Zoe Jackson, Charcoal Life Drawing, Meat

This is one of the observational life drawings I had created of a tray of meat. I used charcoal as my medium on an A1 sized sheet of paper. I haven't previously experimented much with charcoal, and actually found it to be an interesting material to work with. It helped me to create varied textures; the smooth surface of the liver, and the rough texture of the gristle filled rougher cuts of meat. I hadn't worked on such a large scale before and struggle to spend such a long period of time (1 hour 15 minutes in this case) working on pieces and found myself quickly filling the spaces, being first to finish. I do prefer my quicker 5 minute pieces, for the rough quick  markings which seem to suit charcoal well.

I edited the picture on Photoshop. I firstly removed the background and made a soft blur around the edges, which worked well in contrast to the bold charcoal markings. I then edited the brightness and contrast, making the image which previously looked dark brighter and also bolder by increasing the contrast.

I then layered two other copies of the picture behind, both of bigger scales. I decreased the opacity of both, making them seem like a ghostly shadow. I think the idea of a ghostly shadow works well with the charcoal, the bold & shadowy markings it creates as well as the imagery of raw meat.