Mixed Media Drawing

Artist Statement:

For this unit, the main focus that I had was shading with charcoal. I hoped to achieve a realistic piece through this technique. I also hoped to use ink to elevate my piece and increase the contrast. Overall, my main goal was to create a realistic piece.

My final piece was made with charcoal and ink on pastel paper. I used both charcoal sticks and charcoal pencils. I started by printing my photograph and creating a grid for that and the pastel paper. I then went through each box, replicating my photograph to the best of my ability. I started with a loose sketch of things in that box, and then I used different techniques to create the shading that I wanted. I blended with tortillions to create shades of gray. I added more white to make an area whiter and did the same with black.  When I had mostly completed the piece, I went in with an ink pen to darken the areas I wanted to highlight. I also went in with white and black charcoal for details. 

When I was creating the final drawing, I relied on my photograph and the grids I created. The reasoning behind a lot of the choices I made was to create a realistic piece and to add lots of value. I chose to keep the floorboards in my piece to create an interesting background. As I stated earlier, I went in with an ink pen so that I could push the contrast and add more value to the piece. I mainly made the choices that I made so that the piece looked realistic.