The first part of our first assignment was, of course, to sketch a chair outside of class.
Here is my first chair:

I was really excited about this assignment. I enjoy drawing for ‘fun’, but having this kind of structure is something I always appreciate; I find I produce better works when given a specific topic as compared to when I just come up with something on my own. Hopefully that will change in the future, but for now I will enjoy the class to the fullest.
As for how I went about starting this project, I started it just like I start every other still life: I found a good angle that inspired me to actually start. I’ve found that I’m very specific about where I sit/stand in order to get the best view, and I spent a good amount of time doing just that. Unfortunately the room was quite full, so I did the best I could. I chose this angle because it had very interesting negative space
At first I had wanted to do a fully shaded piece (especially since I tend to smudge my lines without noticing), but the further I went, the more I liked this simple line drawing. So after I had finished basic outline, rather than adding the shading as I had planned, I just went back and darkened the lines, leaving me with this. I tried to erase most of the smudges (they’re much easier to see on the original), and then left it as it was.
I’m not too pleased with the way the seat of the chair meets with the back (the figure just seems off), but the negative space I ended with looks exactly as it was meant to, which I am quite proud of.
And now, for the second chair we worked on in class.

Charcoal is my favorite media to use, and I like to think I do good work with it. As some people said in our critique session on Thursday, a lot of effort went into finding the perfect angle, which I did. As you can see, it is almost the exact opposite of the first chair drawing (which I actually did not do on purpose), and I think that helps the two of them look interesting when compared side by side.
All in all, I do like my second chair more than the first – whether that’s because of the charcoal is up for debate. I really like the way the back of the chair (the section facing the viewer) came out; the negative space there is exactly what I wanted. The “string technique” is a big reason for that, to be sure. It helped me get the spaces right, which was a big factor in how well that section came out.
There were, unfortunately, two parts of the second chair that did not work out the way I had planned.
First is the negative space near the front legs of the chair.

Since the physical chair is not in front of you, it’s difficult to tell that the space if just a little off. With Dr. Ruby’s input, though, I was able to figure out that this space is off because the seat of the chair is off.

It simply needed to be at a different angle. Unfortunately I did not have time to adjust it, but if I had, the negative space in the legs would have fixed itself. If I have time later on, I’d love to go back and make those changes.
Even without them, though, I am please with how both the first and second chair came out.