Gerbera Daisy

This is a new angle and much more detail to my last post (Shaded Daisy). This drawing used a lot of layers and overlapping. Both helped to achieve a unique perspective. For this drawing Holmes needed us to understand "how to create the illusion of layers so that parts of the drawing appear to be in front of or behind other parts"(64).

The process started with a small oval and florets I'm the middle. The book then instructed to add petals of different lengths and then added layers. This part was difficult because I felt the petals were not in proportion with the eye of the flower. They seemed either too small or too big or stubby in an ugly way. But I moved on to shading. Holmes instructed that the closer the petal is to the eye, the darker the shading should be (65). I finally added the stem to finish it off.

I was unhappy with the final piece. My obvious mistake was making my seed/oval too wide and not fixing it from the beginning. But one can always learn from their mistakes. I also don't feel my shading was very good. Both of those took away the realistic look and the illusion of it being 3D. What would you have done differently? What changes would you make in terms of shading? 

Shaded Daisy

"Radial or Rotational balance is any type of balance based on a circle with its design extending from or focused upon its center" (Holmes 62). This term was like a part of a foreign language to me, and the technique itself newer. While the idea of it seemed helpful it was difficult for me to do in a rush. When it comes to drawing, I'm a perfectionist and at the moment I had nothing to make the perfect circle or have perfect lines. It was hell on Earth for me.

Okay not hell but it was very frustrating!

Then I used the lines as guidance for the petals

The result wasn't great. The object failed to have rotational symmetry which Holmes described as "an object that looks the same after a certain amount of circular movement around that objects center"(62). After sketching the daisy I shaded and added the stem. 

I wasn't completely satisfied with my drawing but I was till able to learn a new technique. Did you already know about rotational balance? What other objects might this be useful for?

Shaded Snail

Catherine V. Holmes writes,"Shading is one of the easiest ways to add depth, contrast, character and movement to your drawings"(41). The author recommends the use of a light pencil such as 3B, 4B, 5B, etc. But of course an HB pencil will be just fine as well. I used HB 2. The process started with a sketch of the snail shell:

  

When beginning the shading process Holmes says to pay special attention to glared and reflections on the snail, those are the lightest areas and should be left almost white. I made sure to press lightly as Holmes recommends "don't use the full darkness of the pencil so that areas can be erased..." . Throughout the process I always made sure to keep the value scale in mind, it is a crucial part of shading. This actually took longer than I thought, about an hour and I finally had a snail:

I feel blending was the hardest part of the process. Smudging is messy, but usually my approach. However, I feel it's just not right. What is your blending technique? 

Shading Forms

"Value [is] added to a shape (2D) when drawing creates form (3D)" ( Holmes 30). When shading it is important to understand the lightness or darkness of a value can show where light falls on an object. By capturing the shadows and highlights of your object, shading adds depth, contrast, character, and and even movement. (Holmes 30)

Terms to :

 Highlight- the area on any surface which reflects the most light.

Shadow- A dark area cast by any object illuminated on the opposite side. 

Value Scale- lights and darks of your drawing.

Though I already had some prior knowledge about shading I never was very good at it. I had never observed how light hit an object and how it could really enhance my drawings .

How could highlight and shadows be helpful innart forms other than drawing?