Charcoal Pumpkin Project

For this piece, my goals were to improve my charcoal skills and convey a good sense of shadows and highlights. I accomplished my goals by using charcoal, white chalk, and erasers to create my pumpkins. My piece is about dramatic shadows and interesting composition. The most difficult challenge I had to face was using charcoal. I'm not used to using charcoal and it took some practice to get the hang of using it. I met this challenge by just bearing my way through it and experimenting to see what worked and what didn't. My piece really works in portraying dark shadows and giving the pumpkins depth. I have learned that bringing out darker shadows really makes artwork pop. I used lighter and darker shadows and I really like them. A mentor that inspired me were other students. Last year, I remember seeing their charcoal pumpkins hung up and the walls and I thought they were super cool. I wanted to channel their work through this piece. A student in my class that I learned from was Sarah. I really admire her work ethic and how careful she is with all her pieces. The way she works gives her artwork a unique feel. If I had to redo anything, I would probably just try to copy another picture and see how I can experiment with different angles and shadows. I would also try to do more dramatic highlights. I feel best about how the pumpkins looks. I love how the stems look and how the the black background complements everything else. I'm really proud of this piece and I think it's a step up from the charcoal picture I did last year.