Chiaroscuro Weeks 7,8,9 Master Drawing

Prud'hon Master drawing

Here is the original master copy that I had to draw from


Here is my drawing, this assignment was a 3-week progression. The first week was a straight-line block-in with a one-value shade-in. I didn't get to take a picture of it, I actually ended up doing 3 versions of the block-in the first two weeks because my proportions were way off! But I've learned so much from this project, I had to spend a little more time doing the structure before I could get into the shading and the molding. Once I got the overall structure of the drawing and the proportions looking much better, the shading came really fast and much easier. I did however try some new paper called Stonehenge which had better texture for the charcoal to grip without coming off. The DaVinci assignment below, I had used some really crappy 60 pound paper that just made my charcoal smear and all the work I had put into it ended up rubbing off! So tragic! But now I know better! So paper quality is a must, it makes a complete difference. It took me a while to get it right! Ha. Anyway, afterwards I sprayed some fixative and the charcoal stuck...victory! Except for the camera warping the picture of my drawing, overall I am completely happy with the turnout of this drawing. :-)
http://www.sadievaleri.com/AAU-Chiaro/


The critique I got in class was that the left side needed to be a little more in shadow, I guess everyone had the same problem and our instructor explained that sometimes we look at the darkest part of the drawing and see how that part in shadow relates and think that its lighter than it really is. And the head in my drawing is a bit larger than it should be. I might actually do some work on this and repost it again :-)