John wastes paper

I'd heard the term "edge control" before but never really understood it until seeing Mark Westermoe demonstrate it. He explained that one thing that can separate a good drawing from a bad one are well designed edges. He went on to say that when making a drawing "you must be conscious of your choices for the transitions between your lights and darks. - the lights and shadows. You must consciously "design" your edges to make an interesting picture. You're not copying reality (your model or reference). You are designing a head (or figure, or a picture, etc.)" I'll admit that I've never given much thought to this before now and will pay more attention moving forward. Here's a quick doodle I made to remind myself about edges.

'Just a quick exercise today, taking some advise from Neal Adams on how to use photo reference. He seemed to stress the "interpretation" of the material over the "tracing" of it, and I think that it makes a huge difference in the results. I'll have more to say about this later, but for now I'll just post the reference and my "interpretation" for your examination :-) (Hmm- I think I missed capturing the expression, though. Oh well...) Mitsu-Bishi 10B pencil on vellum, approximately 4 x 5 inches