Spooky Pumpkin

My goals for this piece were to learn how to achieve value in a realistic way using dramatic lighting. I accomplished this by using charcoal for the shadows and an eraser and chalk for the lighter spaces. The most difficult part was trying to create the stem with all of the little details vines sticking out. I constantly went back and layered the compressed charcoal with the white chalk to try and mimic the stringiness of the end of the stem. I learned to not focus on what we know about an item but to look at what we see. If I could do this over, I would probably focus on the stem first instead of leaving it for last. I really enjoyed learning how to use charcoal and enjoyed getting my hands messy and actually being able to use my finger directly.