My Chess Piece~

For my chess piece, I had used many different strategies and resources in order to achieve a realistic effect of lighting, shadow, and proportion. This was a process that took over the course of about a week and a few days. First, I needed to get a sense of where the center of the page was by dividing the page into two sections down the middle with a ruler. Next, I very lightly etched the outline of the chess piece in front of me, (I had been using a model reference of an actual chess piece.) but had left the section where the glasses were to break in front of the glasses blank, as I would be sketching in that part later to get a better sense of proportion. I had borrowed the glasses of a friend and placed them in front of the chess piece in order to get the distorted effect from the near-sighted lenses. That was a large part of my goal for this project.

I managed to create a 3D effect by stepping outside of my comfort barrier in sketching, and using darker shades. Normally, I would fear using dark shades as there is always a possibility I could mess up and not be able to go back. However, after a while I began getting used to it and using different shades more naturally while blending and creating a base. Had I used my regular colour scheme, (With lighter colours,) The initial POP of the chess piece would be much more difficult to see.

I used balance in this sketch with symmetry on each side of the glasses and chess piece. The shading meets in the middle, and is almost a reflection of itself on either side. This looks balanced because nothing really changes much except when your eye is led to the background. This is where I used the very darkest shades, which I personally think contrast nicely with the lighter shades on the chess piece. For the background, I had chosen to use "pattern," as the chess piece is fairly complicated on it's own. Had I chosen anything else, (Such as movement, perhaps,) It may have began overpowering the chess piece and become much less pleasing to the eye.