Lines and Shadows

One thing I have done over the years lead to the concept for this series. I try to get to my studio as often as possible. I usually have some painting or project I am working on, so I always have something to do when I get there. However, sometimes the spirit is not in me to work on the project that is pressing. So, when that happens, I work on my figure studies. I have hundreds of sketchbooks full of figure studies now. These studies lead to my drawing the figures holding things and eventually rocks over there heads.

For this series, I have decided to use a thick, dark line to outline the highlighted side of the figure. Where the shadow meets the edge of a drawing, I will usually not use a hard line and let the dark values do the work of the line. Because of the rock being overhead, much of the figure is in shadow. Also, the rock and figure will cast a shadow on the ground. But this shadow will be minimal and hopefully not overwhelm the drawing.