This one was done with a Staedtler 8b pencil, which consists of a mix of graphite and carbon, no shine and smooth. Sharpened to a chisel point, light construction lines first laid down with a standard 2b. Very nice until I try to go a little dark with the 8B, and it suddenly goes from smooth and light to grabby, gummy and too dark, with nothing in between. I like the thickness of the lead, but I think I'll switch to standard 6B pencils - my scanner seems able to handle it without picking up graphite shine unless I really burnish the darks. Love the way this pencil does lines though!
Digitally cleaned up version:
I really hit the jackpot with the plaster head I ordered - especially considering I was afraid it might break in shipping, but it didn't. It's called Head of a Roman Youth (I could swear I've also seen it called Augustus Caesar somewhere too) and has apparently been used in ateliers forever. Makes me feel connected with the whole history of art. Plus you can clearly see most of the planes of the head (face anyway) in all their varied edge qualities.
I was struggling to get used to drawing with a flat carpenter's pencil to get those broad chisel-edge strokes that can look so good, what has worked best so far is a woodless 6b pencil (broken piece of) in a pencil extender. That's what I used tonight for the (2nd) head.
And I finally struggled through to the bitter end of the Tiepolo! What a slog… I feel like I got beat up or something. And those crazy feet!! This guy is one hell of an artist though, and in certain ways reminds me of Corben - mainly because of the strong emphasis on form almost to the point of going too far. He puts core shadows and bounce light on every finger and toe!! Geeze!
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