Hi Liz- I am sending a couple of pictures from Wendy’s book that illustrate the angle of the shadow and shading a sphere. The shadow reads a little dark in the picture and yours doesn’t have to be that dark. You can also see on these pages the range of toning on the sphere. You have a lot of mid-range tone and it could use more transition from the dark. Think of those nine stages of toning a drawing should have. As far as the highlight goes, if the subject is shiny the highlight quite often will have a distinct shape. If it is a matte finish then the highlight will not have a distinct shape and be softer. That being said your highlight is fine for a shiny object. You might want to try doing another sphere with the softer highlight. Hope this helps!
Doug, this is my sphere revisted. Is it better?
Hi Liz- I am sending a couple of pictures from Wendy’s book that illustrate the angle of the shadow and shading a sphere. The shadow reads a little dark in the picture and yours doesn’t have to be that dark. You can also see on these pages the range of toning on the sphere. You have a lot of mid-range tone and it could use more transition from the dark. Think of those nine stages of toning a drawing should have. As far as the highlight goes, if the subject is shiny the highlight quite often will have a distinct shape. If it is a matte finish then the highlight will not have a distinct shape and be softer. That being said your highlight is fine for a shiny object. You might want to try doing another sphere with the softer highlight. Hope this helps!