In the beginning....

I'm going to start at the beginning, because the beginning is always a good place to start....

The first few weeks, last year, of our art course, we were studying a still life. It was weird and completely random, but with all of the developments, this is what I got:

I look back in terror as to how terrible I was a year and a half ago...

What we have here, is the original pencil study, top, with several developments, including a colour pencil study, an acrylic paint study, and an Indian ink study.

To me, I can now see how terrible the perspective was, and there are slip ups in technique everywhere. but it is always good to remind you of where you've come from, and where you've reached.

This is one of my mounted sheets, recording AO3 Record, and AO2 Refine.

This is an enlarged section of my original tonal drawing, and, I think, the better half. Here, I do not have that dreadful xylophone with its dodgy perspective. What we have is the underside of the table, the paper covering it, and a plant pot. It's still not brilliant, but it's better.

I like to be different, so While everyone else sat on their chairs or on the tables to draw this, I was sat on the floor. To me, it was more interesting, because the table had some complex joins to it.

This is a section of my colour pencil study. I always love drawing with pencil, and it's one of my favourite media's to work in.

Here, my teacher had asked me to change the colours around and make them un-realistic. I firstly looked at her as if she was crazy, before doing as I was told. The final product looks OK, but I would never have chosen it. Yellow plants and Blue xylophones? I don't think so.

This is an acrylic paint study of a different section of the still life. I like the contrast in colours between the drum and the guitar. We did the acrylic studies because our teacher said it would be difficult to get even tone. For me, not so much...
My problem with it is that my ellipse is wrong, it's too pointy, which makes the drum look most odd.

I like using acrylics because of their versatility, but I tend to use them in complete absence of any water at all. It's because I'm more used to working with oil paints, but oils are not practical to use in a sketch book.

I am NOT doing a review of the Indian ink study because I despise it greatly.

This is a comparison of media. On the left, is a watercolour study, on the right is a coloured pencil study.
The image is taken from the original pencil drawing, and worked in natural colours.

My favourite is the watercolour study. Watercolours feel so natural to paint with, and can achieve a myriad of colours and tones effortlessly. I particularly love the tonal work in the bottom right corner, as it looks exactly like the table did when I drew it. I think this study is my favourite of them all, because it is different to the rest, softer and less stark.