Shading with charcoal advice
3yr
Christopher Tomley
Hey everyone!
So I'm currently working through 'drawing on the right side of the brain' and one of the first assignments was to copy a drawing upside down. After completing that I decided to have a go on my own image. In this case a screen shot of Grogu.
I finished the line drawing and then got brave and brought some charcoals.
This is the first time I've had a crack at shading and would love some feedback and advice on my progress so far before I tackle the face.
Many thanks in advance
Chris
Hi @Christopher Tomley, this is a pretty solid start! This is a bit late but maybe I can give some input that you can take into consideration for your next study (I'm assuming this drawing might already be finished by now haha). So, I googled Grogu and I'm pretty sure I found the image that you were referencing from. From what I can see in the image, Grogu is mostly in shadow, and he has a source of really strong direct light coming from the right side. Having this information is critical because this is what's going to inform our plan for the drawing.
So, we want to keep the separation of light and shadow clear on our object, this means that the area of direct light coming from the right side needs to have a clear value separation from everything else (which is in shadow). It looks like you added a lot of detailed information in the fabric which could be simplified more. Most of his clothing is being hit by ambient light, so the value variation between the folds is going to be very subtle. This is the main thing that I tackled in my paint over below. Doing this allows for a clear separation between the direct light, the ambient light, and the ambient occlusion in the deep folds of his clothes.
Hope this helps and let me know if there is anything that I can clear up for you!
Hey @Luigi Manese thankyou for taking the time to do such a detailed response.
The draw over really helps me see what you mean. I deffinetly felt scared of not going dark enough but then ended up going to far with it.
I can also see where you mean about separating the direct light from the ambient. I think oppositely I was afraid to be bold with my lighter values.
I sadly did continue and finish this project but I will take your feedback to my next project thankyou!
