For my mechanical project I immediately thought of a passion vine because of how intricate and weirdly shaped they are. I did my project in pencil so that I could capture all the reflections of metal and show the contrast between the shadows and the light spots. I used pictures of pipes, screw, nails, and metal plating as references so that I could really make the flower look like something you could physically hold. I also made sure to keep my light source toward the top right corner and had everything reflective point in that direction. The center of the flower has several different pieces that all look unique and so different from other flowers and I made sure to reflect that with the various different mechanical pieces I used. When I was shading, I would put a light layer of pencil down first to distinguish where I wanted the shadows and the gray areas. I then went back in with a darker pencil and greatly darkened the shadows so that they would really look like there was no light hitting that spot. After I put in the shadows, I go back in with a Knead- it eraser and take away some of the pencils so that my reflections are white and contrast with the other values. Throughout all my art classes, when I have drawn reflections, I have learned that they are the key to making metals or glass look realistic. I wasn't sure what I wanted to do in the background because it was too much empty space but at the same time I didn't want to take the focus away from the flower. I ended up putting in some cable cords that are the same as the ones that were a part of the flower which filled the space while complimenting the flower.
