Traditional Blog Topic 8 - Formative improvements

I took notes of the improvements that my tutor and classmates said I could do for my work and implemented the improvements. The overall results showed how I could push my work to an even better standard.

The first piece that I improved was the skull with drapes. I ensured that I added more contrast to shadowed areas of the skull, such as the back and underneath, as well as the hollow areas. I also lightened the flower petals to make them stand out more, and to fit the tone of the real flowers that were far lighter in value.

Skull with Drapes

The next pieces that I improved were the line weight drawings of figures. I started by getting rid of the preliminary drawing that was unfinished, as it did not need to be there and took away from the rest of the figures on the page. I applied more shade to the large final figure, such as under the thigh where there was a lot more shadowing, and I also applied more shadows to indicate the muscle shapes, particularly in the upper back.

Line figure drawing

For the torso and leg drawings, I varied the lighting a lot more which resulted in a more interesting and dramatic drawing, as previously the light was the same all over for a lot of the torso and leg drawings. I added lighter values by erasing areas that needed to be hit by light.

Leg Sketches

Torso Studies

For the charcoal portrait, I reduced the bounce light under the chin as it was too prominent and altered the shape of the face too much. Once I did this I could see a much better impression of the true shape of the face.

Charcoal Drawing

The cool pastel portrait was improved by adding lighter tones to the face, such as light pinks and white. This immediately made the drawing a lot more effective and three dimensional rather than just flat with he same contrast all over. I used a neutral black for the clothing.

Cool pastel portrait

The warm  toned pastel portrait needed more contrast around the eyes and ears. For this I used a black and brown pastel to darken these areas. I also used black for the clothes in this piece.

Warm pastel portrait

For the warm and cool pencil portrait, I adjusted the highlights and added a stronger impression of directional lighting. I added highlights in the glasses frames and reduced the brightness of the whites of the eyes.

Warm and Cool Portrait