Carry Out Charcoal

For this project, we had to draw a carry-out box with chopsticks in charcoal. My goals and intentions for this piece was to make the chopsticks as if they were leading your eye into the picture and emphasize the different values of lights and darks (at least six). I also wanted to make the box look as three dimensional as possible. I accomplished making the box look three dimensional by sighting the lines with my charcoal pencil and drawing it in the same diagonals as I sighted it. I accomplished making the chopsticks lead you eye into the picture by placing the chopsticks in a certain way on my still-life. I accomplished emphasizing the different values by tracing out my lights and then deciding the lightest points from the darkest points. What surprised me most about my experience was how simple it was to figure out the different values of lights and darks. My drawing is about value and contrast. The most difficult challenge I had to face while doing this drawing was drawing the shapes of the folds and the chopsticks correctly. I faced this challenge by making them look the best I could make them and then make the lights and darks stand out. I experienced artist thinking while doing this project because I was able to trace out the light from the dark and make all of the correct proportions. My drawing really works in the sense of the contrasting between the lights and the darks and the realism of the three dimensional look of the box. Something that I have learned while doing this drawing was that sighting is a great technique and can really help figure out what something actually looks like in the sense of where the lines are and how it is shaped. I really like how Jessica really emphasized the lights and the darks in her piece. I also like how the chopsticks really lead you into the picture. If I had a do-over, I would draw the shapes of the folds a little better and position the chopsticks differently. I feel best about the values and the contrast.