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.

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