Edit: I tried to change the file and it crapped out, so I removed it and posted the file that actually looks black and white. :)

I'm taking a drawing class at school right now, and our first project was a charcoal drawing of one of the still-lifes the teacher had set up around the room. I chose to do a still life of a saucer that had some cookies on it because nobody else was doing it. Most people were either using a sea-shell still-life or one with a pheasant.

This was my first time working with charcoal, and I liked it for the most part. It's very forgiving, so I could just erase if I messed up. I also like how I just had to focus on the shadows, instead of the colors, the colors in the shadows, and the shadows themselves. Charcoal is very messy and dries out your hands. The kneaded eraser doesn't help with the dry hands when you have to keep molding it to get rid of the charcoal on it!

If you're experienced with charcoal, you'll notice that I have a dark lines that should be faded into the object. Unfortunately, the lighting made it so that there were very thin shadows on the plate. I did my best to blend them into the light.

I'm very proud of this piece, mainly because it's my first serious attempt at a still-life. Some of the shapes and proportions are a bit off, but that's alright. This project got me a 94%, which is an A. :)