sharpened a pastel down to a stub and now I can't do the eyes
Working on a portrait of my neighbour, third attempt at the same face. I had one dark grey pastel, perfect for the line under the eyelid, and I ground it down to almost nothing over a week. Now the eyes look hard and dead and I know it's because I'm drawing with the side of something too blunt.
I ordered a replacement four days ago. Polish post being Polish post, it's sitting somewhere in a sorting hall in Katowice.
In the meantime I've been building up the ear and the jaw instead, telling myself it's "preparation". It's not, it's avoidance. But the jaw is honestly the best thing I've done in months, so maybe the delay is doing me a favour. Hard to tell when you're inside it.
Does anyone else get weirdly attached to one stick of pastel like it's a tool you'll never find again? Or is that just me being sentimental about grey.
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The blunt pastel is doing exactly what a blunt pastel does, and no amount of building up the jaw will fix the eyelid line. You already know this, which is why the jaw turned out well. Avoidance is often where the good work hides, naja.
What I would say: a dark grey ground down to a stub is a very specific thing, and the replacement from Katowice will not be the same one. The new stick will be a different grey with a different bite and you will spend a week learning it. That is not wasted either, but it is a different job than the one you are stuck on.
If the eyes are dead, it is usually not only the tool. Check whether you are drawing the eye or the idea of an eye. Third attempt at the same face is a lot of looking already, and sometimes the hardness comes from having looked too long at your own drawing instead of at the neighbour.
"naja" and a Katowice sorting hall in the same reply, are you also stuck here? 😅
You are right about the new stick not being the same grey, and I hate that you are right. I keep pretending the replacement will just slot in and the eyes will open up. It won't, it'll be a stranger for a week. Thank you for saying the jaw isn't wasted though. I needed to hear that part more than the eyelid part, honestly.