Low Key

I had a lot of trouble finding any work that was either low or high key. For the most part is seems like artists use both high and low key sections in there drawings. It is like they divide the composition into shapes and each shape is either high or low key. I came across this drawing credited to rubenart on artition.com. It is a really great example of a low key drawing. The lightest areas are in the neck but are still relatively dark. In some ways they could be slightly darker. Compositionally the piece is balance but I think an unbalanced piece could also work really well in this case. There is no real subject ground relationship established. The background seems to just be black but it is almost a hazy black in some areas. It was a good choice because it allows the artist to show where the head ends and the background begins. If the head just blended into the background it would just flatten the entire piece out. I think one of the greatest strengths that the artist has is not outlining. He matches the tones well create an extremely realistic piece. Another great thing about the composition is that it has a lot of potential. There are so many things that could be done with this piece. The tones could be altered to make one half high key and the other half low key. Or the subject could shift slightly. The blank stare is almost haunting and depressing.