Assignment Five - Final Drawing

Well, here we are. My final drawing - and while I think it's very good (and it worked out well just having the one skull in it, rather than the other deer and the crow as well) it does make me feel pretty sad, thinking that it's my last picture for the blog.
In the end, I went for a simple composition here, with the skull I'd done most of my work on reflected in a mirror. For this picture, what I'd really wanted was to combine all the elements - how much I've learnt about drawing in the tough outlines of the skull, the fact I now dare to combine different materials in the charcoal shadows, and that it's often better to have a daring composition than finding a way to fit everything on the paper.
One thing that did go a little bit wrong though is that I wanted to draw on similar smooth 'Bristol Board' ink and watercolour paper, but you can't buy it in A2! So I substituted some flexible card/mounting board that was also very smooth, and drew directly onto that!
I do think that everything I was trying to include went very well though - apart from the snout being at slightly the wrong angle. But I doubt that when you have the whole picture in front of you, you'd notice it. Still, that mirror looks nice and shiny, and the way I changed the postition of the skull's jawbone (into an impossible place, I know) to give it a more fearsome look makes it all the more exciting a picture.