RBGE Botanical Illustration Certificate: Unit 2 Reflection

I am feeling positive about Unit 2! This unit was all about graphite and how pencils in different hardness families layer together to create and build depth.

I observed through trial and error how to blend pencils and layer them to avoid harsh lines between shadows and explored getting midtones and highlights right. I did lean a bit on my kneaded eraser for lifting areas of graphite for highlights. Being a lefty is tricky with graphite! By the end of this unit, my comfort level with layering pencils had improved especially after my pear drawing. 

This time around my pear was a different shape. It was slightly curved to the left and had a slight tilt about it. I found this hard when mapping its points and felt I didn’t get the left side exactly right. In the interest of time, I moved on to practice and build up depth with shading instead of trying again. Thinking back I was excited to move on and practice laying down graphite. Another area of difficulty I noticed during this unit was when I was shading the right side on the back of the leaf. I found the shadows a bit harder to identify here because the leaf was laid flat. From my perspective, the left side shadows were easy to see and the right was just a bit lighter, but still in shadow. I think this caused a lack of depth on the right side of the drawing. This is an area I definitely need to work on, but overall I was happy with the outcome of this unit!

I learned a lot about midtones and deep shadows. However, identifying them on a flat lay subject is a skill I need to work on! I was able to identify the midtones and shadows easier on my pear and toilet roll which were both placed in front of me at eye level. When it came to the flat lay leaf, I found this a bit trickier. I hope to work on this skill as the course progresses. 

Overall, I am happy with my pear result and feel she really pops off the page!