Since i had just started sixth form at the time, it`s a lot easier to use your original observational drawing for the project on other things. Like using the same objects or completely the same image from the Observational drawing.
Working with charcoal can be a rather messy job, you get it all over your hands and if you touch anything it rubs off on to that; it keeps on going on for a while and it`s hard to get off afterwards. If you`ve already worked from observational and want to do a charcoal; then i suggest adding more objects that have less detail but more textures...
I choose to put more flowers into my Charcoal piece as with compressed charcoal; you can create depressing looking dark tones. But with willow charcoal you can get medium tones, but thin lines that smudge to easily... So if willow is added for any detail, make sure you do it last thing and the use hairspray to stick the charcoal into place so it will no longer smudge and get ruined. I would rather use compressed as it brings out darker tones; so i used more artificial flowers that had a large surface space on them, this means that you don`t have to use much willow charcoal and risk ruining the piece.
The easiest technique for charcoal pieces (In my opinion), is to; go around the edge of the objects with a layer of charcoal, then use an old piece of cloth or fabric to smudge the charcoal so you have a washy layer of Gray. Keep on repeating the process in order to get a dark base to work on top off. The majority of the shading done with a charcoal piece is done by smudging the charcoal... For the darkest bits, it`s better to use compressed charcoal and apply some pressure and shade were the darkest parts are going to be. Then use the cloth or fabric to smudge the charcoal outwards in the direction that the object is going or the way the texture of the object is. To add lighter shades on the piece, use chalk or a rubber; the only downside with using a rubber is that when you`ve used it for a few seconds it goes black at that part, to get rid of it, simply snip it off with some scissors so you have a fresh bit left. If you use Chalk the same thing can happen, but don`t cut it off; just get a spare piece of paper and scribble with the black part of the chalk, then it should be clean enough to continue adding those light shades.
With my charcoal piece I added a lot more lighter shades; in my opinion it`s a lot more than i should of added. I do want to go back and work on top of it to add more dark layers and smudge the mid tones back into the piece. Also the darkest shades seem very messy; this will be because of applying to much pressure to the darkest parts of the image. You need to be careful when doing this; the best way to test out the best way to do it will be to have another spare sheet of paper keep on applying different amount of pressures and then smudge them. If you can still see a defined line of black and Grey around it then you`ve applied to much pressure. This is the main reason as to why it seems messy within my dark tones.
I might go back and work on top of it to even out the shades and get rid of the messiness within my darkest tones; it shouldn`t take to long to do. Also, when you`ve finished the charcoal piece and you want to keep the shades from smudging... Get any type of hairspray, hold it at least 30cm`s away from the sheet and spray it on slowly. If you do it to close then shades will change and you`ll have to re-do that part.
This piece definitely needs some improvement and it`s very easy to improve it, it should only take a few minutes and it should look 10x better then it does right now. You don`t need many materials to actually create the piece, just: Charcoal, chalk, rubber and a cloth!
~Thanks For reading!
No comments:
Post a Comment