Charcoal Drawing

For this project, I used a couple of different materials. Apart from the light brown paper I drew on, I used a two charcoal pencils, one in white and one in black, a HB pencil to sketch the outlines, and quite a few tortillions to blend everything. At first, I found a picture with an interesting composition, printed it out, and gridded it. After having added the correct border to my final paper, I gridded it with the same scale used on the picture. I sketched the basic outline of my picture, and began drawing with the charcoal from left to right. This way, I wouldn't smudge the work I had already done. I blended everything with the tortillion to get a smooth appearance, which was difficult as I also wanted clean and distinct lines. As I have never worked with charcoal on a larger scale, the entire drawing was an experiment. Especially the trees and bushes were challenging, as I had no idea how to get a leafy texture. Looking back now, I should have looked at the picture more closely and imitated the shapes the leaves formed, especially since the trees look very unrealistic. I initially decided not to color the whole sky in with charcoal, and used my artistic freedom to add some clouds.

The elements of art used in this piece include line, shape, value, texture, and space. Line and shape is visible throughout the whole piece, especially the various angles of the building. Texture can be found in the trees and bushes and the shingles above the arches. These elements created balance, some contrast, and movement. Had I added charcoal to the sky, it may have been too heavy, especially since a large portion of background in the drawing is already dark. Having added a little bit of charcoal in the sky, it created balance. There was movement created in the tree and the clouds, and some contrast between the white arches and dark background.

There isn't much of an idea or story evident as it is a pretty simple landscape. This drawing relates somewhat to my life as it was a picture taken by my dad whilst traveling. I am most proud of the actual building in my drawing. I was able to drawing the shadows cast by the roof overhang, yet also show (for example) the banister n the top left corner of my drawing. I most definitely struggled with the trees, and am still not entirely pleased. Every time I would try to add texture to the bushes, they would simply turn a solid grey tone. I was able to somewhat help my cause by erasing parts down to the paper, and adding some white lines.