EXHIBITION TEXT
The main concept for this piece was to learn through the process the use of material and technique. This piece is focused on a still life of a feathered bird with a variation of patterns. Through the process I got to experiment with different forms of charcoal how each could put me in a disadvantage as well as in an advantage. This piece is made up from vine charcoal compressed charcoal pencil charcoal and some addition of white pencil and eraser.
PROCESS
I started by choosing the angle which I wanted to work with, I thought the side profile would be the easiest to work with but decided that the bird facing straightforward got most of the details of the body shown. When analyzing the piece I knew it would be hard to get all the details in, the bird's feathers had different patterns and it was almost like patchwork. To begin this piece I first laid my gray background with the vine charcoal. Once that was set I took a larger piece of my vine charcoal and went on to place the proportions of it, from the ratio of head to body and to the placement of the feathers I started placing those guidelines.
I then began to place more depth on the piece with the use of compressed charcoal. Lighting didn't take a dramatic role on the piece therefore there wasn't much I could do with large shadows and highlights. I noticed that the part where the birds feet connected was really dark and almost completely black therefore I tried to emphasize the darkness on that part as well as where the neck was I tried creating a gradient so that it would blend in with the rest of the piece and wouldn't seem like a flat shape so I used my finger to smudge around and blend in the compressed charcoal.
Once I began this part of my process I switched mediums for the last time and worked with this for the rest of the process, I began to use compressed charcoal pencils. Having my proportions and my main shadows placed I decided to begin the process of detail. in this I started working from top to bottom trying to get in all different patterns. I wanted to start with some of the smallest details proportionally like the legs and head, with the pencil I was more capable of controlling the lines and getting clean and clear details in, compared to when using vine and compressed charcoal. For the legs I was able to apply some texture as I drew the folds of the hard skin along the side of the leg. For the feathers I applied a variation of thin and thick lines depending on the patterns. Most the time the thicker and darker lines were on the left side and the thinner lighter ones were on the right. I wanted add more texture to the dark shadow where the legs were so I went back to add lines through the shadow. I then began to experiment with the white pencil and tried adding some depth to the eyes since they were coming out of the head I wanted to highlight the outside bubble created, as well as the left side of the peak of the nose. I also tried using it on the neck to make the fur stand out more but its almost unnoticeable therefore I grabbed my eraser and tried doing what I did with the white.
REFLECTION
Looking back at the piece I can say I was more disappointed than proud. I like working on realism but charcoal is not one of my favorite mediums to use. It can create beautiful pieces if you know how to use it but for me its hard to control so before beginning I was skeptical of how my piece would turn out even so I decided to go with a harder position/angle and that might have been where I went wrong to start with. The outline was going alright I was familiar with this part so I felt comfortable doing it. However looking back on it the proportions do look off to improve this I could have more guidelines along the drawing to help rationalize the body more and create a better base for the value placed later on. Once I started to work with the compressed charcoal because there wasn't many shadows or highlights I wasn't sure how to apply the medium, looking back I realize I focused on the value of the piece too much and not on the different hues the feathers had. Despite it only being black and white I could apply some of the different colors through the different hues of gray. Once I started to work with the compressed charcoal pencil I felt more confident of being able to get in small details, when using compressed charcoal or vine charcoal I felt it was harder to apply the thickness of lines/shapes thus I used the pencil for all the details. I have never worked with this type of details before because I know fur and feathers are really hard to show, because I was focused on the patterns I wasn't focused on the delicacy of the feathers making the left side look really thick and tacky. The feathers don't look like feathers and more like outlines of something. If I were to do this again the biggest changes I would make would be adding different hues of gray on the different colors of pattern, improving my proportions, along with the variation of thin and thick lines applied. I would like to see what those changes might do to the piece, despite being relatively new to the medium and still life I enjoyed the process by allowing myself to be in a position where I'm uncomfortable I gained an experience I would try again.