artist copy progress check - Studies for the Libyan Sibyl; Michelangelo Buonarroti

black conté crayon + pencil

9 October 2024

Above are three pictures of my progress on the replica of Michelangelo for the artist's mark project! I think it's generally going well, and I can see my progress in the artist mark itself as I've worked from the bottom-right corner up towards the figure's back, shoulders, and arms. I anticipate a challenge as I reach the shoulder muscles and ribcage, especially as I work on the shadows/highlights caused by the underlying muscle/bone structure and the way the figure is positioned. I'm happy with my progress on the left side of the figure, around the oblique abdominal muscles. Over the next few days as I wrap up my replica, the goal is to connect those muscles to the ribcage shadows and work on keeping the value of the arms a bit darker than the rest of the figure, as shown in my reference.

I'm feeling comfortable with finishing this up as I move on towards my self-portrait in the artist's mark, although I'm a bit worried about deciding what type of marks to use to show the value from a photo (rather than working off of an existing sketch).