Critique – neophyte, open to criticism!

[JAFSPURS (Jacob A)]

charcoal, soft pastel, water-soluble crayon

[ROMANVINARNIK]

Hello Jacob,

I like the way you are handling contrast (dark and light) in this piece. I think your control on shading is better managed then drawing. In my view, don’t jump too quickly into adding tone. First, capture the gesture, then spend more time on construction of the forms and make sure they fit well together. Also, watch that the lips wrap around a form on the face. Imagine it as a half of an orange and wrap it over it. Keep up good work!

Roman

[JAFSPURS (Jacob A)]

Thank You Roman,

These suggestions help a lot. I jumped so quickly into art — I’ve never taken an art class, even in school — I’m finally beginning to understand the importance of form and structure before tone. As obvious as it might be to others, I would not have thought about the lips in this way either.

You can probably tell I did this in ~ 2.5 hours. Should have spend more time on charcoal structure and less on wax-crayon. I’m realizing that an image with a “spontaneous” quality doesn’t necessarily have to be created spontaneously?

Thank You again for the insight!

J

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