I have to say that as I do these I'm astonished at how much texture even very smooth paper has. In doing these quick ones I've not taken the time to island hunt and smooth everything out. I am looking forward to the refined head to see what I can do with more time and attention. Seeing all of this finally makes me understand why my shading always went too dark as a kid. Not knowing about island hunting or kneadable erasers meant that I would use too much pressure to get an even tone thus pushing things too dark, and that I only thought of erasers for removal and not refinement.

First worm problems

Some of the 250 box challenge I am working through.

Before and after

The only one that I'm really not happy with is the shiny one from the ring location. I found it difficult to get the highlight to have enough contrast with the center light without ending up with dirty lights.

It's difficult to get a good shot of this without shine in the pencil.

I'm always afraid that everything is too dark, and often times my fears become reality. This is a tough one for me for sure.

Here's my first attempt.

I figured with an image of myself I would have any usage issues with:

Not totally happy with this, but will try to practice this some more in the future. I suppose I should give myself some grace for a first try.

Didn't think I should take the time to go in and even out the tone to remove the texture of the paper. I didn't think that was the point of the exercise, though I could probably use the practice in doing so.

Still hung up on my darks.

Went back to lighten some of the darker values.

Simple AO Study

Eggsperiments