Slate

Finally! Another Art Coursework post! This one refers to the section I spent studying a selection of slate rocks from by garden path...

Tonal Pencils

Slate

Clay

Above are the collections that I created from the slate: A Tonal pencil drawing, then the slate itself, and finally a collection of clay pieces that I shaped into the rocks.

Slate is interesting and difficult to draw because it is a layered rock. The splitting of these layers is easier than trying to break it up perpendicular to the layers because the molecular forces between the layers is weaker. Random Physics thrown in there.... either way, the effect was hard to replicate, as was the texture, in both the clay and the pencil drawing.

I like the pencil drawing. It was the most detailed one that I'd done up until that point, and it took me several hours. The shapes of the pieces themselves were intriguing, and rather complex, something I hadn't really planned for when choosing to study them.

The clay was more tolerable than usual. I detest clay, as it never does what I ask it to, usually. But, as These were smaller objects that I was trying to work with, I think it was easier - which is probably a fluke.

Painting them was fun as well... Instead of using glazes as we usually do in school, I used acrylics to create the dappled grey effect. This was more realistic, I found.

Overall, I'm very pleased with them. They could have been better, ut isn't that always the case?

What I learnt from this was to be realistic when choosing a subject to draw - the slate was difficult. It also depends on what  drawing style you want to use - photorealistic is harder to create than line or crosshatching. I also learnt to tolerate clay. For now.