Tags
art, artwork, Creatacolor Monolith, Derwent, drawing, Eberhard-Faber, graphite, H pencil, illustration board, sketching, strathmore, tree, wagon wheel, water-soluble graphite, wood fencepost, woodless pencils
tree and wagon wheel in graphite
What is it that is appealing about an unfinished work? It could be that it’s like a flower; something beautiful unfolding. It could be the mystery in it; the potential, the chance for our imagination to fill in the blanks.
I also think that it’s due to the delicious contrast present in an unfinished work; the bright white against the darkness of the places already “filled-in”. It’s like the brilliance of a sunny day.
The lesson I learn from this is to let some white areas in the finished drawing, and try not to add so much detail to the darker areas that I lose the brilliance. In other words, fight my tendency to get carried away!
The technical stuff
Strathmore Illustration board, vellum finish, is the substrate. 2B sketch pencil used to outline basic shapes. Cretacolor Monolith woodless pencils, 2B & 9B, used to achieve good darks. Derwent Graphitone water-solubles for areas of solid tone, Everhard -Faber Microtomic H to do some very light shading and to clean up the edges on areas where the graphitone or creatacolor pencils are used, as they leave a slightly ragged edge, at least on this paper. ( I always knew there had to be some use for the ‘hard” range of pencils; just didn’t know what it was till now. )
About Sketching 
Lovely drawing. I think unfinished or white areas allow the viewers brain to complete the puzzle, sustaining interest. And yes, yearning for potential:)
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Thanks, Elena, for the compliment, & for your thoughts. Glad to know there are other artists out there thinking & analyzing like me, & coming to the same conclusions.
You’ve been doing some lovely watercolors and oils. (I’d taken a sort of hiatus from blog-reading, what with the inevitable summertime outdoor work, but really enjoyed what I saw of your work today.)
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I really like this unfinished drawing. Very nice how the finished or at least most developed parts glides into the more sketch-like parts. I think this opens up for viewers to make up their own visual story, encouraging their fantasy.
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Thanks, Otto. I agree. I think I liked the drawing at this unfinished stage better than when it was completed. There’s definitely a lesson here for me: avoid going “hog-wild” with detail; let something to the viewer’s imagination.
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Reblogged this on Lee Wilde.
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Thanks; I’m flattered!
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