Amber Darling

‘Female Nude Study (Back)’ is a half-hour drawing of the back of a sitting female. I used soft lines and shadowing to depict the lounging woman. I feel the drawing is very successful because the soft drawing style I chose to use matches the relaxed pose and atmosphere.

“Female Nude Study (Sitting)’ is a longer two-hour drawing of a sitting female. I meticulously drew the shadows and highlights on the figure to create a realistic and elegant form. My only complaint about the drawing is its rigidity, which tends to occur when I put a lot of detail into my drawings; something that I need to work on.

‘Head Study (Profile)’ is a ten-minute graphite drawing of a female profile. The woman’s slight double chin is emphasized by her downward gaze. I like this drawing because it reminds me of a delicate Renaissance sketch.

‘Head Study (3/4 View)’ is a ten-minute graphite drawing of a female head at a ¾ view. If there had been more time, I would have elaborated on the shading.

‘Self-Portrait (Serious)’ is a charcoal drawing of myself that I did as a freshman in college. I hate doing self-portraits, which is probably obvious considering my less than enthusiastic facial expression.

‘Male Study (3/4 View)’ is a two-hour charcoal drawing with white conte crayon highlights of a man sitting at a ¾ angle. There is a good combination of soft and hard lines within the drawing that gives it a relaxed, yet strong and masculine, feeling. The man’s pectoral, abdominal, and leg muscles at the ¾ view were definitely a challenge to draw.

‘Male Nude Study (Standing)’ is a five-minute study of a standing male. I quickly drew in the outline with harsh thick broad strokes giving the drawing a very masculine and slightly geometric look. This is especially evident in the calves, chest muscles, biceps, and even in the hairline where corners are square and not rounded.

‘Orange and Blue Study’ is based on the black and white photograph “Jacques Prevert” by famous French photographer Robert Doisneau. For my college color theory class, we were asked to create a painting using the complementary colors of orange and blue. Complementary colors are a pair of colors found opposite each other on the color wheel and therefore ‘compliment’ each other or appear brighter when placed together in a painting.