I wanted dance shoes with a story. Used shoes of any sort have a zillion times more character than the shiny new ones. I found this pair at a local dance studio. The owner/teacher had spent time dancing professionally and kept several pair of her old shoes hanging on one of the barre's in the studio. They fascinated me every time I was there. So I finally asked if I could borrow a pair for a week and used the time photographing the shoes in a variety of settings, situations and positions. (It seemed appropriate for ballet shoes :) ) This was the shot I started with:
It wasn't everything I wanted though so I added a rose from this shot, a bud from another, etc.
In the end, this was the final sketch.
I LOVE working on colored grounds so chose a stony blue Strathmore pastel paper this time. I was a little concerned that the final art might be too "cool" but after reflection decided it matched the style I was aiming for.
I should also mention I was testing out a new set of watersoluable graphite pencils - Derwent Graphitint Pencils. I began filling in some light background on the shoes and building some of the highlights with a white pencil.
One problem I realized fairly quickly is that I hit a saturation point where the surface became too slick to add more far sooner than I liked. On a different paper, it probably wouldn't have happened as quickly but I didn't want to give up on the piece at this point. To compensate somewhat, I hit the darkest shadows with the darkest blue the set had to offer. But I wasn't concerned about "finishing" these areas until I had more color in place.
The next step was to start adding the greens. This set offered three shades and I varied them to keep the light consistent with the slippers. The greens actually blended very nicely and I left the leaf veins alone until the final layer was ready to be put down after the roses were colored.
The colors in the roses provided more of a challenge. A very limited sets of reds/pinks in this set meant I only had one or two choices. After a couple false starts down in a corner of the paper, I elected to use only one color for the roses but build the layers to provide the shaping and shadow.
Once these areas were in, I went back with the white pencil and smoothed the layers of the rose petals, adding a few highlights, as well as pumping the contrast as much as I could on the slippers. When the white wouldn't lay down any more, I switched back to the deep blue and built up the shadows around the slippers to increase the contrast. I did find the background a bit too cool still so took a medium brown to shade a little further out around the slippers. By the "rules," a warm background can seem awkward but because the whole piece was so cool in tone (by my design), I liked the contrast it provided.
I still found there was a bit of a "disconnect" between the flowers and the ballet slippers, but eventually resolved that by putting very thin (and I do mean very thin) hints of the burgundy shade from the rose into the edges of the slippers - around the toes, the lace casings and the satin ribbons over the insteps. It didn't take much accent at all to help give a harmony to the entire piece.
An extra comment: I took this piece to a critique night framed with a black core grey mat and a white frame. It looked fine but, again, made the shoes recede a little into the mass of cool background. After some more experimentation, it is now framed with a standard white mat, and a hammered pewter-colored frame. It's a classic look and I am pleased with it.
The finished piece can be seen in my Etsy store here.
*Note: I mix the lighting when I photograph my artwork to give me a sense of what might be missing in certain conditions. Sometimes, the photos look a little foggy as a result but it is intentional on my part. You get to see it as I do.
I LOVE working on colored grounds so chose a stony blue Strathmore pastel paper this time. I was a little concerned that the final art might be too "cool" but after reflection decided it matched the style I was aiming for.
I should also mention I was testing out a new set of watersoluable graphite pencils - Derwent Graphitint Pencils. I began filling in some light background on the shoes and building some of the highlights with a white pencil.
One problem I realized fairly quickly is that I hit a saturation point where the surface became too slick to add more far sooner than I liked. On a different paper, it probably wouldn't have happened as quickly but I didn't want to give up on the piece at this point. To compensate somewhat, I hit the darkest shadows with the darkest blue the set had to offer. But I wasn't concerned about "finishing" these areas until I had more color in place.
The next step was to start adding the greens. This set offered three shades and I varied them to keep the light consistent with the slippers. The greens actually blended very nicely and I left the leaf veins alone until the final layer was ready to be put down after the roses were colored.
The colors in the roses provided more of a challenge. A very limited sets of reds/pinks in this set meant I only had one or two choices. After a couple false starts down in a corner of the paper, I elected to use only one color for the roses but build the layers to provide the shaping and shadow.Once these areas were in, I went back with the white pencil and smoothed the layers of the rose petals, adding a few highlights, as well as pumping the contrast as much as I could on the slippers. When the white wouldn't lay down any more, I switched back to the deep blue and built up the shadows around the slippers to increase the contrast. I did find the background a bit too cool still so took a medium brown to shade a little further out around the slippers. By the "rules," a warm background can seem awkward but because the whole piece was so cool in tone (by my design), I liked the contrast it provided.
I still found there was a bit of a "disconnect" between the flowers and the ballet slippers, but eventually resolved that by putting very thin (and I do mean very thin) hints of the burgundy shade from the rose into the edges of the slippers - around the toes, the lace casings and the satin ribbons over the insteps. It didn't take much accent at all to help give a harmony to the entire piece.
An extra comment: I took this piece to a critique night framed with a black core grey mat and a white frame. It looked fine but, again, made the shoes recede a little into the mass of cool background. After some more experimentation, it is now framed with a standard white mat, and a hammered pewter-colored frame. It's a classic look and I am pleased with it.The finished piece can be seen in my Etsy store here.
*Note: I mix the lighting when I photograph my artwork to give me a sense of what might be missing in certain conditions. Sometimes, the photos look a little foggy as a result but it is intentional on my part. You get to see it as I do.
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