Colored Pencil Practice

In these colored pencil sketches I was practicing how to blend and add value to the obstacles. This played a big part in my lollipop sketch and the waterslide sketch. If I had not practiced they probably wouldn't of turned out the way they did and that is why I find this important.

Progression Drawing

1. Explain how value is important in this drawing. Value is very important in this drawing because you have to add depth to the lollipop considering the fact that the perspective you are looking at it isn't one dimensional. 
2. Describe several challenges that you faced while creating this drawing.  What did you do to overcome these obstacles? I had trouble recreating the text on the lollipop wrapper and making it fit the way it should've. To overcome these obstacles I just made sure to take my time and to draw small. 
3. How important was it to have clean crisp edges to your wrapper? It is crucial to have clean crisp edges to your wrapper. It brings out the lollipop and makes it look realistic. Without that you can't really see it from the perspective that you are trying to imitate. 
4. Explain how your interpretation of texture is essential in capturing the look of the object. The interpretation of texture is definitely an essential in capturing the look of the object. In order to make it look the way you actually saw the obstacle in real life you have to add every detail and with that comes texture. It makes it look realistic. 
5. Name three things you would draw differently if you were to do this project again.  What did you learn from this drawing? I would draw the lettering different, the shadows, and the edges. I learned that detail is extremely important and no matter what I should take my time. 

Look At That View

1. Describe how you created an interesting point of view? Was it successful? Why or why not? I created an interesting point of view by showing what it looks like to go down a water slide in first person perspective. I think the actual look of the waterslide was successful because it transitioned from dark to light which is actually what its like in a water slide. 
2. Why is it important to understand perspective and how to draw it? It is important because if you don't understand perspective then it is hard to recreate it on paper and make it look realistic. 
3. How were the colored pencil exercises important in the success of your piece? They were important because if I had not practiced and experimented with using the colored pencils then I don't think I would fully know how to use them and blend them together. 
4. Describe the craftsmanship of your colored pencil. What techniques were used? (How well the project is technically crafted). As I got deeper into the water slide I made sure it the image got lighter because realistically that is how water slides are. I wanted to drown out whatever would be a background image so I made it black. Last but least with the legs they transition into disappearing because I wanted to show that they are under water.
5. Were you able to achieve depth by showing a foreground, middle ground and back- ground? Explain. I think I was able to achieve depth in these ways. The way the water is moving and the curve further down the waterslide really bring out the middle ground and back-ground. Also, the way the legs are positions help add to the depth. 
6. Explain your experience with colored pencil and the project in general. What were the obstacles and advantages? The obstacles with this project would definitely be the ability to add value with the color pencils. I still don't think I have that down but if I continue to practice I will be able to get there. The advantage would be that you can bring the images to life with color.
7. Looking back on the progression of this project what skills, techniques or other information would you like to have been taught? Do you feel you were prepared for this project? I would've liked to have been taught more about how to blend and add depth using the colored pencil. Other than that I feel as if I was prepared for this project. The perspective practices that we did helped out with this project.

Value Studies

In these value studies I practiced shading and saw which techniques brought me the most success when trying to make them look realistic. I found it important that you really define where the light source is coming from. If you don't really have a light source than the chance of the drawing looking realistic is slim. Also, it is a great addition to a picture if you add a shadow effect. 

Still Life Composition

These four compositions helped me decide which drawing I was going to pursue in the final still life project. It really helped to put my ideas down in a quick sketch so that I knew what I was sort of doing when I tried to actually draw it. I would recommend doing composition drawings before starting any big pieces.

Final Still Life

1.       Describe the craftsmanship of your drawing.  (Is it clear, clean edges, blended well, smudges, defined space, etc.) The picture is very soft. I did not add a lot of dark spots which caused the whole feel of it to be light. Although it was light, I feel like it was well blended, especially the bottles.

2.      Are your values and shadows realistic? How many values did you include? How and why are values important? The values and shadows are realistic. I didn’t use as many values as I probably should have and it is something I regret because I think I could've made it darker

3.      Is there a clear source of lighting? Yes, I clearly show where the light is coming from because of the highlight on the glasses.

4.      How important were the compositional sketches? Explain. The compositional sketches were extremely important. If it weren’t for those, I wouldn't truly know how I was going to set up each picture, whichever I chose to draw.

5.      How is your final drawing successful? It is successful in the sense that I got the proportions correct. I feel that that is a major component when trying to recreate a real life look. I could've made the image darker with more variations of value but besides that I think I successfully did this project.

6.      Are the proportions, structure and perspective of the subject correct? Yes, the proportions, structure and perspective are correct. The glasses are well rounded and you can see through them, just like you can in real life. The perspective in my opinion is correct because behind everything you can see the faint image of cabinets and that is how I saw it from my own perspective.

7.      Does the placement & grouping of objects create a pleasing arrangement (composition)?

Yes, the placement and grouping of objects create a pleasing arrangement. If it doesn't appeal to the eye then it isn't exactly pleasing. You have to make sure things are too clustered on the page.

8.     Is there a center of interest and is it well located? The center of interest is in the heart of where all the objects are mainly located. This is where the eye is most drawn to because of the fact that it has a lot of things to look at. You have the medium size mason jar, the leaves that come out of the mason jar, the larger bottle, and the bucket that is off to the far right.

9.      How well did you manage your time and resources throughout the process of creating this drawing?  Do you see where you could improve in this area? I think I managed my time really well but at the same time I think I finished the project too fast. The fact that I could have added way more values and I had enough time to do so but I didn’t tells me that I finished too fast.

10.  What challenges did you encounter during this project and how did you overcome them? The main challenge that I came across was adding value. I didn't want to make the objects too dark because I have a tendency of going too dark and then regretting it and having to erase a lot. I wanted to avoid that but in doing so I failed to add a great amount of value.

11.   What have you learned drawing a still life? I learned that the three most important things to do when drawing a still life is that you have to make sure the proportions are right, there are a lot of values, and the perspective has to be correct.