Sitting in the Nude, Charcoal

This model looked really angry today and that set the tone for my painting.

I had a lot of difficulty with this piece because my oily eraser (Milan) made things really difficult to blend. It was quite a mess until Prof Woon Lam gave me his eraser (Staedtler) and a softer piece of charcoal,

Things I would do differently next time round: Increase the range in tonal difference, have more variety in textures instead of them all being the same, especially the silk cloth. Overall, I wouldn’t call it a fail but there is a lot of room for improvement.


Almost Nude Man, Pencil

Attempt 1

The figure in the middle turned out wrong because a. I used perspective in my box, which wasn’t necessary and b. The boxes were slanted too much into the body. The figure at the end was my correction of that mistake. 

Attempt 2

Although there are some mistakes in this attempt, like the waist is too slim and the torso is too angular, I finally understood the concept of the box while drawing this. Also, if you look closely at the figure’s feet, you will realise this man isn’t fully naked. As Prof Woon Lam always says, “Drawing is Yeezy”.

Charcoal Still Life

Attempt at charcoal still life one. I started out using the wrong thing – condensed charcoal which didn’t really blend or budge when erased. Learnt a few seconds later that it’s supposed to be used at the last stage to darken the deepest blacks. (Did not take a pic but might upload it sometime in the future)

So I flipped my paper around and this is attempt two.

I like working with charcoal. It’s a forgiving medium because no matter how dark you go, it’s easy to get those bright reflective spots again. I also enjoy how I don’t have to be super detailed with charcoal, because the nature of it makes everything look put together anyway.

I aim to improve on the clarity of each shape and background texture. The liquor bottle is also out of shape, with a fatter base than it should have. The ceramic vase in front of it is also not supposed to have such a fat base. I could also have put in more effort to make the background look like paper instead of blending out random strokes.

Side note: I think signing off your work is not pretentious, it adds that finishing touch that makes any mess look purposeful.

Till next class. 🙂

Intro to Melo

I like to be called Melo because I’m a mellow person.

I was from SP’s Creative Writing for TV and New Media.

I love all kinds of art.

That is all.

Here are drawings from lesson one: