Week 09: Anatomy & Drapery

20 minutes - conte crayon on coloured paper

This drawing could be made more interesting by increasing the intensity of the highlights as the have been dulled down by combining the white and black whereas this is not generally necessary it creates a mid tone whereas this is the purpose of the coloured paper. There is some foreshortening evident with the head and the arm which adds depth.
Some areas have been over worked and look rushed especially with the shading on the drapery showing it has not been very well observed. One particular area that needs a lot more attention is the hand nearest the head as it looks very small and blobby and also slightly isolated from the rest of the arm which in itself also looks as if it is not connected to a shoulder, again showing poor observation as this is obviously not reflecting reality.
On the other hand, a nice curved line has been created by the body under the drapery which becomes a focal point of the image as your eye is drawn across it.

Conte crayons - 5 minutes

The ellipsis of the table is very poor as where the edge appears from under the drapery is higher and curved differently than from the other side. The left end has also been worked too much which only highlights the problem.
Another problem with proportion and also with general anatomy is the hand which is too small and looks flat and sausage like. However the sense of the weight being applied to the table from the model sitting  which you can see from the slight sagging of the material on the near side and the proportion of the thigh just visible on the other side of her body.
The use of horizontal lines for the shading, particularly with the highlights helps break up the drawing making it a more successful element of the drawing. The folds are represented quite well through the use of sharp dark lines though the far side has been overworked compared to the rest of the body. .
The drapery on the hand makes the material looks stiff because it is keeping its shape rather than falling down the arm which is what it would have been doing due to the light weight of the material which is more accurately represented by the drapery hanging off the table. The same can be applies to neck line which is far too straight making her shoulders look  unnaturally rigid.

30 minutes - conte crayons on coloured paper

Internal lines have been used on the body in order to suggest the curvature of the spine, without it the back would look extremely fat and flabby but the internal lines gives it a sense of structure which is also done by highlighting some shapes within the body (such as below the spinal curve). This could have been more effective if only
Although sharp lines have been used for the drapery they have been softened somewhat by adding white conte crayon causing them to be less dramatic. This also gives the fabric a sense of weight as the sharp folds make it appear more of a robust material than the one over the model. The drapery laid across the model has lots of smaller lighter lines which ultimately make it appear as though it is made of a lighter material. The third fabric over the models feet has a similar effect however because it is lighter in colour, it is evident that it is a different material.
The drapery is one of the most successful elements because they represent the true material fairly effectively and the shapes underneath are visible such as the square pillow and the curve in the models lower body.