Combine all the skills we’ve been taught throughout the weeks to create a composition using charcoal.

Why did you choose to draw what you did?

I was walking around my home to look for areas to draw, then I realised how I’ve never paid much attention to my family’s dining table before even though it’s the one area that changes almost everyday because my mom likes to buy fruits and snacks and places them on this very table. It was when I thought “Hey my mom bought mandarin oranges!” that I started to see more value and interest in this dining table. As it was positioned in the corner of my living room space, I decided to draw it from the corner in order to show more midground and backgrounds in my composition. Since I wanted to place emphasis on the things on the table, I drew it as the foreground with the most level of detail. I also thought it would be a good opportunity to try drawing lighting and reflection through the table and windows.

What challenges did you set for yourself to achieve?

I wanted to try capturing reflection on the dining table as it adds another layer of information to my composition which would make it more interesting. Another challenge was for myself to be able to define the values and level of contrast, making it balanced even when there wasn’t a strong singular light source from my living room. I also wanted to try showing depth through values, using details for emphasis on the “stars of the show” while using a fading out technique for the not so important areas.

What do you think you were able to achieve? What would you like to continue to work on if you had more time?

I think I was able to achieve a pretty good balance in my dark and light tones, as well as the fading detail on the sofa. I would like to continue working on my ability to show lighting/light source, and improve on my control on my tools (charcoal) as I can’t seem to draw the lines of the chair as well as I hoped to.