Theme: Shadows and Contrasts 2
Welcome to the 9th day of my personal challenge:
SUCCESSFULLY DRAWING A REALISTIC PORTRAIT IN 21 DAYS WITH MY RIGHT HAND!
Today is the continuation and end of the still life composition!
Yesterday, I left my composition exercise at the sketch stage! I am resuming the shading work by starting to blend the background of the drawing with a tissue to unify the color!
Armed with my two pencils, the 2B for all the detail work on the eggs and the 8B for the very dark tones, I lay down my shadows: for the rendering of volume, I choose to use my two blending stumps as mediums.
Since the desired shades are rather light, I blend the color directly onto the areas to be shaded!
The blotting paper blending stumps are perfect for blurring details and small areas; available in different sizes, they cost very little and are extremely helpful in drawing, especially for portrait work. The grip is similar to a pencil, and I even use them as a pencil in their own right when they are loaded with graphite. This allows me to have a blurred and less harsh line, which delicately suggests a shadow or a feature in a face, for example! Their main flaw is being difficult to sharpen, and when they are heavily loaded with graphite or other materials, it is better to change them!
Once my shadows are delicately placed, I highlight the light effects and reflected light using my eraser pen! Its high precision allows me to place my light effects in the right spot without erasing anything around them!
The eraser is one of the ESSENTIALS in drawing, and choosing it well is useful to avoid ruining your creations! While a simple white eraser is enough to start with (absolutely avoid colored erasers which will stain and damage your paper!!!), certain specific erasers, like the Mono Zero eraser pen, will quickly become your favorites!
And here is the final result!
Tomorrow, I continue this work on shadows with a dreaded exercise: Drapery!
See you tomorrow!!!