Sketching The Mystery Girl In Charcoal - Step by Step for Steemit!

in #art7 years ago (edited)

girl_thumb.jpg

SKETCHING IN CHARCOAL



Have you ever caught a glimpse from someone in a fleeting moment and had that single frame in time burn into your memory? Its often these memories we remember the longest, they appear out of nowhere in our minds at random times but come through crystal clear. They aren't the big holiday moments or the major milestones we think we should remember but rather the seemingly inconsequential, little freeze frames frozen in time.
In this drawing i've tried to capture with a sketch in charcoal one of these moments.


girl-1-groundcontrol.jpg


First stage is to start with a rough and quick map in of some tone for the shadow spaces. Using charcoal dust and a paper towel, i quickly move across the paper in broad strokes. This helps lay down a bed for the 'energy' i'm looking to create. It also helps to start messy like this to get past the initial 'writers block' of staring at a nice clean empty page and wondering where to start.



girl-2-groundcontrol.jpg


Next stage is to use an eraser to start picking out some areas where i want to form the face. I've made direct straight lines along the general planes of a face to define some basic anatomy. If need be, i can easily take the dirty paper towel and add some more tone and erase again until the desired shape starts to form. I'm using big broad strokes with the eraser to keep the sense of energy. By continuing the lines through and past the form it creates a sense of movement which will help in creating the effect of a 'freeze frame'.



girl-3-groundcontrol.jpg

girl-4-groundcontrol.jpg


With a bit more refinement i've found the mouth, check, jaw line and nose which are the main forms i want to bring out of the darkness. The messy areas are like the frames before and after the frame i'm trying to capture. It was only a fleeting moment and only a part of it managed to bounce light back sharply. This creates the mystery, the movement, the moment.




girl-5-groundcontrol.jpg


Adding some white can help highlight the forms a bit more. As a general tip, try to use your lines sparingly when adding highlights. Often less is more, it's just about pushing the highlight a bit higher than the middle and dark tones set by the paper & charcoal. Follow the forms and the shape your trying to highlight rather than just adding white randomly. With only a few lines it can help create dimension and get across the impression of reflected light. Think about how a drop of water would run along the form your trying to highlight, what path would it naturally take? - that is the direction your highlight lines should follow.


girl-6-groundcontrol.jpg


Finishing up (and trying to make a bad phone camera photo look a bit nicer!), here she is. A moment in time. The 'who', 'what', 'where' and 'how' of this moment doesn't really matter, it just 'was' and now 'is' - and thats where the beauty exists. That's what fine art does best.


Thank You For Your Support


If you like this post and would like to see more, please let me know, ask a question and i'll try my best to answer. Vote, follow, tip etc - all appreciated!

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So nice, thanks for step by step process.

Hey, Thanks for checking it out!

Yes, i was curious on how did it. Youre one of a kind:)

That was really awesome, just like a vague shadow at first, sophisticated at last, forcing your eyes to be gazed at hers..
really liked it...
happy new year

Thanks a lot for taking time to check it out.
Happy New Year to you too.

I missed your quality posts and great drawings..and this one is so soft and gentle..it's such pleasure to be lost in it!

Thanks for your post!
Please Follow, Upvote & Resteem my post to help us to travel & explore more
https://steemit.com/travel/@jonbee/travel-with-us-ep-01-kushtia-sugar-mills-kushtia-bangladesh-bd-steemian

Nice post! I follow you! =)

Very awesome work and nice to see the process. Thats what I love so much about charcoal, its like someone or something emerges or materializes from a mist. Nice that your back. Steemit needs more good fine art

Thanks a lot, I like getting lost in the sfumato effect and charcoal is fast becoming my favourite medium - thou i hope to parlay the technique i'm working on into oils eventually and bring colour into it.
You have some nice work yourself, i'll follow along and keep an eye out for more.

Happy new year dearest belove @groundcontrol

Hello, @groundcontrol 😊
Here is Anna, from the team at @bizarreart
We are a new project on steemit and our main purpose is to show some of the most bizarre art works that challenge traditional perceptions of art. 🎨
If you have original content that you think fits our project, we would be happy if you could support us by following and using the tag #bizarreart on your original content related with bizarre art.
We are still preparing some guidelines for our project related to projects that we will resteem on our account and also the ones we will publish but soon it will be ready.
Hope we will have your support and if you have any feedback or ideas please let us know on our first post at @bizarreart,
Thank you 👨‍🎨
Anna

Awesome job! Is there anyway to also make my mystery girl appear her instagram name?

Thanks for your post!
Please Follow, Upvote & Resteem my post to help us to travel & explore more
https://steemit.com/travel/@jonbee/travel-with-us-ep-01-kushtia-sugar-mills-kushtia-bangladesh-bd-steemian

Very good, I loved reading your idea how you capture the mystery, the movement, and the fleeting moment. I never really exhausted drawing with charcoal, I tried it a couple of times but never figured it out, I have learned something today and thank you for that. 😊👍