Applying Lessons from a study into a sketch

Study painting above - I wanted to paint this study for two reasons. Firstly I had noticed I haven't painted a figure study in a long time and wanted to work on that. Secondly and probably the main reason was the lighting. The reference is from a film called Pompeii and only appears on screen for a few seconds but stood out instantly for it's contrast between light and dark and subtle tones. I thought it would make a great reference to study from as it would challenge me with something new I hadn't tackled before. I focused mainly on getting the contrast between light and dark and making the shapes still readable through getting the subtle tones down.

Ship sketch - I wanted to apply what I had learnt from the previous study of the gladiators to my own sketch. I chose a different topic but wanted to bring across the main focuses of contrast and subtle tones indicating at shape into this sketch. Instead of having a helmet as the higher contrast I chose the ships cannon that would that light up the red sails. The ships colours were inspired by Jeanne De Clisson who pirated the seas in the early 1300's with a ships dressed in red sails and black painted wood. After her Husband Oliver had was beheaded by the french she took to the seas in revenge on a hate filled rampage that lasted 13 years. I tried to capture some of that anger and mood in this sketch with rough seas and sharp brush strokes.