Mixed Media Drawing

We were introduced to this unit by drawing small value grids and spheres using charcoal and ink. To begin my mixed media drawings, I had to find a black and white photo on my phone or laptop that would have enough contrast (pushing darks to lights) to work for the charcoal we would be using. Once I found one I liked, I changed it's dimensions to 8x10 and then printed it out. I then draw a grid over it to match the one I drew on a larger piece of drawing paper. I then used a 2B pencil to make a light sketch of my drawing over the larger paper so I could get the proportions right before starting the charcoal. Once I finished this, I began in the upper-left corner of the page to prevent smudges, working my way clockwise around. I used a variety of charcoal including charcoal pencil, vine charcoal, regular charcoal, dark charcoal, a shammy, charcoal eraser, an eraser pencil, and a little bit of regular pencil. I did not however end up using ink as I didn't think it would benefit my drawing.

In my art piece I used elements of value to create principles of contrast, emphasis, and balance. To create contrast I pushed my values to complete black and complete white. I emphasized some places by strategically including these black and white areas. To balance the drawing I made sure to include pushes to black evenly throughout the page instead of having it concentrated and unbalanced on one side.

I chose to make a drawing of my half sister from a years or so ago. I am proudest of the shine of the white on the ribbon in her hair and on her dress, as well as the shadows on her dress. I am also proud of the realistic way the bricks turned out. I struggles at first to prevent smudging areas of the charcoal, but eventually figured out a way to hold my hand that didn't leave black streaks across my page.