Week 5 - Still Life Reflections

Still Life Reflections, One

This is a 25-minute sketch using soft coloured pastels on a blue coloured piece of sugar paper. Using the sugar paper as the background to my drawing creates the neutral tones within my drawing making the pastel colours really stand out. The blue paper creates shadows next to the white bones of the skeleton giving it a three dimensional view.

The main aim in this drawing was to capture the image as it reflected onto the mirrored sheet. The mirrored sheet doesn’t mirror the skeleton and its surroundings exactly but distorts them giving it a very impressionistic view. The image in the mirror becomes slightly blurred with just blocks of colour to capture this.

The coloured paper takes away the labouring of colouring in the background and shading as it acts as a neutral colour to add highlights and shadows to my drawing. Using a white pastel to pick out the lightest colours gives a very naturalistic effect as I can use the white to fill in the bones of the skeleton but also use slightly darker colours to capture the shading within these bones without losing the any of the tonal value.

This is a great depiction of the human skeleton and using the coloured sugar paper really makes the pastel colours really stand out. Adding some reflection to the mirrored card the skeleton in lying upon would have really improved this drawing, as it would have really emphasized on the reflection that the skeleton bones create.

Still Life Reflections, Two

This is a 25-minute sketch using graphite pencils from a foreshortening angle. Using a graphite stick makes it possible to pick out all the little details, as the nib of the pencil is quite small. The darkest parts of the drawing have been shaded and smudged to create a smooth look and the lightest parts; like the skeleton bones have been highlighted using a putty rubber.

From this angle it shows the skeleton in a foreshortening view making the accuracy of the skeleton more difficult to capture. It captures the skeleton from the bottom looking upwards.  This makes the rib cage look really large and the biggest part of the body. Using the graphite pencils I was able to pick out all the detail within the rib cage including the individual ribs and also the spine of the skeleton.

There is an implied line within this drawing starting from the curved mirror card to the left of the skeleton, which follows round the side of the table. This leads the eye right around this drawing as it frames the skeleton perfectly.

If I were to improve upon this drawing I would add in a little more detail to the bones by adding in some shading. However, I would have to be careful not to make them to dark, as this would take away the natural whiteness of the bones.

Still Life Reflections, Three

 This is a 25-minute sketch using a black conte crayon. Using the conte crayon makes it possible to create very dark shadows, which have been used for the background where the mirrored card has reflected the interior surroundings. Smudging the conte crayon creates smooth tonal values, which can be scene around the skeletons skull and jaw area. This creates really nice, detailed effects.

The black from the white really make the skull and bones of the skeleton really stand out as the contrast of colours are so different. The mirrored card shows the distortion reflection of the skeleton from underneath creating a very impressionistic view.

There is an implied line that goes around the edge of the table and follows the mirrored card upwards in a curved position. This frames the skeleton as the main focal point of the drawing making it really stand out.