lego blocks

My first still life...and in pastels

No reviews on this beaut? That should be a felony.

Hey, Tex here, and I just have to say, "Whoa." First off, excellent medium choice. I really love it. The soft texture makes me think of Duplos, but it's still nice and smooth and plasticy like a Lego should be but not like a drawing should be (long sentence, sorry). I usually draw with charcoal, but this makes me wanna try pastels!

The shading is really great. On the bottom right block it seems a little too, well, blocky. It's white, and eighth of an inch of blending, and dark. It should have been blended a bit more, because now I think the light source is coming from the left side of the left blocks. It's not. The reflective light on the left blocks is just lovely. Compared to the left, the right blocks feel kind of like a cartoon without that bit of light.

Nice proportions on the right. The left blocks feel a bit amateur because the lines are off and skew. See, the top line is much more horizontal than the bottom. But the bottom is too slanted, so it's the bottom that needs fixing.

The knobs on top, of which for I can't think of a name, would look better if this weren't a 3D drawing. They go in a straight line, while the lines of the block are slanted. They're really good looking, just placed a bit wrong.

Also, I personally think it would be better cleaned up a bit on the edges, but that's just me.


Overall, I think this has some really amazing and gorgeous points, but others that just don't compete with the high quality. You're really talented, I'd love to see more of your work!

Keep it up!
-Tex

I never actually got the chance to finish it before my art teacher decided to move on. I'm not too good at shading, but this one was really fun for me. Thank you!

Hey Ambie! Here as requested.

Ok, so first impressions were pretty good on this! I'm not an awesome art reviewer but I'll give you my thoughts.

Shading wise, I like the left block better than the right block. The left block has some really nice gradual darkening going on, which is a really nice effect. However, on the right one there is a more block colour thing, which doesn't have the same effect as really good shading.
Also, the bobble things on the top could use some more tone to show that they are 3D and cylindrical - details like that do matter.

The lines on the blocks are a bit smudged as well. Pastels can smudge pretty easily and you'll probably want to clean that up. Sharp lines would be better for this because lego is, y'know, pretty solid.

What Texas said about the left block is true. The lines feel a little bit off so you might want to make them parralel to each other.

Hope this helps a little!

~Amy

Hi Amber!

Kamas here to review. A quick two cents before I get back to studying.

The shading is actually really great! There is a way to think about it. I'll put a picture at the bottom to show how to work on your shading. First pick a light source, light usually creates a rounded end so then it should get gradually get darker.

Maybe using a ruler at the beginning, lightly tracing out straight lines would have made it straighter and nicer. But it's to late for that. Possibly go over them lightly to make them a straight line.

Now in the picture: (it's bad but whatever It's meant to help.)

Orange = Light Source
Yellow = Light
Black = Lego block
Variations of red = shading

Hey Amber!

This is pretty impressive. It's excellent, and so far, I've used this picture twice as an example when I've shaded drawings.

My only quip is the shaky lines; When I draw, lots of times my lines are shaky and stuff. But, stronger lines are better! And, and, aaaand, watch the top of the blocks. They're not all the same size, not all even and stuff. Keep an eye on that as you draw.

Best of luck,

Juneth