Graphite nude drawing of NMA model Shadia

[Timo Kähara]

“Hide and seek”
Graphite on paper, 42×59,4 cm. Tried to make sure that all the lines follow the form to give it more three-dimensional look. Made little adjustments compared to the reference photo.

More drawings and paintings on my Instagram -> https://www.instagram.com/timokaharaart/

[Leo Di Fraia]

Lovely rendering particularly in the legs.
Perhaps a bit too much reflected light in the calves? The breast also seems a bit too light. I would like to see it handled more like you did the hips.

Finally something strange is happening with the facial features. The mouth appears smaller than the width of the nose and the eye might be too far from the nose?

Am I nitpicking? Yes, but I think you earned it.

[Timo Kähara]

Thanks for your feedback, Leo! Good to get opinions from a fresh eye. After few days of drawing a figure it’s hard to have a fresh look by oneself.

Timo

[Simon Boulter]

How do you get the shading to look both scratchy, neat and smooth at the same time? It looks fantastic. When I use a harder pencil and get scratchier look shading, it’s very untidy.  And what grade of pencil hardness/softness did you use?

[Leo]

Great work with hatching – It definitely gives the 3D effect you were after

I especially like the thighs and how much light there is on them

I think the reflected light on thighs is great, but to me the value of the shadow on the calves is just a touch too dark
To my eye it sort of steals the attention of from beauty of the light of the thigh and creates interference

I’m loving the hands too – Stunning work

One thing about the model right hand (viewer left side) is perceptual lack of perspective
Perhaps it could be just a tiny bit bigger as well as perhaps the best illusion of depth is not attained because the middle of the forearm being perhaps just a little bit too light
Having the forearm be just a little darker or maybe with softer hatching could help the hand be more separated and thus give a better illusion of depth

When it comes to the face I think the eye is slightly misplaced too far towards top right direction – Very slightly
That top right corner should also have more shadow to it because of the direction of the light

I think those two corrections would have been enough

On hair, I think the regularity of the lines under the face makes it seem unnatural
I have to give compliments on the hair especially on her back side – Very beautiful and natural looking

I get a feeling the whole hair and face thing was very experimental and judging design wise, perhaps you did it as a wild idea along the way
Given the amount of work you put in it as a whole, maybe the next time resist the urge to go at it on the main piece and do a separate sketch before going at it

Beautiful work!

[Timo Kähara]

Answer to Simon. I think that the shading looks kind of neat because I tried to avoid any crosshatching and made sure that all shading lines are somewhat parallel and follow the form. And I took my time to make that shading. It took me approximately three days to complete that drawing. I tend to use softer pencils. On this drawing I used 3B, 4B and 5B for shadings and 8B for hair and darker shadows.

But sometimes I do shading that is parallel but that doesn’t follow the form. It’s just for getting right values to right places. Just like on this portrait of Estonian olympic medalist (gold and bronze). All the shadings on the face are at 45 degrees.

Timo

[Timo Kähara]

Answer to Leos. I think that the facial features look bit off and too far from each other because of all that darkness between mouth, nose and eyes and the fact that their edges are also lost in that darkness. I post a rough face drawing before I started to cover it with dark hair and adding shadows. On the original reference photo there were hardly any facial features visible.

In general I tried to be relatively similar to the reference photo.

Timo

[Carlos Perez]

Hey Timo, What a great job¡ loved it.

In terms of figure drawing looks great, has good structure, gesture, 4 value drawing, is consistent, punchy. Great Job.

The only thing i’d say regarding FG would be that the core shadow of the shoulder may not be necessary cuz light it’s not being reflected by any surface.

I feel the composition doesn’t guide me enough therefore i’d suggest highlighting more a focal point on the composition.

In this case, I feel it guides me using the hair to take my eye through the chest and the rib cage to the foot at the ending at the bottom of the image. I think it takes my eye out too quickly from the top for example the curves of the hair are guiding to the left hand and out of the image. Maybe you could use that gesture to guide us at the bottom and there you could get our eyes up again with a series of shadow shapes.

Just suggestions , Thanks for Sharing

[Author]

Posts