Throughout this project, I improved my craftsman ship with graphite massively. Shadows and certain details of light and shading were very interesting to experiment with and learn about. One of the things I improved most was actually skill with the eraser. Using different sizes, eraser shields, different pressure and other techniques, I gained many new skills with shading. Erasers are actually just as important as the pencil, because they represent the light, while shading with graphite is just shadow or absence of light. Learning how to use an eraser well greatly improved the realism of my drawing and shading.

Three dimensions were much harder to represent in this project since one must draw depth on a two dimensional space. One of the ways to represent it was directional lines, or curves, much like on the edge of the can with lines contouring to the can's shape. Another is diagonal lines going into space, like on the wood blocks.

The next thing to represent was value. This was very intricate, and complicated, especially with metal that has reflective properties. This makes lots of different light and dark areas, depending on what is around the can reflecting off of it. There are ways that I eventually found to simplify it, and not doing too much detail, while preserving realism. Small horizontal curved lines worked well for metal since cans have a bit of light distortion and jitter in their reflections and surfaces. Therefore, it didn't have to be a smooth gradient (with blending), but instead layered lines. Shadows were simpler, also with shortcuts: Pitch black, thin outline on very bottom on opposite side of light source. Then fade out with simple smudge gradient for a soft edged shadow.

Graphite was definitely my preferred medium. It has risks, since it is very hard to replicate or precisely erase if an error is made. But overall, it is much more versatile, with many more possibilities due to the simplicity of the medium. Photos are very exact, and the creativity really ends after the photo is taken. The rest is only to make it look as sexy as possible when it is developed for show. Graphite however has many options, from realism, to sketchy, to simplistic, to expressionistic. Even when doing realism, there is lots of room for creativity, since one must figure out how to accurately represent exactly what they see, which is a lot harder than it sounds. Overall, I feel much more comfortable and free using graphite.

One of the ways to improve my experience with pencil is to put down scrap paper so I don't smudge anything. A lot of times, when far into a drawing, it starts to get much more opaque due to smudged graphite. This could be solved if I protected the project with a piece of paper where I'm not drawing.

For photography, I would say the most important step is making sure when you actually take the photo, it must be perfect, otherwise, you can't really get it right or any better when developing. There was lots of noise in the photos. I'm not sure of the reason, but I think a more precise photograph would at least help. After that, I just need to be more patient and careful with the baths, since often I don't develop it right, or I have developer on my fingers when taking the photo, and screw it up. I'm not to fond of the long process, but there were certain easy fixes to make my work better.

Test Strips helped a lot in this project. One of the best ways to learn how to use the materials was by experience to get a feel for the effects of exposure time, developing time techniques, and filters. Light, though simple, has very profound effects with only small changes. At first it is quite tedious to learn the methods to improve a photo, because there are so many steps where something can go wrong, so it is hard to be consistent enough to perfect anything. It definitely takes persistence and patience to get it right, since each failure takes about 10 minutes to discover. Eventually, I did warm up to it, but actually, my very best photo was my first, by some luck. It was my favorite photo anyway, so I am fine with one good one. The easiest thing to perfect was focus, since it is immediately noticeable. The hardest was exposure time, and filtering.

This project definitely developed my artistic practice, since I've never done any photo developing besides the previous rayogram project. I've learned a lot about developing techniques, and how light behaves. This is fairly easy to represent dimension, since it is automatic. Value however, is harder, because contrast and exposure must be adjusted. I learned that filters create more contrast with whiter whites, and darker darks.