell.

This artwork was dead center of my border. It filled the entire space of my border which didn’t allow me much room to include any compositional techniques. The bottom of the shell does however create a horizon line on the paper. I kept changing how much of the shell was being shown. I started out with only about three large pieces of shell showing and no sign of the legs of the turtle. I then zoomed out a little and added the beginnings of both legs.

I chose the turtle because of its interesting textures. I wanted something that would have other interesting features besides its face and head and the turtle shell gave me that. I have always liked turtles and this turtle (although it was quite possibly a tortoise) drew me in because of its shell. To improve this artwork I would probably change the background. Currently it is just a simple gray fade which looks kind of boring. To change this I might add a pattern or color to the background.