Work in Progress: Savannah, Update 3

Work In Progress: Savannah, Update 3

Now that the block – in is complete, dimensions and distances seem right, some light shading has been applied, and I’ve started adding detail to the features, the next step is to “key” the drawing. Keying the drawing is developing a range of values. I want to have as broad a range of values as possible. The black and white photo will be the basis for developing the values and, to help me, I’m going to use a value finder to compare the photo to my drawing. The value finder contains ten values ranging from black to white. In the middle of each value a hole has been punched out enabling me to place the value over the area I want to check. As I progress through the drawing I’ll check the photo against the drawing to see how I’m doing.

Another aid to developing the correct values is to pick an area of the photo that has the greatest range. That way, as I begin shading I can check the surrounding features and their values against the area I’m working on to make sure they keep the proper balance relative to each other. In this drawing there are a wide range of values from very light to near black around the eyes, so I started there.

            Savannah’s pupil and part of her iris are the darkest values of the facial features, so I carefully worked them in with a 7B Staedtler pencil. I also used the 7B to work the creases in the eyelids. Then I worked the remainder of the eye – the interior of the iris and the shadow area around the eye with a 2B pencil.

            The lightest areas are on the left side of Savannah’s face, where the sunlight hits directly. These areas will be the white of the paper. Everything else will be some value in between.

            Keeping in mind the anatomy of the face, the three dimensional structure of its parts, I started to model the face with tone, rather than just copying the lights and darks from the photo. I started with a sharp 2H pencil and very light pressure to stroke in the tones around the eyes and onto the right side of Savannah’s head. Once I completed all the sculpting, I compared the 2H tone of the surrounding areas with the eyes. I identified the areas that needed to be darker and went back over them with an HB pencil. Still comparing areas to one another, I identified areas that needed to be darker and started working in the 2B pencil.

            In this manner I continued to alternate between pencils as I went darker and darker with the shaping and sculpting. Sometimes I would check an area with the value finder and find it needed to be darker and would darken the area some more. That required other areas to be darker in relation to it. This process of slowly deepening tone in the area surrounding the eyes will continue until I’m satisfied that the tones are right relative to one another. I even turn the light off overhead and observe the drawing in low light, comparing it to the photo. Sometimes areas that need work jump right out and I adjust them. Squinting works also by reducing the figure to lights and darks and eliminating details.

            By next week I hope to have the area around the eyes complete and this area will help in modeling the rest of the face.