Charcoal Figure Study

[dorian]

http://www.dorian-iten.com/images/dorian-charlotte.jpg (http://www.dorian-iten.com)


Heyaa,
finished another charcoal figure, 6 weeks again.
Not so happy with this one, I lost some time in the beginning wrestling with the chair.
still not quite right.. one would think this is the easiest part, it doesn't even move?!
I guess somehow the "different" proportions confused me..? (I'm talking about the chair,
not the model :) She was very interesting to draw. Interesting/different setup/pose
for me in general!)

Hope you like! Shoot your crits!


.

[Haxxxor]

wow this just blows me away...

really stunning work. i dig this one more then you other... mh i don't know what you mean but imo the chair looks really realistic.

good job

[SprayNation]

Nice softness of the figure achieved. Reminds me of early 20th century photography. Anyway, I'm not a fan of the woman's head. It's very jarring how it's not quite in profile. It almost feels like her face is being pressed against a glass window.

[Lone Wolf]

Beautiful rendering. I agree with SprayNation though, her nose tip looks like it was sliced off.

[Justin.]

Brilliant Dorian, though I must say the fingers strike me as slightly stiff.

Keep up the good work =) Can't wait til you get to painting!

[emily g]

Wow, very nice.
Yeah, that chair must have been very difficult to draw. There's kind of an optical illusion going on where it looks like the back of the chair is facing a different way than the rest of the chair.

[Zman]

I like how smooth and neutral you apply the charcoal in the background. How do you do that? A shammy, Charcoal dust rubbed in with a rag, or just slow, painful gradation?

[rlederer]

Gorgeous.

[wookiedabo]

sheer madness. blimey. i like the hands, but the fingers do indeed look a lil stiff. still, cor blimey

[rajbir]

God daim, man this is just amazing , perhaps this is my first post on this website, i hope i am gonn have some good time in here, anyways man ,t his is really nice piece of art, fo ra moment i thought its a pic then i read charcoal 6 wees, amazing man, love it

[tarrzan]

fucking amazing man!

[Night~]

Looks like a black and white photograph, great job.

[Yannertastic]

Incredible work - don't be so hard on yourself ;-) its a beautiful peace you should be pleased.

[Crazydude]

yea i totally agreed with Yannertastic, it is really a beautiful artwork!

[Tastycake]

I think it looks great. For the tender age of 22 I think this is a great start.

[RogerAdams]

Beautiful work. The break down of your last piece was immensely helpful. Thanks for all the effort.

[Sharon Knettell]

Dorian,

Lovely, but the extreme contrast in the chair takes away from the head. The profile is off somewhat and need to be better designed or edited to be more harmonious. A 3/4 view would have worked better against the strong design element of the chair.

[jmBoekestein]

awesome, I don't see anything to remark on, very stylish how you dealt with the contrast, it's very beautiful!!! wooow!!!

[stalsby]

really nice rendering!

[geosarray]

What can I say, this is just insane. Great job.

[dorian]

:$

Haxxxor: thank you!
SprayNation: hm I can see what you mean. since we're 15 people drawing the same pose the head is just in the position it is in - not much room for change there. Is there any way you think it could be improved?
Lone Wolf: not good :D You think I should add some blood? :) Guess that's pretty much what her nose looks like : \
Justin: I would've loved to spend more time on the hands, I completely agree :\ Thank you!
emily: yeah it's still not quite right.. :dad: Also on the real thing the two sides (with the armrests) are not parallel. They point outwards a little, viewsed from the back. We were told to ignore that, but it didnt make things easier ;]
Zman: thanks! I put a layer of dark dark B charcoal on the background first, then stomp it and then sponge it with a big sponge. Then sometimes the whole thing again and use the sponge to bring it to the right value. There's a certain limit as far as how light the value will get using a sponge, so sometimes I need a big household brush to lighten and then sponge again to make it smoother. I'm thinking about putting together a small e-book thing about the "secrets" of drawing with charcoal. What do you guys think about that? It's mainly for me because most of the time I still don't know what the heck I'm doing and there's a lot of time wasted going back and forth..
rlederer: thanks ;)
wookiedabo: I agree! Gracias!
rajbir: welcome to ca! you ARE going to have a good time :D
tarrzan & night~: thank you guys!
Yannertastic: kieran! I love your work! Thank you, I'm happy you like it! I'm sure you're hard on yourself ;) It's not painful and I do feel joy everytime I finish a drawing - and of course all the praise and good crits in here warms my heart also :]
Crazydude: thank you!
Tastycake: ;) I always ask "compared to what?" There are people who did better than this at age 7. But then they started at an atelier when they were like 3 weeks old. :D Thank you, I appreciate it!
RogerAdams: good! I'm glad it helped! Thank you!
Sharon: good point, thanks! I wasn't able to change the pose of the head unfortunately : \ What changes would you make in the face?
jmBoekestein: bedankt!
stalsby & geosarray: thank you!

[aphexboy]

Wow, this is mindblowing, well done!

[Fuish]

I love the shape of the woman's body, it's so nice to see a shapley woman in drawings every once in a while. Amazingly well rendered.