Sunday, October 14, 2012

Journal/Reflection #7 Blck Paper/white chalk


You were to have created a contour line drawing of the image-then build up the Value using white chalk so that the contour line is no longer visible. Record your thoughts...did you think about surface contour on the "Abraham Lincoln " ?? Have you increased your range of value from light to dark to more than four?

The “Abraham Lincoln” exercise was a very intriguing one. All my life, I had always thought of drawing as filling in negative space, using a pencil and filling in the white areas with darkness to create an image. It was quite a shock to me when I discovered this assignment would be a total reversal—we would be using white chalk to fill in the black spaces.

This exercise really opened my mind to the concept of negative and positive—it is never solid, rather, it varies from exercise to exercise. The contour line was simple enough—it was like drawing with paper and pencils—it was building up the value that was quite difficult for me to grasp. White is white, how can it become whiter? Although it was a struggle at first, I eventually created some varying shades of value—by erasing off some chalk and by building up layers of chalk on other portions, allowing for Lincoln’s weary, yet strong, face come through. Portions of the left half are noticeable brighter. The beard also has a different value from the skin, and we can even see the texture of the beard come through. The forehead fades from a bright value and slowly gets darker until it abruptly goes black. We can even see the light fade under Mr. Lincoln's hair at the top of his head, plus the shadow cast by his own nose.


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