Observing shadow using blocks of tone

For this exercise i was asked to draw a piece that evokes the impression of "real" space using tone. To concentrate on the light and dark areas on the objects that creates the impression of three dimensionality. The objects i chose were two large coffee mugs, i set them up at different angles and used a daylight bulb lamp to cast shadows across them.

I decided to do this piece using conte stick on a piece of A2 sugar paper at first but after a little while using the conte stick i was getting frustrated that i couldn't get the different tonal values i wanted so then decided to swap over to charcoal.

Using the charcoal i mapped out the darkest and lightest areas first looking at the shapes they made on the objects, once i had put in the two most extreme values i then continued to block in the vaules in between.

After reflecting back on this piece i am pleased overall with the use of tone although i am unhappy with the general shape of the coffee mug at the front, i feel i could have paid more attention to the basic shape more which would have made the piece a little more realistic to the objects i was drawing. What has surprised me is how dark the piece actually turned out given that i was drawing white cups on a white table and even though it is so dark i do still feel you can tell they are light coloured objects.