First Class Train

The train ride...

This project took some time, and lots of studying tone.

I did start with the easy grid method, but I have had comments that these early scans can't be seen so I didn't scan it this time. Here I started with the face as it was the most critical part of the image and I wanted to get it down first.

The rest of this first body was really enjoyable to draw with lots of small tone variations and gentle turning plains.

Next I started on the long leg which helped to set the dark tones for the right side of the image and gave an edge to render to.

I added the other leg for balance and went back to add darker tones to the first leg. This was a pattern I continued to follow for the rest of the drawing.

The second head and shadow went in next. The second face had a slight darker tone than the body of the first figure, and the shadow tones were important there to define the two. Again I came back to the border between the two skin tones a few times here.

The rest of the skin area were added together as they had to work in relation to each other. I normally add basic dark tones first but here the difference in tones was not clear and so I worked on the contrast between them more.

The hair of the third figure took quite a bit of work in the end, but here I started with the basic blocks of tone to complete the first set of tones for the figures.

As the hair of the third figure provided much if the tone contrast and is in the foreground of this image I worked on it a bit more as a reference point.

As so much of this image was using subtle contrasting mid tones I felt I needed to start getting the darker bed sheets in to provide a background to render into.

The dark bed sheet and shadow tones made much of the early skin tones look too soft so I went back in to darken them up all over.

Again I went over the whole image and pulled out darker tones that were getting lost, starting of the first leg again.

Finally finishing off with again more darker tones and adding a node to the third figure which I missed of at the start. I thought there was something missing but it took this long to spot it :)

Slowly Undo It

Just a bit more...

A tame image for the front page of my new web site http://slowly.undo.it

As usual I started with the easy grid method.

I felt the ruffles on the top were a key detail feature of this image and were needed to set the tones of the image so I started with them.

Next I added some darker tones to add turning plains, and a border to contain the top on the left side.

For balance I added the opposite next, and aimed for slightly darker tones as the model's arm is turned away on this side.

The sleeves of this top were a little lighter than the main body. I added the key darker areas first to define the shape of the material.

Continuing I then completed the tone for the rest of the sleeve.

Once the top was blocked out I added the bra where the main contrast is in this image.

Then the shade tones were added to give shape to the breasts. These were a balance between darker tones to show shape and keeping the contrast with the bra. Also the skin near the bra was kept light as the curve of the breasts were reflecting the light.

The hands were added with light tones as they were near the level of the light and the edges held the most contrast as they case slight shadows.

Multiple slight passes were then made over the whole image to enhance edges and turning plains.

Pull

A study of simple plains.

Using col-erase pencil again, looking at simple turning plains over a larger area. This image has grown on me more since finishing it.

As usual started with the easy grid method.

I started with the background on this one. I wanted it to be quite dark and it would take a lot of working over, and I didn't want to be leaning on the main image to do the background.

Working from dark to light this time I started with the arm in shade. The hand took some time to do working on the turning plains, slowly increasing the contrast.

Next I worked on the other arm to balance the image and keep the relative tonal values. I didn't take a scan here, but the tone was added to the main body at a later stage.

Continuing with the body I added some darker tones to enhance the turning plains.

Finally I added tone to the ribbon. I was tempted to make the ribbon black, but I didn't want it to get lost in the background and the light in the reference didn't look like it would work with darker tones.