FIN 110 Unit 3 – Critique # 2 – Page 2

This was one of our assignments earlier this term, when I began thinking about shells

Different types of creatures in shells

I am trying to figure out the proportions between the layers, and how to make them look convex or concave

Then, look who I found in my yard!

At first, I wanted to draw the whole photo, I was attracted to the different shapes and tones in the snail and the bark mulch….

After speaking with Linda, she explained I could use the snail as my concept, rather than draw from a photo, so I drew my thumbnail with the snail taking up most of the composition

Trying to decide whether to use charcoal or graphite, and proportions of snail shell

My first part of the drawing process went very quickly. I was really happy with it but noticed a few things:
-the shade on the snail needed to extend across the drawing
-the “wood texture” looked nice in person but not in photo, it was too light
-I wanted to show the smudge of slime behind snail but I didn’t have enough tone in the background

I tried adding a bit more tone but it was too many lines, also added more white with eraser and slime but it wasn’t enough…time to get in touch with Linda!

Linda made a few suggestions: add tone by grinding up graphite with sandpaper and rubbing it on with a soft cloth

The beginning of more tone – it’s working!

Two things I was really unhappy with after solving the background tone problem: the scratches in the body of the snail from pressing too hard early in the process (they were shiny) and the faint swirly marks in a couple of places. Linda didn’t like the “2020” idea and it didn’t dissappear when I added tone, I had pressed too hard once again! Linda suggested making a “paint” with water and graphite to cover up the marks on the body. It worked great!

Graphite shavings

Mixing graphite shavings with water

I also started adding more swirls, I thought that it would look interesting if other snails had been there before, and help with my desire to show the passage of time. I also wanted to try and start some “texturizing ideas” like Joseph Stashkevetch. This is also when I started thinking of making the paper look like it was on another peice of paper (curling edges) like Stashkevetch.

Thinking about rips and tone

Getting close! Linda doesn’t like the “rips” in the background but I love them, hmmmm how to make them look better?

“2020” Final Submission

Critique Drawing #2 – “2020”