Peter's Sketchbook

[JosephCow]

Yh I can't seem to shake this hard edge issue I'm having, definitely aware of it and have had it pointed out by my tutors but it still plagues me even though I make a conscious effot to go softer. I was thinking of trying a slightly different approach and leave my darkest darks to the very end and slowly build up to them once I have my halftones and highlights established, see if that helps make it click in my head, unles you have another suggestion?

Yeah, easy. Just remember, every time you make an edge too sharp, a kitten dies.

Your idea seems good. Just try and go in the other direction, see how soft would be too soft, and walk it back a little. And also I would say just reframe how you are thinking about shadow shapes. They aren't just shapes in your composition, it's describing a form. The relative softness or hardness of the gradation out of the edge tells the eye how soft or sharp that corner is. You don't really need to worry that much about losing a shadow or getting it confused with the lights. When the light turns away a certain amount, it becomes shadow. Whatever happens happens, in life and in your drawing. You need the shadow shapes to be a result of the form turning. Not just a shape. I think you are focused more on designing interesting and intricate shapes for your composition, which is not a bad thing. That's my impression looking at your drawings anyway. The shape is keenly observed, but it doesn't necessarily feel like it's merging with the form of the subject. So I'm just saying look at it from a different standpoint, essentially.

i could point out the pectoral on the graphite figure. It seems like you don't want to lose the shadow shape, hence the outline, but probably it should be nearly lost because that is what makes sense with the form. One thing that has helped me is noticing places in the reference, or nature, where I'm not sure where the shadow is and I have to think about it. This happens probably at least once per drawing. If I have to actively try to figure it out, then that tells me it's a really soft edge there and I need to make that halftone quite dark.