Project 2 - Exercise 4 Shadows and reflected light

Exercise 4 - Shadows and reflected light

As a warm up, I sketched a ceramic salt pot and a small metallic pan. I used charcoal to sketch the image freehand. It was fairly tricky depicting the materials the items were made of. With a kneaded eraser I lifted some shaded areas to create the impression of reflected light.
When it came to metal pan, I used less pressure to create the lighter tones and reflections. Although my composition is fairly central to the paper, I am not sure it works as I may have drawn the objects too small. Or it may be the lack of foreground and background shadows and  too much negative space?

A3 warm up, using charcoal and putty

Second try at playing with shadows and reflected light

This time I tried an arrangement of two metallic objects, much larger in size, hoping that they would better fill the surface of the A3 paper.

My selected objects

Having sketched their outlines with charcoal, I was pleased with the space now occupied on the paper. I refined some of the lines, (the rim of the bowl was slightly out of shape) and added extra details, (the window of the kettle and lines around the lid). I then added more and more layers of shadowing by placing the charcoal on its side and adding more pressure. When I felt the shadowing was adequate, I used the charcoal tip to define some of the darker, finer lines The putty was useful in lifting some of the charcoal marks and lightening areas that I had made too dark.

Originally I was going to add the faint shadow of the kettle handle on the background but then decided against it as there is no shadow being projected on the background by the metallic bowl. Instead, I just concentrated on the shadows cast on the table.

I had to fix my sketch when I got to that point and add more layers of charcoal to achieve darker values where needed.

Once I finished my sketch, I thought it looked better from the distance than close up!! I am fairly pleased with the end result and also remembered not to 'box in' my shadows, instead I just sketched them freely in.

A3 composition with a focus on shadows and reflected light