Tonal Shading

 

  

Adding shading to the blocked out tonal sections was the most tedious part of the process, but is easly broken down into three stages.

Stage 1

To start of I painted in some general shapes and getting their very rough values in so compositions and tone can be check so we can make sure everything works well with each other. The reason I do this over the entire piece and not a focusing on smaller parts is because you can get lost in one part and then zoom out and find out its in the wrong place or that its just not working even though you have sunk a hefty chunk of time into making it look so detailed.

Stage 2

In this stage I started working further into rendering the scene, the key part of this process being to check  the overall image constantly. Two good ways to do this is firstly to zoom out and secondly to flip the canvas every now and then. Flipping the canvas forces the brain to reprocess the image again and this means the little things that go overlooked because you become used to seeing them and kicked back up into view. 

Stage 3

In this final stage I added the small details such as the trails in the bark of the tree and the edge shadows of the grass as it meets the dirt path , this is the bow on top of the piece and although these changes are not the most easy to see they build and support the detail around it and make a piece seem more fully developed overall.

Reflection 

I think that  the tonal shading went quite well in this piece, the strengths in my own opinion being the hedges and the rocks as they are rendered nicely. The hedges have variation so show the layers within the bush which is true to how it would look in person without having to spend ages over each individual leaf cluster. The rocks were a strength of the piece as I managed to keep a even balance of having them being rounded and smooth whist still having those more natural features such as cracks and uneven surfaces. I think the most underdeveloped part was the two benches as they seem quite boring in comparison to the rest of the piece and I think adding some detailing on the metal arm rests and the top of the back board would have helped to push it and develop this part further.