Tyler Hurd
Drawing Portfolio
Drawing I
3 Cups Drawing
In this drawing, I drew an empty glass bottle, a plastic measuring cup, and a spray bottle. Even though I somewhat rushed through it, I think I managed to do a good job of drawing accurate proportions. However, I think my value could be improved, as the whole drawing is fairly light and hard to see from a distance.
The space in my drawing is good, and it's easy to tell which objects are in front of the others. That also plays a role in the unity of the drawing since the correct spacing makes everything fit together. The balance is good too, since the drawing is centered fairly well on the paper. If I can work on the contrast of my values and apply it to my future pieces, I think they'll be even better than this drawing.
Still Life Drawing
This drawing includes a baseball, a metal water bottle, and wooden drumstick. It took less time than I expected to finish this drawing, and I'm satisfied with how it turned out, especially the value aspect. My shadowing and contrast are a lot better than I though they would be, given that I'd hardly worked with shadows before.
I think the drawing's space is also well done, and the objects in the drawing appear to be 3-Dimensional and there's depth to the drawing. My contrast is fairly good too, as the difference in values make certain objects stand out and almost pop off the paper. The drawing has strong balance so no one object seems more important that another. However, something about the shape of the water bottle in the picture seems off... I can't quite put my finger on what it is. Hopefully my next drawing won't have the same problem.
1 Point Perspective Drawing
In this piece, I drew a 1-point perspective of a highway that disappears into a mountain range, with fencing and power lines along the road. My space in this drawing is good, and there seems to be something going on pretty much everywhere on the paper. On the other hand, I hardly used any range of value because I spent too much time on composition.
There's really no contrast in shading in this drawing, so that's something to fix next time. Other than that, I think I did a great job of balancing my objects correctly with the whole idea of vanishing points and perspective. As I mentioned before, I spent plenty of time on composition (too much time, actually) so the shape of all my objects is fairly good. I just need to focus on taking care of the value range and not going into too much detail before really putting time into values.
Self Portrait
Being a self portrait, this drawing features me and only me. It's basically a close-up shot of my face and the top of my torso. I really focused on shape in this drawing, because a few obscurities in eye shape or ear size can be all the difference in making a self portrait look like a complete stranger. That being said, the overall unity of my piece is fairly strong since every feature works together to make the whole thing look somewhat like me.
I think my values were fairly strong in this piece, at least more than the were in the past. A little more contrast in my values couldn't hurt, so I'll work on that next time. Also, I used a paper towel to blend most of the features on my drawing, and that strengthened the texture of my drawing, so I'll use that method in the future.
Gray Paper Drawing
Well, this piece was my first piece using gray paper and charcoal pencils, and I can't decide if I like it more or less than regular pencil and paper. In this drawing of a bear, the charcoal makes it easier to create contrast in the different values, so I think both of those aspects were relatively strong in my drawing. I think I nailed the texture in my drawing, seeing as the bear appears to have actual fur and not a solid coat.
However, something seems off to me with this drawing, and I can't quite put my finger on it. The lines look a lot better at a distance, so maybe it's the fact the the pencil marks are very prominent when close to the drawing that made me feel like something was a little bit wrong. To be honest, the color of the paper seemed to be messing with the overall composition in my eyes, because the paper almost seems more brown than gray. Even though this drawing was of a grizzly bear, which is supposed to be brown, the color of the paper mixed with charcoal doesn't look to great. But, I'd say focus on improving the realistic aspect of my drawings by working on lines, and otherwise keep everything the same.
