I’m loving all of these conifer studies, Liz. Really nice job rendering all of those seed scales. It’s clear that you carefully studied your subject and paid careful attention to the shape of each individual scale. The ends of those scales nicely come out forward toward the viewer and then nicely recede back toward the stem of the cone. I really like your choice of adding little bits of orangey/yellows browns to some of the scales on the left – adds a nice warm glow. One of the things that I struggle with when working with such a complex subject is that I can sometimes get so lost in the details that I lose the overall three dimensional form of the whole object. I think that may be happening here. I want to take an eraser and lighten up the area where the highlight would be (think cylinder-ish), and then darken the right side and the bottom a bit.
Thanks for your comments Pam. This was a tough subject to draw and I did get caught up in the details. I will try to lighten some areas on the left and darken the right especially the botton.
Hi Liz, I was looking back on you previous drawings and I note that the overall “light on form” issue has always been a challenge with these complex pine cones. I think the solution is fairly simple. As Pam suggested, figure out where the highlight would be and erase a bit to establish them. Then darken the shadow side more. Don’t forget to leave a reflective light. I also think the shadows as the scales recede into the cone could be darker – those little triangles. It is a solid drawing now! With a little more attention to the overall “light on form” it is going to be dynamite!
I’m loving all of these conifer studies, Liz. Really nice job rendering all of those seed scales. It’s clear that you carefully studied your subject and paid careful attention to the shape of each individual scale. The ends of those scales nicely come out forward toward the viewer and then nicely recede back toward the stem of the cone. I really like your choice of adding little bits of orangey/yellows browns to some of the scales on the left – adds a nice warm glow. One of the things that I struggle with when working with such a complex subject is that I can sometimes get so lost in the details that I lose the overall three dimensional form of the whole object. I think that may be happening here. I want to take an eraser and lighten up the area where the highlight would be (think cylinder-ish), and then darken the right side and the bottom a bit.
Thanks for your comments Pam. This was a tough subject to draw and I did get caught up in the details. I will try to lighten some areas on the left and darken the right especially the botton.
Hi Liz, I was looking back on you previous drawings and I note that the overall “light on form” issue has always been a challenge with these complex pine cones. I think the solution is fairly simple. As Pam suggested, figure out where the highlight would be and erase a bit to establish them. Then darken the shadow side more. Don’t forget to leave a reflective light. I also think the shadows as the scales recede into the cone could be darker – those little triangles. It is a solid drawing now! With a little more attention to the overall “light on form” it is going to be dynamite!
Gorgeous clarity and details.