New Drawing (Arms Folded I)

This is moderately not-safe-for-work... a nude model, though you can't see the pieces-parts.

Last night, I thought about what "style" I wanted to master... something I could call "mine". I spent a lot of time looking through my favourite artwork, taking notes as to what parts of them I really liked.

First and foremost, I like the style from the Classical Drawing Atelier book that I picked up some months ago: chiaroscuro, usually in charcoal and chalk on toned paper. (examples - NSFW) I love that effect, and want to make it my own.

Second, I like the "digital drawing style" found on, say, Deviant art. The stuff that people do with tablets. (example) ...I like the "sketchy" feel of these drawings, how you can see the painting lines because of the opacity of the strokes. It's distinctly digital, and I am very much of the digital era. It suits me.

I also like artwork that seems to glow, as both of the previous examples demonstrate. ...With muted colors: monochrome, really.

And, of course, I like nudes. : ) That said, I don't like "gratuitous nudity"... I like things to be subtle. I especially like moderately-close crops of anatomy (mostly female).

One of the strongest points I realized is that, though I *love* a drawing with good line, when I am drawing, it's all about tone. Tone, tone, tone, tone, tone. Light on forms. Minimal line, if any.

So, with that in mind, I immediately started working on the following image, when I woke up this morning. It's not quite on the mark, but it's a good start:

This was mostly "Charcoal" settings in Painter, with the hair done in "2B Pencil" and "Chalk", and heavy use of belenders, to work the tones and (hopefully) bring out some of those "digital edges" that I like.

Criticism welcome, though I already realize that the arms are too thin and the musculature of the belly is too wide.