Inktober 2019 Retrospective | Day 17: Ornament

I do love toned paper.

Not entirely sure why she's holding a peach, but yeah. This is one of my best pieces from Inktober 2019. I don't know how many pieces I've made, but creating volumes with darkness from the ink or pencil and light from white charcoal or gel pen never gets old. The pearls seem so solid, so real. And the way they're standing out against the black of her skin creates such a vivid contrast. All the textures, the different jewelry, the way some dangle and some fit snugly. I wish I could have added more to accentuate the effect.

Have you ever seen a piece of art with elements that seem so tangible, you involuntarily start rubbing your fingers together, almost like you're trying to feel it in your hands? This picture makes me do that.

My hands are getting better here, as well. It's good to have minor successes with things you wish to improve on. Once one thing goes right, you're enticed to try again and again. Even when there's a failure, you're still racking up experience points. This past Inktober has been good for my hands.

My one big regret is that the big round thing in the backdrop is too close in value to the shading on the peach. Perhaps it should have been much darker or much lighter. As it stands now, the peach doesn't come forward as much as it needs to. The backdrop is sort of sucking the peach into itself. The separation isn't clear enough.

This piece is beautiful as it is, but I feel it could be just as lovely in a digital space. I would lose the texture of pen to paper, but I would gain a control of color and lighting I only have in Photoshop. Black, gold, and white would look quite striking.

Thanks for reading~

#ink #inktober #midtone #silhouettewoman