these were my first attempts where l faced quite a challenge with value. Despite the challenge l noticed that in some instances the cast shadow could be casted on the form shadow and l wondered of the drawing approach towards that.

My name is Kevin, and this was my take on the assignment. Gladly pass on any critique on how l could further improve my pencil renderings

Hi Samuel! Great Asaro head study! Something for the simples shapes studies is that I'd recommend starting by placing the terminator line, then the shadow group, then layering on top to add the halftones and darkening the darkest areas of the shadows. Being able to break down any subject into just light and dark groups is key to rendering and shading. Also, as for charcoal, it can be rather textural depending on what type you are using and on what type of paper. In my experience, charcoal paper has given me more texture, so I opted for smoother drawing paper, but I didn't experiment much beyond that. I would recommend just trying different kinds to see what you like best personally or looking at reviews. Also, as you are practicing, try out newsprint if you can--it's very cheap so you can get a lot of mileage practicing without worry, it's good with charcoal, and ateliers tend to use it.

Hi there! Remember to keep the shadows darker than the lights. While it's great you're taking into account the reflected light, the effect it has on the egg would be much softer, so the value would remain darker than even the darkest light area. Hope this helps, keep up the good work :)

Tasty digital eggs :)

Hi @opaqueapple, nice studies! I think the core shadows are really nice! - I think the values in the shadow are getting to close to the values in the light, which diminishes the feeling of form.  As a rule of thumb 'the lightest dark should be darker than the darkest light'. You might appreciate this video Mind-Blowing Realistic Shading Tricks. If you want to learn more about values, you can access the How to Organize Values lesson for free through the Proko Course Sampler. Hope this helps :)

Your shadows stand out as being nice to me (especially the occlusion and the terminator) It could be the photo, but I think you could benefit from making the center light lighter. Also adding in a highlight would be nice. Overall I think your shadows are great and your egg looks very 3D.

The cast shadow need to be stronger

Hi @tudor, I think these are really nice. The structure is great and the shape design really cool and strong. I'm still working on getting good at shading, but I'll do my best to help: -I think you're right about the value hierarchy. I think it would help to darken the shadows slightly. The value of the hair cheek and neck is quite close to the halftone value, which can confuse the viewer about the form. You might appreciate watching this video Mind-Blowing Realistic Shading Tricks, especially the two common shading mistakes from 6:50 --> - Another thing that helps clarify the form, is the quality of the edges. The transition from light to shade on a form is usually soft (the core shadow/the terminator edge) and cast shadow edge usually hard. Of course, there are exceptions to this, but it is a helpful formula that can give clarity to a drawing in the early stages. Trying to apply it will also force you to analyze what is form shadow and what is cast shadow. That alone, I think, gives the drawing a more authentic look. I tried applying this idea to your drawings in my paintover. I learned this from a course by @Joseph Todorovitch on New Masters Academy called From Paper to Canvas. It helped me a lot. If you plan on taking it I would recommend signing up for NMA's newsletter since they quite often have deals that can make membership more inexpensive. Hope this helps :)

The biggest issue I see so far with your eggs is not the drawing but the materials. You're using paper with lots of texture, which is okay, but if you want to get smoother shading you're drawing will need to be much larger so the interstices of the paper does not distract from the shading. Or get some smoother paper for this shading exercise. Try that first, your shading make become more clear afterwards. Hope it helps!

It looks good. Maybe a darker accent where the egg meets the table. And perhaps the reflected light is a little overstated. I am a beginner at shading too, but I hope that helps!

Eggcellent 🤠