Figures - Direct Lighting

     I had always seen tortillons as crude tools for blending. Smudging, I felt, would flatten the picture at best and blur it to shit at worst. I hate to dirty my fingers, so it wasn’t until I made a few tortillons and tried them out on these direct-lighting figures that their true efficacy became clear. You can probably tell from my previous stills (if the image is sharp enough) that smudging graphite is new for me. I’d call this another great leap forward—which isn’t to say I’ve mastered the tool. A stump can help soften and hide mistakes, but it isn’t a magic wand. Now I have to get used to putting down the right amount of graphite for it to reach the right tone when blended, and that takes practice. Even so, Vilppu was correct in teaching indirect lighting first. It doesn’t look as appealing to my taste, but it is easier and better for a beginner learning to shade figures. Hence, my next set will have indirect lighting and I’ll return to direct later on.

10/16/2014