Learning to See

Inspiration and practical advice for aspiring realist artists

  • Home
  • About
  • The Keys to Colour
  • Learn with me
  • My Work
  • Contact me

Onion – Still life Drawing Number Thirty-eight

October 6, 2006 By: Paulcomment

Still life drawing number Thirty-eight - Onion
Charcoal and white conte

This one was done with the onion sitting on a white napkin. For some reason, I seem to struggle with seeing the values right when I draw something on a white cloth, and this one was no exception.

I have a feeling that it’s because my brain is telling me “white” when my eyes are seeing dark grey, and also because the reflected light in the shadows is much more obvious, and I have a strong tendency to overstate it and lose the overall balance of the tones.

At the end of this one, I had a light crisscrossing of lighter tones running through the shadow at the back, spoiling the feeling of shadow. To fix it, I (rather heavy-handedly) went back in and re-stated the shadow darker.

It did help the drawing overall. The diagonal of the shadow helps to show the direction of the light, which in turn makes more sense of the shadows and highlights on the onion. Not very happy with this one though.

Back to 100 still life drawings

Free Value Tutorials

Subscribe: Join over 10,000 other artists and get free updates. I'll also email you THREE FREE value tutorials that will help you bring your pictures to life.

Thanks! Now check your email. Your first value exercise is on its way.

There was an error submitting your subscription. Please try again.

Powered by ConvertKit

About Paul

I'm a (mostly) self-taught artist. I paint realism in oils, mostly still life. I share my work, my evolving process and what knowledge I've gained on my own learning journey here, in the hope that it might help you along on
yours.

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Affordable monthly online workshops

Learn the Fundamentals of Painting in a Community that will Help You Grow

One month free trial

Find out more

Hi, I’m Paul

I'm a (mostly) self-taught artist. I paint realism in oils, mostly still life. I share my work, my evolving process and what knowledge I've gained on my own learning journey here, in the hope that it might help you on yours.
Read More…

paul foxton logo