I have been working on more pen and ink still life's. Well actually I have been working on more still life's period. The one above is from a WetCanvas Pen and Ink forum monthly challenge picture. I often download the monthly challenge images that I like and print them out. Course I may not do the drawing in the month the challenge is issued but when I am looking for something to draw they can be fun to pull out. The above photograph was part of the November 2013 challenge, various peppers and a few citrus fruits in a bowl.
This much simpler still life was done from the real deal, some bananas and an apple that I had on hand for snacks. First drawing is a quick pen and ink sketch. At least this time I think I managed to get the plate shape mostly correct.
Same grouping of fruits, just this time the media is graphite. The second drawing of the same subject is usually more accurate visually than the first drawing. That is true even without erasures which I can do with the graphite. It is certainly easier to get shading with the graphite than with the ink, but I do like the stark lines of ink.
Last week I was playing in one of my sketchbooks with pen and ink and drew the above motif. I scanned it into the computer and pulled it into Photoshop.
The above image is what I ended up with after several hours of playing around. Have to say that the background is way too dark, though I do like the gradation. The advantage of a computer program is that I can easily go in and modify the background. Not sure that I will bother, I had thought before I started that I would like the results, but in actuality I don't. I won't say that I wasted my time making this, since I was using skills I haven't used in a while and refreshing my memory about Photoshop tools isn't a bad thing to do, but I think I will think twice before I try this kind of thing again.
During this experiment I was trying to use the color replacement brush in Photoshop. On the surface this looks like a very easy to use tool, in practice I found it very frustrating as it doesn't seem to really replace a color more like combine the color that was there with the new color selected. I am willing to believe that I wasn't using the tool correctly but I am more inclined to believe that it is doing what it is supposed to, after all if I were touching up a photograph I probably wouldn't want/need a total replacement of color. As I think about it what got me into trouble was trying to replace a color I had already replaced. Have to think about this a bit more and maybe if I am feeling like it do some more playing around.
The above photograph I made earlier this week and is of some old gravestones in a small cemetery. Small old cemeteries are tucked into corners here and there in Brockton. There is one just around the corner from me, though this one is a bit further away. They are fenced off so not accessible to the casual visitor (too many vandals) so I can't tell you the dates on the stones, but they are slate which was used in colonial times so I would guess that these date to the late 1700's or early 1800's. There was probably once a Church nearby, now long gone.
That is it for today, per usual comments are welcome.
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