Final Still Life Drawing

Essential Question: 

What are the necessary skills to create a convincing still-life drawing?

Purpose:

To create a still-life drawing that demonstrates an understanding of angles & ellipses in perspective, along with using a chosen and conscious mark-making technique to describe form;

To understand value by creating a good range of values between black & white to help make the objects appear 3D;

To demonstrate quality craftsmanship and good composition skills in a drawing.

Artists Studied: 

Henry Moore, Giorgio Morandi, Kerry James Marshall, Vincent van Gogh, Winslow Homer, John Whalley

Reflection:

For my final still-life drawing, I decided to use cross-hatching to define the differences in value. The artist which influenced my marks the most was definitely Giorgio Morandi because he also used cross-hatching in his still-life drawings. This kind of mark-making helped me create value, as well as changes in value by allowing me to make lines closer and overlapping for darker shades and giving more space between lines for surfaces to appear lighter.

In my pre-instructional drawing, there wasn't as large a range of value like there is in my final still-life drawing, and there are also some issues with perspective. There's a lot of improvement in perspective in my final drawing, and I have places where there are really dark values, unlike in my pre-instructional drawing. A takeaway that I got from this drawing unit was making sure you have a clear, but wide range of values. 

To create a convincing still-life drawing, there are multiple things you need to take into account. First off, make sure that in your sketch your proportions are correct. Incorrect proportions can make the drawing confusing and not as believable. A second thing is to make sure you have a good perspective. Without correct perspective, your drawing could look like a mess of sketches, with every item being looked at from a different direction. Another thing you should consider is knowing where your lightest and darkest places are in your drawing. Marking out where your shadows are, as well as the places the light hits your objects the most can help make the final inking process easier. Finally, when you are inking, make sure that you have a large range of values so that the final product has smooth transitions from dark to light. 

Final Still life Drawing: