J.C Leyendecker is an artist that I have both long admired and been intimidated by. His work has served as the face of various advertisements and publication covers that are significantly recognizable as his work, largely due to his style in shading. This, exactly, is why it intimidates me. My work in Verbatim is primarily what has allowed me to explore more in-depth shading. But this issue in particular has provided me significant improvement in shading and figure, all due to taking time to study the Leyendecker’s work.

I should note that the scanning has unfortunately made the following page less defined, specifically in the top left figure’s sleeve.

Between these two page is where I personally saw where I improved. Specifically, in shape and shading of clothing via crosshatching. I found that when drawing the body of the fabric, conveying both structure and weight, I had a much better idea of what I was doing. Working through the “ugly” beginning stages of an illustration is never easy, however I was now much more sure of myself during the process.