Week 1 Reflection Post

Sunday, May 14th: The Creature In My Room 
   Anyways!! So I decided to begin with the inspiration and reference piece. A candid evening photo I took on my adored digital camera, as I had earlier decided on my roommate Logan to be my model. Since I wanted something more challenging than a singular flower blossom but I needed someone who was present (so family and dogs were out of the equation). 
 

    With my goal being a realistic rendition of sorts, it is absolutely necessary for the proportions, scaling, and features. Especially considering that charcoal is a medium that can never fully be erased, this is something I always struggle with when using charcoal. While I have briefly mentioned this scaling style a few times, I believe its importance deserves to be restated. So as proportions are so important, the surest way of success is using a grid technique. Often referred to as the 'realism grid method' or Kelly Grid and laddering which are more on the mathematical side. Being the up or downscaling of a reference image using a said grid-like scaling (in my case the grid on the paper was about 20mm larger than the grid on the photo).
With that established, beginning my piece took some inner persuasion with the fear of having early imperfections that an "imperfect" base would cause. In other words, I was quite anxious to start as it directs how the rest of the piece turns out.


Luckily by the fourth and fifth days, I began shading and my faith was restored in the piece's potential. Along with using a shading technique that I had only ever witnessed and not actually used myself, shading with brushes and powered charcoal. With a brush and power, a much smoother and more intense image can be created through the layering of shadows.















    Now with an established style I began quite tediously layering and sketching out the shadows. It is clearer in this photo as the left shoulder is much more profound and detailed at this point, but I very commonly take "breaks" while working, as once I would begin feeling tired or annoyed I would move on to another section in the picture. Since I cannot assume it is obvious, I innately considered the face, neck, hair, shirt, and background as being different sections in the picture. As I would switch off what portion requires what, if I was tired of precise detail and shading I move on to a less finished or unstarted portion. For me, this is a natural reaction to avoid burnout and works very well in regaining focus. 

    Besides my brief description of techniques and strategies I've developed thus far, I am very grateful to be able to work in my room as I can work with the flow of inspiration and whatever odd seating position I find myself in. Past that, this week went quite well as I am very excited to see the progression of this piece. It has been roughly eight months since I last did a proper charcoal piece, as the brief charcoal work on Europe Art Classroom was much rougher and grittier than my personal style. For the upcoming work, I will be focusing on layering down the broad piece and once a general image is established, I will be able to retouch everything over in much much more detail. Until then I need to make sure not to rush any of the processes and respect the work and time it'll take for me to achieve the mental image I have for my work!

Singing off with thirty-six hours, remaining minutes not included as I continue to aim for a final 56 to 58 hours!


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