Great study page Kellie! The branch on the right is beautiful! Wonderful toning and shading! The mud-ranges tones could go up higher on the graphite sphere and have a more noticeable main highlight on the apple and the sphere. The white edge on the apple is confusing. It looks like it is not part of the apple so that would be the darkest part of the cast shadow. The cast shadow overall is too dark. It should transition lighter as it moves away fro the subject and be fairly light overall. Cast shadows are a suggestion of the shadow to ground the subject to the page. Too dark and it competes with your subject. If the white line is suppose to be a reflected light, it should not be a controlled white line. It will not be as white as the main highlight and you are trying to create a glow effect (light bouncing off the surface). Try using an ivory pencil to blend the colors in that area and then add the green on top of the ivory. That can help you achieve the glow effect on the apple.
Great study page Kellie! The branch on the right is beautiful! Wonderful toning and shading! The mud-ranges tones could go up higher on the graphite sphere and have a more noticeable main highlight on the apple and the sphere. The white edge on the apple is confusing. It looks like it is not part of the apple so that would be the darkest part of the cast shadow. The cast shadow overall is too dark. It should transition lighter as it moves away fro the subject and be fairly light overall. Cast shadows are a suggestion of the shadow to ground the subject to the page. Too dark and it competes with your subject. If the white line is suppose to be a reflected light, it should not be a controlled white line. It will not be as white as the main highlight and you are trying to create a glow effect (light bouncing off the surface). Try using an ivory pencil to blend the colors in that area and then add the green on top of the ivory. That can help you achieve the glow effect on the apple.