Charcoal sketch by Aura

This is my first charcoal drawing since an attempt at art high school 15 years ago on paper they gave me that was not suited for charcoal. It was a mess and I didn’t enjoy it. I absolutely love this medium now!

So here are things I already know are wrong in the drawing:

1. The wrist is too narrow – I’m quite sure I measured it carefully in my pencil sketch, but then focused in a too detailed manner and lost sight of the proportions of the wrist

2. The spool I was holding/resting my hand on appears kind of flat

3. The metacarpal of the thumb also looks kinda flat? I’m not sure how I’d improve it though.

4. Last but not least, the curve of the knuckles is inverted! Again, I’m quite sure I did this right in the constructive sketch but then focused on individual details in the shades rendering and somehow moved the knuckles around.

Obviously, I did it by copying what I was seeing instead of drawing constructively. I haven’t been able to shuck the habit of copying and frequently catch my thoughts drifting while my hand is moving on its own. (I think that’s probably ok though when I’m doing something I know and don’t need to think about consciously.) I also still, though not very frequently anymore, catch myself with thoughts such as, “here’s a dark area” instead of thinking about why it’s dark and what value it has. A life time of copying is really getting in my way!

Aura