Week 9 - Reinforcing Skills: Still Life with a Skull/ Plaster Head

For the last task of the semester, I chose the plaster head composition instead of the skull. This is the photo I took of the still life. It's not the same exact angle I was viewing it at, but it's close enough and it gave me enough information and detail. 

I first sketched some thumbnails quickly to see what the best composition would be, figure out the format and the size of the objects in relation to it and to each other. First, I considered drawing the skull composition, before trying the plaster one. The second thumbnail was a bit too cramped so I tried to place the box farther away, which worked out in the end. Even though the other two objects themselves in the plaster head composition weren't as interesting as the sketchbook and the flowers from the skull, but the composition overall, the placement of the objects was better. So I chose the last one. 

I started the drawing with loose lines: an oval shape to indicate where the face would be in relationship to the drawing format. I began with the eye that was closest to me, as usual, then figured out the placement of the rest by comparing it to that, using verticals and horizontals. I also placed the darkest shadows: the ones under the brows, at the bottom of the nose and on the chin under the mouth.

I then built the softest shadows and started adding detail through more subtle shading. 

Before getting the feedback I had a couple of errors: there wasn't enough contrast in the nose, chin and upper lip, so I darkened them to achieve it. The box was also lacking contrast, which wasn't good especially since it's a foreground object. I also needed to add some indication of the material so I used lines in order to achieve the fibers of the wood. 

I also did more work on the drapery, which was quite simplistic and pretty much a blur of grey.

This is the final outcome:

Since this was the last task of the first term, I would like to use this paragraph to go over everything I've learned in this time. Firstly, we went over the use of line and line weight one more time, which was very useful in order to improve the skill even more. After the exercises from first year my use of line improved drastically and so did my art thanks to that, so another recap was more than welcome. I also practiced my ability of conveying material properties through proper observational skills and shading techniques. I also explored the techniques that can be used in order to convey a certain mood and atmosphere through grey values as well as colour. Lastly, we got a taste of what human head construction means and the basics that will help us when drawing actual portraits. Throughout all of this, I did my best to identify my mistakes and weaknesses and so I will strive to fix them in the next semester.