As noted previously, there's a new work taking shape on the drawing board. And also as noted before, this one is going to be heavy on graphite. Not much showing as yet, I have basically been building up the strong darks in those shadow areas, layer upon layer of graphite.
Since this work is going to rely upon the subtleties of shadow as well as the intensity of strong light, I have to make certain that all those different surfaces move backwards and forwards. To that end, I am making strong use of the softest of my pencils, at the moment using a lot of HB, 2B and 4B, to lay down my sharpest darks at the first as I will then work away from those and use ever harder grades of graphite to render softer, lighter, less intense shades of black.
Unlike my painter friends, who will use cool colors to make objects recede and warm colors to make things move forward on their canvases, I can only make use of shades of grey. Layering subtle variations of black and grey tones one on top of the other, will produce the needed distances.
One thing I have always maintained when offering a critique on a young artist's work is to never be afraid to go dark. I think in a lot of instances, what might otherwise be a very fine work, can be just that much off as a result of the artist being afraid to go dark and using intense tonality to define shadow and light. Ten minutes worth of sparking a work with an HB or 2B where needed can make the difference, I feel, between a pleasant work and a really striking, inviting and well defined work.