Flo's sketchbook

[Flo]

hey guys,

I am back, with a light - study

for this study I first made a skull bust out of soft white plastic-clay (I don't really know what it is composed of, if you want to know, write me a pm and I try to look it up :)

Then I placed a candle next to it until I was satisfied with the composition.

I tried to work out the core shadow and have a warm / cold contrast going on. Since I painted both lightsources fairly equal in intensity they compete a bit.

What I learned:

- Occlusion shadows were important, to increase the reality of the picture
- I should focus my hard edges on the important parts
- the upper sketchbook really is not a black color, where the cool light from outside hits it. It is more of a really desaturated blue. Thanks to James Gurney for bringing that to my attention.
- the specularity on the lower sketchbook has a really hard edge, because it is super smooth
- the molten wax in the candle has an edge, below which it is a bit darker, while close the "wall" of the candle is a highlight
- the longer I take to work out shadows, the more likely they will be at another place, because the sun moves, so I have to be "fast"

I enjoyed it a lot, here is the picture.

@ rama: you are too good to me ;)

@ pnate: thanks man, I didn't know what would happen if I unplug and just use an black ink-pen but hey, when you like it, it was worth it. :)

@ Jaik: thanks for the c n c. Always happy when someone takes the time to help me improve :) my color studys tend to lack good construction. Actually most of my paintings lack good construction, I sometimes think I have to hit the right lines quickly and then think I can't do better than what is there after a while. What I want to say: I rush through the construction phase to get to the color part. A friend of mine told me that one should do a copy of the study from memory after finishing from ref. That way the information gets solidified more. I will try to do more carefull construction and add a memory-copy after my study. When it works I will let you know :)

Cheers