Response to Tutor Report for Assignment 1

I am pleased to have received a generally good report regarding my first assignment with the OCA; my thoughts and comments regarding it can be found in bolded italics throughout…

The first part of the course is about the core concepts of drawing – developing a repertoire of mark making, understanding basic shapes and forms and creating 3 dimensional effects.

Overall Comments
Well done Joanne, this is a very promising start to the course. You demonstrate good observational skills, confident use of materials and a strong sense of composition. Thank you for sending a well-organised assignment and learning log, it made it a pleasure to look at your work.

Your preparatory work is very promising, as here you allow yourself to be more fluid and expressive. Try to bring some of the spontaneity, freedom and life of your thumbnails and preparatory work into your final drawings. – I definitely agree with this; I do tend to find I indulge myself too much in recording the finer details in my finished drawings, and actually really enjoy how quickly I can work when undertaking thumbnails.

It’s encouraging to see you taking opportunities to experiment, for example, the finger-painted rose, this approach to trying things out in the moment, will serve you well during the course. I’ll be encouraging you to extend your repertoire of mark making and range of materials, and to take more risks to develop your creativity. – this I am most certainly looking forward to.  The finger-painted rose was certainly a spur of the moment thing, coupled with a desire not to throw away unused paint.  I loved how the idea came to me suddenly, and how easy it was for me to act on it.

The following comments on the projects are based on looking at the work online. (Next time can you send me a sketchbook) – I admit I was a little worried about sending sketchbooks as I try to work in them often, but will endeavour to send at least one of the three I work in when I complete Assignment 2. 
Making Marks
Given your declared preference for pen/biro I’m pleased you went on to use charcoal for the reflected light project. I’m going to press you to spend more time with charcoal and wet media like brush and ink to expand your repertoire of marks, especially to make some discoveries by using media that you cannot control to the same extent as pen or biro.
I like your slightly free way with hatching; it keeps the drawings alive, try not to tighten up too much when you become more skilled.  – I don’t like to admit defeat when something is getting to me, much like when I try my best to like using charcoal when in reality I find it slightly unpredictable and a little ‘clumsy’.  However, I am not too proud to persevere with it, especially as there are so many types to choose from i.e. charcoal pencil, which can be sharpened to a point and is better for retaining more control.  As for the hatching, I find that constantly changing the direction of the marks and keeping them ‘loose’ is a lot more enjoyable than having them too uniform and rigid.  Its not a technique I aquired on purpose, it just came naturally to me!  I am glad that it has a positive effect on my drawings.

Basic Shapes and Fundamental Form
You have a good grasp of shape and proportion and are able to distinguish and represent the relationships between different shapes and proportions.

Tone and Form
You understand how tone works. You could increase the depth of tone in your drawings to create more visual variety and interest.
In describing form you clearly enjoyed exploring through an unfamiliar method of making marks. You don’t make assumptions about what you’re looking at, generally you observe closely which results in objects looking individual rather than stylized versions of things we know. – I find that since beginning the course, I look at my subjects a lot more; I keep my head still and glance up and down between the object and paper constantly.  I believe my observational skills have improved significantly since the start of the course.

Reflected Light
Well done for producing closely observed reflections and for getting to grips with charcoal. As you say it’s a very response medium and you have used it fairly freely for this kind of work, when the temptation is to tighten up to get the reflections just right. From the photographs I can’t see enough to make a comment on blending – this was quite a large drawing, with the photograph not doing it justice; I must remember to send more originals in next time!

Still Life
You make good use of thumbnails, this is a very useful habit to get into particularly for exploring compositions and investigating details. I’m pleased you feel confident about making your own still life compositions and understand the difference a small shift can make. The same principle applies to selecting the frame for landscapes and anything else you choose the draw, the view is usually under your control and it’s up to you to find those that satisfy or excite you. – thumbnails were never really on the agenda for me before, when undertaking personal work, as I believed them to be time-consuming and only something that ‘proper’ artists did.  I am obviously quite wrong, on both accounts; I find I can produce a thumbnail in a matter of minutes, and can see how they will prove useful when working towards any finished piece.  I love how I can be spontaneous and experiment quickly with getting my ideas down; a bit like visual brainstorming.

Using Texture
I was pleased to read your comment – ‘I was feeling somewhat liberated by just how quickly I could render a drawing to convey texture without having to draw every single tiny detail I saw. It was certainly a revelation!!’ – this is a crucial learning point. Being able to work over the whole drawing, investigating what you see and developing the drawing as a whole, in it’s own right, if that makes sense. In the next assignment see if you can use different methods to create texture. – I am slightly obsessed with texture at the moment, which is also evident in the other OCA course I am currently studying (Painting 1: The Practice of Painting).  In the past, I always used to insist on the tightest drawings to show every detail but found doing this produced inconsistencies where some areas would be rendered better than others.  My aim now is to see the object I am drawing as a whole and work on it as such, and not just concentrate on any one area and focus on ‘suggesting’ the texture, as opposed to drawing it.

Feedback on assignment
Your first assignment asked you to produce two large drawings, a study of natural forms and a collection of man made objects. You were asked to use materials of your own choice and to experiment with mark making and composition.

Natural Forms
Your rendering of form and surface is skilled in your final drawings and your preparatory work Your thumbnails show you can
select what’s important and work with economy of marks to record the
key elements of composition. This is will be a great advantage in assignment
3 when working in the landscape. The final drawing is a curious composition, I like the close up view and the cropping. It is technically well executed but perhaps a little slick, partly the smooth paper and drawing style, a bit like an album cover from the 1980s. This is exacerbated by the colour balance which is awry, there is too much magenta and sienna. Compare it with the pencil study and see what you think. The treatment of the pencil study is a little freer, the shadows have a better colour and shape relationship with the objects, the rougher surface means there is no slickness. Without a magenta cast all over we get much more sense of three dimensions and distance. On the whole I think the study is better drawing, however both of them are skilled drawings. – I want to kick myself slightly regarding this piece; everything had gone so well until I fixed the final drawing.  I used hairspray, and not a lot at that, misting it on from a reasonable distance.  Almost immediately, I could see my colours changing; my shadows, which were a deep blue-purple, turned a magenta-pink and this in turn completely ruined the complimentary effect I had hoped to achieve with the ochres in the wooden table and natural objects.  Therefore, I agree that the coloured pencil study is more pleasing to look at and gives a more accurate depiction of my chosen objects and the space they occupy.  I shall now be doing more research into the type of fixative I use, however I was under the impression that hairspray would be fine…

Man-made Objects
A very interesting choice to draw some areas in colour and some in monochrome. On the whole I think it has worked and it is helped by your technical skill. You have clearly applied what you have learned from the projects, especially in the following –
1. The reflected light on the glass necklace and the drawing of the beads themselves.
2. Tone, including cross-hatching, to describe form.
What I think doesn’t work so well are the coloured light shadows on monochrome, the surface of the bag and scarf has disappeared. The similar treatment of surface for the bag and scarf and apart from the brush, the lack of darker tones. – again, in complete agreement; it was only upon looking at the drawing again after reading this comments that I can see where the choices I made were perhaps not the best.

As in the Natural Forms drawing I think there are aspects of the preparatory drawings that are more successful.
1. The charcoal treatment of the faux leather bag and thin scarf, in particular have a better range of tones and more sensual surfaces. I can feel the plumpness of the bag and the softness of the scarf – I can see that the appearance of the bag and scarf alludes to them being made from the same material, and the same colour, when this isn’t the case.  I believe I got too caught up in the fine cross-hatching to notice this.
2. The small scale study has a strong sense of narrative and personality, we get the sense that these objects have been chosen by an individual getting ready to go out. There is real life in this study.

Sketchbooks
I was only able to see your sketchbook work in your learning log, please send me a sketchbook or at least some photocopies next time.

Keeping sketchbooks and a learning log is an integral part of this and every other OCA course, not only because they constitute 20% of your marks
In formal assessment but they are also an excellent way to see how you are developing.

Different people use sketchbooks in different ways. Some people carry them all the time and make observations about the world around them, others use them as visual diaries to record their thoughts and feelings, they can be used to explore ideas and compositions for larger pieces of work, for imaginative drawing and doodles, some people collage found material,

Learning Log
Your learning log is a place to record the development of your thinking, especially in relation to your progress on the course. This is the place to reflect on your drawing and your research, probably where you’ll record visits to galleries and your research (though these may be in your sketchbook). Most importantly this is where you make notes about your own work and what you are learning. It will help you and your tutor see your progression and development.

If you’re new to OCA courses, read your Keeping sketchbooks and learning logs study guide for further information. You may wan to combine your sketchbook and learning log in the same format.

What an impressive learning log! Good critical reflection and thorough analysis on the exercises and projects. This kind of learning log will support you to gain the most out of all your OCA courses and gives you the potential to make significant progress. – the learning log is a joy for me to complete, as I am an organised person (I like to think), and keeping a log needs a lot of organisation and technical skill!  I feel that if I were to have produced a hard-copy log, the quality wouldn’t be consistent and I wouldn’t enjoy it as much.

Research into other artists – Don’t spend a lot of time on artists’ biographies unless it’s for your own benefit, it’s not a requirement for the course. Make sure descriptions of artists’ work relate to you own drawings and the project in hand. Concentrate on making comparisons between your work and theirs, observing their techniques and compositions and noting how you can apply what you learn to your own work. I am also interested in your surprises, disappointments and inspirations. – I will try my best to integrate these points into future research posts!  I also now understand that I need to be able to link my research to work I am currently undertaking or hope to undertake, so that it is relevant to my learning.

Suggested reading/viewing
Have a look at Winifred Nicholson and William Scott for the different ways they deal with still life subjects. – I have made a note of these and will be researching them within the next couple of weeks.

I am pleased to see that you are looking at other OCA students’ blogs. Do go on the study visits if you have time, they are well worth it to see art in the flesh but also to meet students and tutors face-to-face. – I am in awe at some of the work – visual and written – produced by other students and find it a constant source of inspiration.  I have also joined an OCA Facebook group and take great pleasure in engaging in discussions on others’ work and general thoughts regarding their learning journey.

Formal Assessment
I understand you are aiming for a Creative Arts degree. I will make a comment on your progress in the next assignment report. Please read the section on assessment in your Student Handbook. Your Assessment and how to get Qualified study guide gives more detailed information about assessment and accreditation. See the assessment criteria at the end of the report.

Pointers for the next assignment
In the next assignment you’ll be drawing a still life in colour. You need to show an understanding of the use of colour and a rationale for your choice of materials and techniques, as well as contining to apply your learning from assignment 1. – colour is an area that has become more and more intriguing to me as my artistic career progresses, and I have no doubt I’ll always be learning something new about it.  My current favourite area is complimentary colour and how to utilise it to maximum effect.  I look forward to the next part of the course and putting my existing knowledge into practice.

This is an opportunity for you to develop your techniques with laying down and over lapping colour, looking at relationships between adjacent colours and exploring the way shadows are not black but contain colours from the ground and the objects. – again, this is an area that I have learnt a lot about recently; I have been looking at the colour of an object and then using some of its complimentary colour in its shadow.  I adore working in this way, and will do all I can to avoid black which can deaden even the most dazzling colours.

You have good technical skills but don’t let them dominate your final drawings. Keep investigating even, don’t tighten up at the end, keep the drawings alive. – this is probably the comment I will have at the forefront of my mind when working on future final pieces; I need to keep loose, not tight, and spontaneous.  I am aware that my smaller colour studies for the natural and man-made final pieces had more ‘character’ and texture than my final pieces; I just somehow need to fight the urge to keep everything neat and orderly.  I am really looking forward to working in colour for the next part of the course; I have noticed in the past that I am more likely to loosen up with colour than with pencil/charcoal as I am always excited about the ways colours mixed when applied spontaneously and freely on a larger scale.  We shall see…

Assignment 1: Man-made objects

For this section of Assignment 1, I wanted to draw objects that were closely related and were almost like a ‘self-portrait’ of myself (I’d heard the term used before, to describe a painting of a group of objects that represented a person, as opposed to just painting their likeness).  I figured my bedroom would be a good place to start, so with the principle of finding interesting textures and shapes in mind, I set about collecting my objects, ultimately assembling a group themed on getting ready for a day/night out.  Namely, these were: a bottle of pink perfume, a make-up brush, a shimmery scarf, a pale gold clutch bag, and a beautifully colourful glass bead necklace my sister gave me a couple of Christmases ago.

A photograph of the objects chosen

The first task I appointed myself was to draw studies of the objects, using various media; as the course draws on I have become increasingly aware of the need to experiment with implements other than a standard pencil or ballpoint pen, therefore I introduced charcoal pencil, coloured pen and willow charcoal.  I tested different mark-making techniques such as cross-hatching (quite possibly my favourite –  as seen in the clutch bag study – due to its subtle tonal ranges), blending and overlaying marks.  I satisfied myself that I had chosen objects that all had a unique shape/size/tone in relation to each other, but having not drawn many similar objects previously with these textures, I decided I would study this next to establish the best way of depicting them when I came to the finished drawing.

Studies of chosen objects in various media on A3

I wanted to take the same approach as I did with the natural objects, in that I’d use a smaller sheet and zoom in on the structure of the objects to study their texture.  Upon closer inspection, I uncovered some interesting ways of showing the textures; for the crinkled leather of the bag, I found using a putty rubber to take away some of the charcoal used created a convincing patina, although I wasn’t entirely satisfied with the study overall.  There were so many facets to the glass beads and perfume bottle that it became confusing, to the point where my eyes crossed trying to pick them all out!  Drawing the make-up brush with a ballpoint pen was perhaps the most satisfying, as I was able to build the lines up by overlaying and cross-hatching them to achieve the deep tones and ‘bristly’ feel of the jet-black item.

Close-up texture studies in various media, A4

I was quite taken with the way the beads and the pink-tinged perfume sat next to the other more monotone objects, so I decided to undertake some pastel colour studies of just those, to establish the colours and the way they acted within their glass structures (such as the stunning reflected light patterns they threw on the table).  At this point I wasn’t entirely sure what form my finished drawing would take; monotone, colour, pencil, pen etc.  After this study, I had quite firmly made my mind up that I wanted to feature the colours of at least the glass bead necklace in my drawing…

Pastel studies of the more colourful items, A4 tinted paper

The bag was obviously going to take up the majority of the composition, due to its size, however I wanted to play around and see if I could get all of the items to sit together as a whole, as opposed to the bag dominating everything.  I tested out six different compositions, varying factors such as position on the table, direction and strength of light source and also the individual positions of the items.  Upon completion, I could see immediately which one would –  in my opinion –  work best with what I had in mind to achieve, which was simply an arrangement that would be pleasing to the eye, without any major technical nuances.

Compositional thumbnails, pencil on A4

I used charcoal for my composition development work, simply because I find it is quick and satisfying to work with in establishing tone and placement without hindering the process as a whole whilst working towards a finished drawing.  Although the composition I chose to develop had the necklace draped over the bag in a kind of figure-of-eight on the left-hand side, I decided to test out how it would look laying alongside the bag, on the table; I quickly discarded this ideas, as it seemed to create a jarring kind of triangle design on the right-hand side of the drawing.

Compositional development, charcoal on A2

I was still determined to use the colours of the glass beads in the drawing at this stage, and quite liked the idea of building up the deep hues using coloured pencils.  However, I wasn’t sure about the rest of the objects and how I’d like to render them; I did an A3 sized colour study in pastel to establish roughly the colours that I could use, but found that the range wasn’t very exciting at all in the other objects.  This exercise was extremely useful, as I could have very well gone ahead with a larger colour drawing and not been completely satisfied with the outcome.

Small-scale colour study in pastel, A3

Finally, I decided on a mixed-media approach that I had once seen elsewhere (I cant recall exactly where), that I thought was stunning; a monotone drawing, with the most intersting object rendered in colour.  The idea appealed to me so much -and I had already established I wasn’t satisfied drawing anything other than the glass beads in colour – that I went ahead and planned my final drawing in 2B pencil, using a subtle cross-hatch technique (as used in the earlier object studies), and coloured pencil solely for the glass beads.  I began by drawing the outline softly, and then proceeded to draw in colour the glass beads first, in order to gauge how the remainder of the drawing would evolve around them

I built up the layers of colour on the beads by starting with a light wash of colour, then adding mid-tones before accentuating with the darker tones/black to make them appear three-dimensional.  I did not get bogged down in detail, but simply draw what I saw – various shapes of various colours.  Once I had established I was satisfied with how the beads looked, I moved on to rendering the other objects and shadows using the 2B pencil and the gradual building up of cross-hatched marks, depending on how deep the tone was.

Nearing completion, I was aware that the background needed to be added, but I was wary about adding too much detail that would detract from the central composition.  Therefore, I kept the curve of the pale wood table but omitted the pattern of the floor and instead chose to render it in a large, cross-hatch fashion in a mid-tone; I feel the curve of the table in the top-right corner (unintentionally) mimics the curve of the necklace in the bottom-left, a accidental design feature that I am rather happy with!  Although, if I were to draw this again, I would probably not let the tassles of the scarf get so close to the bottom of the paper; the other objects all seem to be equal distance away from the edge of the paper, whereas the scarf tassles seem to ‘close up’ the bottom-right corner and make it appear a little dark and busy.

Finished drawing, 2B pencil and coloured pencil on A2

Conclusion

As much as the multi-media approach was a gamble as such – considering I hadn’t attempted something similar before – I am still happy that I made that decision as the final piece is unique against anything I have drawn before, and I shall attempt further pieces like this in future.  I like the ethereal quality the drawing has, with the glass beads being ‘living’ and the rest of the objects being ‘ghosts’.

As with the natural objects, I feel I did as much preliminary work as was necessary for me to establish my way forward; I ascertained the shapes and sizes through initial object studies, experimented with different textures using various media, fleshed out a composition that, for me, worked well, and then finally made an informed choice about whether to use colour or not.  I don’t feel that there was any other work I could have done that would have helped me any more than what I had already produced towards this; that’s not to say my list of preliminary work is exhaustive, by any means, but that I am happy with the result to which my preliminary work led me.

Although I conducted textural studies, I am aware that I didn’t really use these to any great extent in the final drawing due to my using almost exclusively the cross-hatch technique.  However, I did try to use this in a clever way throughout so that texture was still hinted at i.e. lighter hatching on the handle of the make-up crush to suggest the light hitting its shiny surface.  In hindsight I am glad I did it this way, as too many carefully considered and rendered textures would have taken a lot longer to draw and made the final drawing look fussy.

I feel that the whole composition could have benefited with being shifted up a centimetre or so, due to the scarf tassles laying very close and almost parallel to the bottom of the paper; with a little better planning upon roughing in the initial outline, I’m sure I could have avoided this.

Assignment 1: Natural Objects

I remember reading another student’s blog, before beginning the assignment, about how he’d rather not choose fruit or vegetables for this assignment due to their being featured further in the course.  I thought this was a good observation to make, so considered this myself whilst picking my items.

Eventually, I decided on objects that, on first glance, don’t appear to be the most colourful specimens that nature has produced.  Nevertheless, I was confident in my choices and was sure I could find some ‘hidden’ colours in there somewhere once I proceeded.  I collected my objects from two different gardens; I turned up two interesting stones, some dried sticks, a strange little pod, several vacant snail shells and some curled, dried leaves.  I also decided to add an eggshell after using it in my baking and realising it possessed some lovely patterns in its cracked shell.

   

My first task was to really get to know the objects, the best way of course being to draw them.  I wanted to study the shape and tone primarily, and to gauge their suitability for my composition.  I selected an A3 sheet and made several small-scale studies of each object, trying out different media with each one (I haven’t used pure graphite and coloured pen a great deal for drawing in the past; graphite was agreeable but I’m not sure I’m happy with the ‘saturation’ of colour that the pens produced – too bright).  For the eggshell, I knew the only way I’d be happy to draw it was with a very fine pencil (4H), so that I didn’t produce tone that was too heavy.

Object studies (tone and form), various media on A3

Once I felt confident I was able to draw the objects – and I was happy to include them all in my piece – I then moved on to exploring their textures.  For some reason, I felt that an A4 sheet would sufficiently hold close-up drawings of each object but I was soon proved wrong.  What then resulted was a kind of textural montage, with drawings huddled close together.  These were again undertaken in a variety of media, where I selected which tool I believed would portray each texture satisfactorily.  The light sepia pencil I used on the more irregular rock was a good choice, as it not only produced a hue similar to that found in the rock, but also I was able to get a realistic grainy ‘bumpy’ texture from it.  Again, I used a fine pencil for the eggshell here but I’m not sure I was able to produce a realistic, eggshell texture; I found myself using my putty rubber more than I wanted to, in order to pick out highlights and the small dimpling found on the shell.  I was happy overall with the effects I produced, but unfortunately a fine misting of fixative to set the materials took the edge off the crispness of the marks somewhat.

Texture studies, various media on A4

I was keen to decide on a composition, and of course didn’t want to delay starting any further, so I drew up a handful of thumbnail sketches on an A4 sheet.  These were executed quickly in pencil, with me moving the objects around sporadically to see what interesting light and shade patterns I could create.  I drew rapidly, taking care not to get oo involved with the details, shading etc.  I experimented with possible compositions that could fit both landscape and portrait, to give me more variety.  I had originally started with more leaves but these threatened to take over the whole drawing, so I pared them down to just three of the most interesting ones.  I knew I wanted to make the larger stone quite dominant, and liked the idea of it being towards the top of the paper as opposed to the bottom.  Finally, I settled on composition no. 5 and chose to develop this one further.

Compositional thumbnails, pencil on A4

Charcoal seemed ideal for this next exercise, so that I could draw the compositions rapidly and fill the A2 page a lot quicker.  I wasn’t interested in showing too much detail at this point, so this also swayed my decision towards charcoal.  The idea of having compositional ‘lines’ running through the piece really appealed to me, to draw the viewers eyes in different directions.  Therefore, I decided to arrange the leaves in a diagonal from top-right to bottom-left, and then the dried stick follows the bottom of the large stone, down through to the bottom-right and out of the picture.  I was also conscious in my decision to have a kind of ‘hierarchy’ in the objects; the large, ‘powerful’ stones sit at the top, followed by the empty shells (egg and snails) and finishing off with the extremely fragile dried stick and small pod.  A kind of barrier is created aswell, between the strong and fragile objects, by the diagonal placing of the leaves.  I was very happy with this effect, although wondered if there should be more to fill the space underneath the rock on the right-hand side.  As I drew I also noticed lots of interesting negative shapes being created between the objects, that I hoped would strengthen the final drawing.  Once I drew the left-hand composition, I realised I wasn’t happy with the ‘zoomed-out’ viewpoint, so decided to bring the objects in closer for the right-hand composition, and view them almost from above and with them extending off the page a little.

Development of composition, charcoal on A2

Composition decided, I moved on to deciding how to portray it in my final drawing.  I was keen to try colour even though, as previously mentioned, the objects were not very exciting colour-wise.  I used an A3 sheet to conduct a small-scale colour study using coloured pencil, and paid extra-special attention to the objects, looking hard for those ‘hidden’ hues.  I was pleasantly surprised by what I saw; the stones had dashes of purple and blue in their darkest shadows and also highlights, and the shadows thrown on the table had a bluish tinge.  The eggshell radiated reds and pinks on its shaded side, as the light source from the right shone through it.  The snail shells were individually beautiful, with hints of violet and blue throughout.  I did darken some shadows with pure black but instantly told myself that for my finished drawing, I would only use layered darks such a blue and purple to convey these.

Small-scale colour study, coloured pencil on A3

Soft pastel pencils were the material of choice for the final drawing, as I believed they would give me the subtle nuances of colour that I was after.  And am I glad I made that decision!  I found drawing with them such a joy, and was pleasantly surprised at the luminous glow I achieved with them in portraying otherwise quite dully coloured objects.  I followed my colour study closely, as well as having the actual objects nearby, but as I worked it occurred to me that I wanted to make the colours ‘pop’ a little more, and to make them more consistent and coherent by using dominant colours in the shadows.  With this in mind, I pushed one with the drawing using colours I could clearly see, and then strengthened them by adding just a touch of certain colours, such as pinks and blues, into the shadows.  I found that even using a colour such as pink to pick out detail on the leaves, snail shells and dried stick really added a vibrancy that united all of the objects and avoided a muddy mix of browns and greys usually associated with such objects.  I made sure to depict both thrown shadows and reflected light from the objects,  which have created some really interesting negative spaces.  Occasionally, if an area became too dark, I used either white or my putty rubber to knock it back a bit as I didn’t want any dominant, dark areas to detract from the piece as a whole.  The putty rubber was also employed to aid in textural depiction, such as the marbling through the smaller stone and the veins in the leaves.  Throughout, I used my fingers to blend colours and also a colour shaper, a thin rubber tool that can help soften lines and also to move colour into small areas.

Outline of final composition

Beginning with the large stone…

On to shadows and the smaller rock…

Finished drawing, soft pastel pencils on A2

Conclusion

Perhaps the most disappointing thing for me was setting my final piece with fixative; as with previous studies, it seemed to reduce the crispness and also alarmingly the colour of the shadows almost instantly changed from a subtle violet to a more vivid pink.  In hindsight, I would probably look a little closer at what kind of fixative I use for certain materials.  I’m not terribly disheartened by it, but thankfully I took a snap of it before spraying, so the above picture is pre-fixative.

I’m reasonably happy with the preliminary studies I have made; I sat down and had a think about exactly what I wanted to explore before starting my final drawing.  These were tone and form, texture, colour and composition – and I feel I addressed these all in enough depth to inform and assist me with my final piece.  Regarding composition, I was aware quite quickly during my compositional studies that the objects would look better closer to the viewer as opposed to sitting in the centre, and feel the A2 sheet held the composition well; any bigger and the top-most part of the drawing with the stones would have been too imposing, any smaller and the objects would have appeared cluttered.

I also cant help but think that I may have selected too many fiddly objects, and made the composition quite fussy; hopefully the thought that went into it – i.e. the diagonal lines and placing of objects – helps to portray otherwise, but if I were to choose again, I may just have one or two leaves, and perhaps not the dried stick and pod; I may have gone over the top with colour on these to make up for the fact they are quite dull and unexciting.  I was happy with the two rocks, however, and feel these really add strength to what could have otherwise been quite a flimsy composition.  If I were to change how I arranged the objects, I may try and add something that lends a strong tone, to sit at the right-hand side of the drawing just below the smaller rock.

I used a variety of techniques for applying the colour, but of course pastel is rather crumbly so I found myself dealing with lots of loose dust which was a little annoying.  The only thing I could do was blow this away regularly to avoid it ‘cascading’ down onto other areas I had already worked on.  I did use hatching quite often, although smudged it too much by mistake and lost the line detail; when this happened I simply applied the hatching again (such as in the shadow areas).  I was thankful to have my colour shaper tool also, as I found it a little frustrating when I couldn’t blend into smaller areas with my fingers.

All in all, despite the negative points made above, I am pleased with what is actually my first large-scale, pastel drawing of natural objects.

Part 1: Project 7: Exercise 1 & 2

Exercise 1: Enlarging an existing drawing

As I have previously used scaling up in my personal work, namely portraits, this was a concept that I was already quite familiar with; I found this exercise the most straight forward to date!

As suggested, I chose a simple mug and set about making a small sketch in my A4 sketcbook.  One thing I was unsure of, however, was if it needed to be modelled (i.e. usuing tone etc), or left flat.  I had already subconsciously started to shade it so finished doing so, but then afterwards – when gridding up the larger A2 sheet for transferring the image – I wasn’t sure how to present it.

Original drawing before scaling up, 10×10 cm

I decided that I wouldn’t shade the larger piece after all; I figured that the main exercise was to see if the right information could be transferred to each square, and getting the tone and markings all correct would be tricky and not really the point of the exercise.  One thing I did notice though -scaling up from a drawing rather than a photograph – was that mistakes in form are easily spotted; I noticed the ellipse representing the top of the mug was slightly off, mostly the top-most line that wasn’t quite mirroring the curve of the bottom line.

Scaled up drawing on A2, 30×30 cm

Exercise 2: Enlarging a simple flat image

I selected simple objects for this exercise, that would combine to make a composition of varying sizes and shapes.  I settled on a 15×15 cm grid as this seemed to contain the image perfectly.  Again, I struggled a little with the ellipses on the vase and mug, so was a little worried about how they would transfer to the larger scaled-up piece…

Original drawing before scaling up, 15×15 cm

I have to say, I found transferring multiple objects easier than a single one; I can only guess that this is because I was able to compare the size of one object to another, rather than worry about the exact proportions of one object that sat on its own in the middle of the page.

Scaled up drawing on A2, 40×40 cm

Conclusion

As mentioned, I feel that mistakes are highlighted more when scaling up from an existing drawing, rather than from a photograph; any mistakes (such as wonky ellipses) are compounded and carried over, so it really is essential to ensure accuracy – if that is what you are striving for, of course – in order to produce a satisfying larger drawing.

I found transferring ellipses from small to large difficult, as in normal drawing I am used to arching my tool slightly and making long, sweeping movements to draw them.  Here, however, I had to almost stop-start in a way to ensure I was getting the right information in each box.  So therefore, I need to work on drawing shapes such as these when scaling up on a grid, so that they still flow and don’t end up as a series of curved marks as opposed to one fluid one.

Part 1: Project 6: Exercise 1 & 2 with Research Point: Max Ernst and Frottage

Exercise 1: Experimenting with texture

I wanted to gather some out-of-the-ordinary objects for this exercise, so as not to settle on the obvious (or maybe easy?) ones.  As soon as I read the brief, my eyes were instantly switched on to the textures around me.

Perhaps the most unusual were the bulb and other unknown object that I collected from my garden; one flaky and fibrous, the other spiky and somewhat tacky/sticky (I am still yet to find out what it is…).  As suggested in the course book, I used a combination of pen and pencil to investigate ways in which I could render the various textures, to convey not only how the looked but how they would feel to the touch.  Pencil worked well for most objects, particularly in rendering light on the bubblewrap and the small stitches on the tea towel.

However, the pen was a little heavy in place; for example, it didn’t work well at all in depicting the small dimpling of the orange skin, or the softness pliability of the putty rubber.  One thing I did find, though – when using the pen to draw areas where the light hit – was that spacing out the marks I made gave the illusion of highlights and generally lighter areas.

Various textures rendered in pen and pencil

Looking at all of the textures drawn, I’d say my favourite in terms of successfully depicting the texture is the tea towel drawn in pencil; shading with the pencil helped to create the raised areas, and I could vary the pressure of the marks quite effortlessly to show more or less dense areas.

Frottage

I hadn’t tried frottage since school, so was quite excited at the prospect of seeking out interesting textures to attack with pencil and paper.  I actually used a combination of materials – pencil, conte crayon and charcoal – so that the effects weren’t too limited or similar, and to introduce colour.  Each time I approached a new texture, I tried to use my best judgement about what material would work best for each.  Unfortunately, I didn’t find a great deal of interesting natural objects around my home – not that would take too kindly to being ‘frottaged’, anyway – so settled with a large leaf and concrete slab, both in pencil.  The other objects I had chosen had simply jumped out at me as I wandered around my home; perhaps the most satisfying was the rubber mat with triangle detailing outside my back door, which the pencil glided over effortlessly, creating a striking impression.

Some objects I attempted with a certain medium (i.e. conte crayon over a leaf), but these simply didn’t work, leaving only a smudge of opaque colour, therefore I didn’t include them.  The only texture that worked with charcoal, oddly enough, was the top of my art box where I store my drawing materials and a rough fabric door mat. The whole process made me feel young again – as I associated it with being at school – and I found myself making quite a mess with smudges and sticking pieces of paper into my sketchbook (I decided to use separate sheets for ease of use).

Examples of frottage textures – pencil, conte crayon, charcoal

Research Point: Max Ernst and Frottage

Frottage – from the French ‘Frotter’ (fruh-tay), ‘to rub’

I find it amazing that Max Ernst (1891-1976) found an ageing floor in a hotel room such an inspiration that he took to it with paper and pencil, discovering ‘frottage’ in the process.  There is a real presence of mind there, the ability to utilise the artist’s eye to cast about for unusual resources and material.  I can’t imagine myself instantly chancing upon such a technique, but this has inspired me to be more aware in future; who knows, I may discover a new technique of my own if I pay enough attention…

It seems that rather than create a uniform pattern, Ernst regularly shifted his paper around while rubbing; I can only imagine this was intended to augment the already existing texture he had created by overlaying it several times, and to break up the consistency of the patterns.  This process is evident in Forest and Sun (1931, graphite on paper); rather than place the trees apart, he has created depth and interest by overlaying the tree image several times.

Max Ernst: Forest and Sun, 1931, graphite on paper

One particularly interesting notion was that Ernst suffered from ‘artists block’ – he found it difficult to lay down the first mark on a plain white ground – and so developed the frottage technique in order to cover the white expanse quickly.

In Les Diamants Conjugaux (The Conjugal Diamonds – 1926, graphite on paper), I found it hard to determine just what Ernst had used to convey the texture of the walls/trees on either side of the bird figures.  Maybe a wall or tree itself?  There is a definite texture there – whether or not it came directly from the object he was trying to depict – and from a distance we can almost believe it has been entirely hand-drawn.

Looking at Ernst’s work has given me a few exploratory ideas that I hope to develop in my sketchbook very soon…

Max Ernst: Les Diamants Conjugaux (The Conjugal Diamonds), 1926, graphite on paper

Henri Michaux (1899-1984) was an acquaintance of Ernst, and dabbled with frottage himself.  However, his pieces just don’t instill me with any particular feeling, not as much as Ernst’s work; he had apparently experimented with hallucinatory drugs and used the experiences to inspire and inform his work, so maybe that why I find them a little strange and not representative of a particular theme or emotion.  The fact the piece shown below is called Untitled again just doesn’t make me believe he was aiming for anything finished, or legible; as you can probably tell, I much prefer to look at more considered works, although I will say some of the marks made are quite intriguing!

Henri Michaux: Untitled, c1942-44, graphite on paper

Exercise 2: A drawing with textures

For some reason, as soon as I had read what was required for the exercise, I had already decided that I’d like a large, textural object to serve as a background, in front of which smaller objects would be places.  I chose a viscose, somewhat satiny polyester cushion that had an interesting stitched pattern over one side, a mini trophy (I figured a highly reflective surface was still a texture), and a few unusual pieces from my pot pourri dish.  An added bonus was that the table I arranged my objects on had a texture of its own.  I decided on A4 sketchbook format – as no size was specified – so that the drawing wouldn’t get too out of control, eliminating the risk of rendering different parts of the same object inconsistently.

The objects I chose – picture taken in late evening summer light with overhead light; actual drawing was done in daylight

Once I’d propped the objects up, I arranged a suitable composition that showed all of the objects clearly with interesting angles and reflections/shadows (the light source came in from the left).  I then had to decide which medium to use; since I had objects that possessed quite striking details, with deep tonal areas, I settled on a 3B pencil for the entire drawing, and used this to draw the composition in, after using my ‘viewfinder’ (in this case, my fingers forming a rectangle) to decide where to place the objects in relation to the paper size and shape.

Outline of composition before adding textural rendering

I began with the trophy, drawing in the shadows and reflected light, but soon realised I was being too fiddly and ‘precious’, so tried to loosen my hand a little more as I worked towards the base.  Next, I approached the smaller piece of pot pourri in a completely different manner; rather than draw the detail exactly as it appeared, I instead used rounded, squiggly marks to suggest the rough, bumpy texture.  I thought this would make them appear rushed, but once I’d shaded them appropriately, I was happy with the result.  The large piece of pot pourri that resembles a ball of string didn’t appear to have any defined areas of light or shade, so I used the eyes half-closed technique to help distinguish between them a little more.  Again, I found I was trying too hard to draw the individual strands realistically, so I began to use thin, soft lines laid down next to eachother to depict its straw-like texture. At this point, I was amazed at how quickly I had rendered the remainder of the drawing after taking so much time over the trophy alone.

Finally, I had to tackle the expanse of pillow in the background.  I knew from the outset that I needed to adopt a loose approach or risk taking too long over it.  So, rather than use the tip of the pencil, I turned it on its side and used the edge to make sweeping, smudgy marks in various tines, to suggest the detail and thickness of the material.  When completed, I went back over it with a putty rubber to add back in highlights that I had inadvertently smudged over, and then continued with it over the rest of the drawing to achieve the correct balance or light and dark tones.

Looking at the drawing as a whole, I’d say the range of textures that feature are varied enough considering just one grade of pencil was used.  However, if I were to approach this again, I’d probably try and choose a object that was lighter in tone rather than the trophy, as I feel the composition is more on the darker side of the spectrum and having a lighter central object would break this up and add more solidity to the forms.  I am pleased I managed to use the pencil in a variety of ways so that there is a combination of shiny, bumpy, coarse and thick objects that produced an interesting textural composition.

Finished drawing, 3B pencil

Conclusion

For someone who gets so caught up in realistic rendering, I was certainly apprehensive in abandoning this approach in favour of a looser style and more rapid mark-making.  I admit to starting this project with my tighter style intact, but by the end of the second exercise, I was feeling somewhat liberated by just how quickly I could render a drawing to convey texture without having to draw every single tiny detail I saw.  It was certainly a revelation!!

I’m not sure if I found any new ways of using my materials here, but I certainly rediscovered techniques I haven’t used in years.  For example, turning the pencil on its side and firmly ‘pushing’ the marks into the paper; I used this on the pillow in Exercise 2 and was amazed at how well it worked to depict the texture.  It was certainly an intuitive decision!  I did discover that lines can be used other than simply drawing outlines of objects, as illustrated in Exercise 2 when drawing the large piece of pot pourri; this technique actually makes me feel I can reach into the drawing and start peeling layers away from the strands!

As far as frottage is concerned, I have been inspired to try out some more techniques in my sketchbook when I can find the time.  I can see how it can add instant texture to a drawing, and can be used in conjunction with hand-drawn pieces (as seen in Max Ernst’s work).

At this point in the course, my mind is boggling (in a good way) with the sheer amount of information on different ways to make a drawing; I am going to be taking advantage of my drawing materials much more now, exploiting them so that each of their own unique properties has a chance to contribute towards more textural drawings.

 

Part 1: Project 5: Exercises 1 – 3

Exercise 1: Still life sketches of made objects

As tea is a big part of my life, I selected a teapot, mug, glass jar containing tea bags…and an orange; I felt the fruit would break up the straight lines and glossy surfaces of the other objects.  I used a ballpoint pen for the exercise.

When I had finished the first ‘thumbnail’ (in A3), I realised it was probably bigger then intended but didn’t let it put me off; I carried on in the same size and format with the other sketches, executing them quickly with various hatching style, overlaying marks to build tone and depth.  Naturally, I moved the objects around and drew only those compositions that appealed to me.  No. 1 I liked, as the teapot was at an interesting angle that foreshortened the spout.  Although there were some solid shadows and dark accents, this and composition No. 2 were similar in that the objects were placed quite close together.

No. 3, however, created the most interest and leads the eye in a kid of triangle shape around the composition; from the jar lid, to the teapot handle, through the shadow in the mug, to the top of the orange and back again.  I found lots of exciting reflected light and shadow patterns and would easily say this is the composition I would select if I had to develop one further.

Still life composition sketches in ballpoint pen

Exercise 2: Composition of natural objects

I chose to draw a butternut squash, orange and a snippet of leaves from a bush in my garden, in 2B pencil, so I could achieve a range of tones easily.  I employed a mixture of hatching and mark-making which I felt worked well to record the objects quickly.  Personally, I found the size of the food objects made it slightly difficult to come up with striking compositions, although No. 2 seems pleasing to the eye but doesn’t result in any good light and shadow patterns.

For No’s 3 and 4, I swapped to the other side of the table; No. 4 resulted in quite a bland set up, however No. 3 showed a clear diagonal leading through it, from the tip of the leaf, down through the base of the vegetable and fruit.  There were good, clear reflections and shadows, making this, to me, the strongest composition.

Composition sketches of natural objects, 2B pencil

Comparing these with man-made objects from the Exercise 1, I’d say that the man-made objects were easier to draw in terms of creating convincing depth and tone.  This could possibly be due to the medium and technique used, as ballpoint pen can achieve much darker shades, and also the structure of the objects is more solid and uniform.  To achieve three dimensional effects – in this and the previous exercise – I used an overlaying technique to make the dark accents as dark as possible in order to make the object ‘advance’, and was careful to attain the correct balance of light and shade on the rest of the object.

Moving the objects around forced me, in a way, to consider my mark-making technique, and the direction in which I applied my marks i.e. standing the butternut squash vertically called for more vertically placed lines, as opposed to curved, almost diagonal lines when it was placed on its side.  My positioning really came down to how interesting it made the composition; I mostly stayed in the same seat, varying my eye leve, and moved only once to see the difference that position had on light and cast shadow; by doing so in this case, it created quite a dull composition.

Exercise 3: Observing negative space and perspective

I thought that having a round table might hinder me somewhat in this exercise, when I placed my objects close to its edge, but it didn’t really make a huge difference in terms of identifying the top edge of the objects.

in 2B pencil, I drew the top edge of the objects slowly and carefully…

and then, I traced the bottom edge before filling in the object details (see later pic for finished drawing).

I moved on to drawing the same composition again but this time not taking my pencil off the paper.  I found that this eliminated the tendency for ‘feathery’ and carfeul lines, and I found the immediacy rather satisfying and the image a lot bolder (if not somewhat wonky).

Conclusion

Once again, as with most of the exercises completed so far, I feel I have learned new ways of approaching drawing and considering the importance of considering compositional elements as a whole.

In drawing still life before (or just a random bunch of objects), I cant honestly say I have not paid a great deal of attention to the way they are set up; I would quite happily accept the position they were in and not attempt to move them around (or myself).  Now, after studying this project, I wont be scared to ‘mix things up’ a bit to achieve the best possible results, and know that manipulating objects so they cast reflected light and shadows can create extremely interesting compositions.

Part 1: Project 4: Exercises 1 & 2 with Research Point – Patrick Caulfield

Exercise 1: Study of light reflected from one object to another

A specific material wasn’t specified for this, so  I chose charcoal because I want to start feeling more comfortable with it, and experiment with it more.   I chose a textured, turquoise glass vase, white mug and coffee percolator.  All are reflective to some extent, although the mug not as much as the others.

I set them next to each other with a space in between and so they each cast a clear shadow of their own.  The mug was relatively easy to render with charcoal, but the vase and percolator needed more work as they are multi-faceted and bounced a lots of light around; this made for various interesting ‘patterns’ on the objects’ surfaces.

Using charcoal, I found the results rather pleasing, but I couldn’t leave the lines too ‘raw’ and found myself blending some areas to create more realistic tonal shifts.  I was also quite happy that I had identified and included the reflected light that fell from the right side of the percolator onto the table, cutting through the shadow.

Reflected light on other objects, charcoal on A3

Exercise 2: Shadows and reflected light and shade

Although I had used charcoal for the previous, smaller study, I still found using it here a revelation; it was fantastic to be able to draw on such a large scale and so freely, working fairly quickly (something I haven’t done before with this material) .  I found charcoal most agreeable when trying to portray the different shadows and light sources, as it is easily manipulated into a wide range of tones with the help of fingertips or a putty eraser.

Even though the objects are very similar (a stainless steel saucepan, and one part of a three-tier steamer of the same material), I am satisfied that I managed to depict a different surface effect on each on them, due to their placement in relation to the light source i.e. bright light streaming through my kitchen window onto the dining table.  I used sweeping marks on the larger areas, and shorter, brisker marks on the more detailed ones i.e. handles of the steamer.  I didn’t let myself get too bogged down with detail, therefore the result I have gained with such gestural, quickly-executed marks, lines and areas of tine is quite satisfactory.  Again, as in the last exercise, I made sure to include the light reflected from the objects onto the table; this gives an indication of just how shiny they are!

I included the strange, oval-shaped reflection on each on the objects – this is my paper, balancing on the edge of the table while I drew!  I thought it only right to add it in, for interest…

Reflected light and shadow, charcoal on A2

Conclusion

I am happy that I have been able to study reflected light in more detail, and practice with objects that could be viewed as rather difficult to draw, due to the high-shine surfaces and all of the light and shadows being thrown around.  It is an area I will no doubt be paying more attention to in future, making sure to actively seek out these elusive areas when looking at objects closely.

Separating the cast shadows and reflected light from objects wasn’t a huge undertaking, but needed careful observation so that the two did not become confused.  I found that half-closing my eyes helped me to identify between the areas;  for example, in Exercise 2, the shadow of the steamer cast off to the left due to the original light source, and the slightly darker shadow and reflected light that it cast down onto the surface of the table.  I half-closed my eyes throughout the drawing, and it helped immensely.

I have no doubt that I will be able to draw more reflected light throughout the remainder of the course, but currently I am pleased with the outcome of my work and can only strive to get better with further study.

Research Point: Patrick Caulfield

Positive and Negative space

Patrick Caulfield was – and still is – one of the most famous British artists of our time, and one whose place of rest in London’s Highgate Cemetery is completely in keeping with the bold, geometric forms he created whilst alive; his headstone is a stepped design, simply reading ‘DEAD’ in cut-away stone, creating negative shapes much like those in the paintings for which he was renowned.  I shall be visiting an exhibition of his works at the Tate Britain on the 3rd August 2013, so I’m rather excited about seeing his work in person.  My musings on this will be added in the Research and Reflection section at a later date…

I adore Caulfield’s work; something about the colourful ‘flatness’, or graphic qualities, of his work appeal to me as a person who loves large areas of bold colour juxtaposed with dark outlines at often perplexing angles.  I admire how he has tackled everyday objects -often the same ones over and over – and tuned them into modern works of colourful art.  I have yet to come across any of his works where the colours jar or the subject matter is mundane; this could be the case if the objects were painted realistically, which points to the fact that his treatment of them with colour and demarcating line is what makes them so desirable and a pleasure to set eyes upon as opposed to a chore.

One of my favourites has to be Still Life: Autumn Fashion (acrylic, 1978); the perspective is interesting, with the basket of leeks leading into the picture which makes you wonder what else lies beyond on the that table.  There are so many contrasting patterns but as a whole the painting is a success and holds a wealth of interest for the eyes.  The harmonising yellows and ochres compliment the cool blue tones of the tabletop.  Only a select few objects are outlined in black to create various depths to the painting; it, to me, is a joy to look at.

Patrick Caulfield: Still Life – Autumn Fashion, acrylic, 1978

Moving on now, to look at Caulfield’s use of negative and positive space.  He clearly studied many forms and the pattern of light and shade that played off them, and figured out how to separate these areas into dark, mid and light blocks of tone.  The clever use of such areas of suggests the light and shade, without the need to be realistic.  The concept is simple, yet the effect so convincing that it is all our eyes need to to recognise the shape of an object and its setting, based on the shapes used.

Patrick Caulfield: Arita Flask, 1990

Tasked with producing a drawing in Caulfield’s style, I set about making some small sketches of different objects in the context of positive and negative space.  Rather than set up lots of compositions, I used Caulfield’s ‘White Wares’ works as inspiration, along with my imagination, and created possible ideas off the top of my head.  Not all of them worked, needless to say, with just a couple jumping out at me.  I chose to therefore develop these and do two drawings, side by side; one monochrome, one colour.

Studies for Caulfield-style drawings

I divided my A3 sketchbook page in two, thinking that having the two drawings next to each other would provide an interesting juxtaposition.  I started on the monochrome with artists pens, but quickly came to realise that adding colour to the whole picture would be a long and tiring affair and switched to pastels instead.  I used pressure when applying the colour and was able to cover large areas quickly and fairly opaquely by blending.  For the colour drawing, I chose complimentary colours to add interest, and used black over the green and red to deepen the shade so that the object appeared to be in a darker environment.

Caulfield-style drawings, pastel on A3

Of course, the results are nowhere near that of Caulfield’s work!  I believe, in order to produce a more impressively emulating drawing, I would need more time to study light and shade patterns in rather dark environments…

 

 

 

Part 1: Project 3: Exercise 1 & 2 with Research Point: Odilon Redon

Exercise 1: Observing shadow and light formations on a surface

For this exercise, I chose a small apple and a small, empty Playdoh pot.  After commencing drawing the studies, I realised my choice of objects weren’t as simple as they could have been; the apple was not just one colour but pale green with darker red markings, and the empty, yellow pot became rather translucent in places where the light hit.  However, I chose to persevere with my selection, viewing it as a challenge.

I did a few small studies of the pair, switching their positions to see if I could achieve different shadow effects.  Side by side, the apple presented some reflected light on its right side, a yellowish glow that was emitted by the pot next to it.  When the pot was closest to the light source, the light rendered is somewhat see-through in places, creating some strange patterns of shading i.e. the shadowed right side contained a narrow band of a lighter tone.  When the apples was placed behind the pot, it almost lent a certain darkness to the pot’s own shadow, more so than in previous compositions.  So, I was happy that I had achieved differences in shadow and light formations in each composition.  I drew with a B pencil, and concentrated on suggesting the wider areas of shadow and light, without becoming too fiddly.

Studies of shadow and light effects on simple objects

I then drew a larger composition of the objects, opting for the side by side setup, and this time, rather than continuously shading as I worked on finishing the drawing, I used a 2B pencil and lightly marked out the areas that showed various gradations of light.  I started by working in the mid-tones, followed by the lighter tones (leaving some paper white to suggest highlights) before finishing with the darkest tones, which brought the entire drawing together.

I am pleased with how I have merged the tonal areas together, by using soft, multi-directional strokes – although I was a little sceptical at first at how this would work, as I don’t normally draw in this way.  The apple, surprisingly, was easier to draw in this way as the shape wasn’t so uniform and had interesting dips and curves on its surface.  I blocked in the main tonal areas before adding detailing to represent markings on the the skin.  The pot, however, presented a problem in that the light seemed to pass through it in a strange way i.e. on the right hand side, starting from the centre working outwards, the tone ranges from mid, to light, then dark.  I followed as closely as I could but ultimately found this trickier than the apple.

Gradations of light

Exercise 2: Tonal Studies

Hatching doesn’t come completely naturally to me – although I have used this method in past drawings, to some extent – so I did find it a little difficult to produce areas of tone that merged convincingly.  I usually use a pencil for any hatching works as it is softer and easier to ‘blend’ the marks, however I decided to opt for a ballpoint pen here to get out of my comfort zone.

I chose a teaspoon, satsuma, apple and mug , and arranged them in a composition that wasn’t too complex, so that each object was receiving sufficient light.  I followed the areas of tone on the spoon to the best of my ability but I’m not sure I fully achieved a totally realistic shift in tones, apart from maybe the shadow underneath that suggests it curves up and away from the table surface.  The natural forms – the apple and satsuma – were easier to render; they created solid shadows and the areas of tone were close together and easy to blend, with no high shine areas like the spoon.  The mug was tricky as it had an expansive, high shine surface with some reflected light, which I tried to depict with the lighter band of shading where the white of its handle was reflecting back onto the main body.  The shading inside the mug consists of broad, curved hatching which I felt would work better on this kind of continuous, uniform surface rather than short, sharp hatching.

Using hatching to depict tonal shifts

Conclusion

These exercises have made me more aware of reflected light; in my past drawing, I may have overlooked this somewhat and drawn a consistent dark shadow where two objects meet, one of them being slightly reflective (like the yellow pot I used in Exercise 1).  Usually my observation skills are quite good and I will draw what I see to the best of my ability, but I wont say there haven’t been times where I’ve simply drawn ‘what I know’ and not paid as close attention to these light patterns as I should.

As I have painted more in the past than I have drawn, I haven’t much employed the ‘half-closed eyes’ technique; I can see the benefits of doing this, especially in tonal drawings, and the difference it makes in highlighting usually undetectable flaws or omissions in shading.

I would like to continue hatching in further work, as I believe I still have more to learn insofar as controlling the marks I make and ensuring they blend more satisfactorily.

Research Point: Odilon Redon

After reading about his life and looking over his impressive variety of works, I can say I am truly astounded by this enigma of a man – and artist.  Born in 1840 in Bordeaux, France, Bertrand-Jean Redon (nicknamed Odilon as it was derived from his mother’s name, Odile) was an important Symbolist painter with a remarkable imagination that helped him to produce numerous dream-like – and not to mention menacing and melancholy – works.

He obviously had the skill in him from an early age, as he won a school prize for drawing at the age of 10; one has to assume this wasn’t awarded for any old drawing of his family lined up outside a pretty house.  He then moved on to formal training at the age of 15 but was urged by his father to pursue architecture instead.  However, Redon failed the entrance exams to the Ecole des Beaux Arts, which pretty much put paid to a future career in architecture, however he would later go back to study there.

When back home in Bordeaux, he began to study sculpture and was instructed in etching and lithography by Rodolphe Bresdin, a fellow Frenchman who specialised in engraving.  Unfortunately, he had to put his artistic career on hold as he joined the army and served in the Franco-Prussian War in 1870.  The end of the war marked a new way of working for Redon, as he began to work almost exclusively in charcoal and lithography.

Perhaps the first work he gained most recognition for was Guardian Spirit of the Waters (charcoal, 1878), a rather unnerving depiction of a large head overlooking a lone boat on an expanse of water.  One would imagine this creature was friendly and overseeing the safe journey of the vessel, although there is something quite menacing in the sheer size of the disembodied head and its disproportionate features.  Strangely enough, Redon appears to have added a halo-type effect around the head of the guardian, which ultimately may speak of its kindliness.

Odilon Redon: Guardian Spirit of the Waters, charcoal, 1878

Redon produced many charcoal drawings such as this, with strange creatures that are sure to have come from pure imagination.  He called them his ‘noirs’; a nod to the colour of the material used perhaps, or the themes they portrayed? They have an illustrative quality to them, as though telling part of a story, but at the same time they are a statement in themselves and perhaps show an insight into Redon’s mind, conveying expressions of his feelings and emotions.  The Smiling Spider and Cactus Man (both 1881) again feature rather large, imposing figures that could almost be the product of somebody’s nightmares or feverish dreams; the devilish grin of the spider suggests danger, and the wistful look of the head-shaped cactus is almost sad and regretful.  It is a rare skill to be able to depict such lucid imagery that comes from one’s own imagination.

Odilon Redon: Cactus Man, charcoal, 1881

 

Odilon Redon: The Smiling Spider, charcoal, 1881

In the 1890’s, Redon began to use more colours in his work, incorporating oils and pastels.  He was painting dream-like images of wistful-looking, ethereal heads surrounded by flowers or mythical creatures.  It shows the versatility with which he worked, being able to go from his earlier, darker monochromes to the more indulgent colour works.  Flowers (oils, 1903) is an extraordinary study of colour in floral form, a decadent array of jewel-like colours on an almost golden background.  His study of colour is evident, as he is careful to balance out the rich ochres and oranges with equal amounts of turquoise and blue.

 

Odilon Redon: Flowers, oils, 1903

Redon was producing imaginative images of nature that explored the potential of colour, which contributed greatly to Post-Impressionist art.  His work had taken him in two directions; he influenced Surrealist and Dadaist art with his early prints, and won admiration from the likes of Henri Matisse for his later colour works.

Odilon Redon: Les Yeaux Clos, oils, 1890

Redon revealed, in his 1922-published journal A Soi Meme (To Myself), the he was not satisfied with painting direct from an object, merely noting down every last minute detail; he was in fact much happier painting from the rich source of ideas that was his imagination.  This approach is highly admirable, and no doubt leads to the creation of some truly beautiful and thought-provoking works.

 

 

Part 1: Project 1: Exercises 1-3

Exercise 1: Boxes and Books

I have undertaken an exercise like this before, years ago at school, so I thought revisiting it would be fairly straightforward.  However, I struggled a little to arrange the items I had selected so that they presented interesting enough angles and perspective.  After finally settling on the setup that I thought worked best, I used pen to draw the outlines of the items, as thought they were transparent.  This was quite satisfying, as it didn’t matter if one item overlapped the other, especially as I was drawing in pen.

Unfortunately, I misjudged the space and one box edge slightly slipped off the bottom of the paper, but not enough to affect the rest of the drawing.  I would say that I don’t always get my lines completely straight, but I guess it all depends on the result you are striving for (i.e. technical or more loose).

Exercise: Jars and Jugs

I decided to turn my sketchbook round to work in portrait, rather than landscape, for this particular exercise; I thought it would serve the setup well, as most of the items I selected were rather tall.  I was quite pleased with the outcome here, as the composition I chose seems to work well in that all of the items are sitting at different distances from me, creating interest in the various sizes and shapes.

Again, I seemed to ‘loose control’ of the pencil whilst attempting to draw straight line, especially vertical ones, and this can be seen in the small can at the very front, where its base is a little wider than the top.  I also found the ellipses tricky, which is an area that I would like to practice more in future.  I seem to be able to create a convincing curve on the left-hand side of the ellipse, but when I come to the right-hand side, the curve widens a little more so I don’t always achieve a symmetrical curve.

Next, I moved on to another composition with the same items, this time feeling a little more comfortable in my attempts at drawing ellipses, and therefore using pen.  This was more successful than the last, maybe because the large bottle was on its side and I didn’t have the challenge of drawing so many vertical lines!  I have left in the pencil marks of the under drawing, which I went over with pen, and my corrections as I went along are evident as I felt in some places I had initially got it wrong.

Exercise 3: Supermarket Shop

As this exercise called for colour, I opted to draw my composition of various grocery items in pencil first, and then used a wash of acrylics.  I chose a composition that employed a number of different angles, and was rather pleased with the effect the cereal box had; lying on its side on the table, almost completely vertical with just a hint of an angle.

I constantly switched my eyes between objects whilst drawing, to make sure I had dimensions and positioning correct.  The only thing I wasn’t pleased with was the fact that the next of the ketchup bottle wasn’t completely symmetrical – another aspect of drawing that I sometimes struggle with.  However, I didn’t want to hide this by rubbing out and starting again, so I proceeded with the colour and tried to use this to model the shape of the bottle into looking more realistic.

Unfortunately, I managed to pick up blue paint on the heel of my hand and this inadvertently smudged onto the bottom-right of the painting; I did my best to mask this, however finally thought it best to leave well alone to avoid ruining the whole thing!

Conclusion

I accept that the shape and size of some of the objects I have drawn here are not completely accurate; if I were painting a more detailed picture, I would maybe use the gridding up method to get the dimensions just right.  However, this is not a method to rely on too often, and I want to work at my observation i.e. looking up at the objects more when working, so that I can execute much quicker, accurate drawings.  Overall, though, I am pleased with the drawings as a whole, as the small mistakes I have made are not entirely evident until one looks much closer, and do not detract from the drawings in any noticeable way.

Although a rather short project, it has certainly been worthwhile doing as I have come to realise that I need to practice further some of my basic shapes (ellipses) and lines.  As these are so fundamental in terms of drawing, I clearly need to be practising these more and will look at devoting some sketchbook pages to more of these exercises.

Part 1: Project 1: Exercises 1 – 5 with Research Point: Vincent van Gogh

Exercise 1: Holding Pens and Pencils

When I started out, I wasn’t sure what marks to use; I tried pen and pencil and kept marks the same for both media, so as to compare how they acted.  I found that I was quite reluctant to ‘let loose’ and explore mark-making – as most of my drawings in the past had been quite precise and realistic – but after the first page of marks I found it quite liberating to squiggle away and the results were rather interesting.  I have a tendency to hold my drawing tools almost at the tip, to a slight angle, so I was hoping that this exercise would help me to learn how to loosen up my control, and to stop me striving for perfection all of the time.

Conté crayon was reasonably enjoyable; I’ve had them in my art box for some time and have never really used them, so I took some pleasure in getting to know them and how they behaved.  I found them velvety soft and agreeably smooth, although they did produce some strong lines when pressed harder.  I found different tones and shading could be achieved when pressing harder or lighter, making what would appear to be the same mark-making technique appear slightly different in strength and opacity.

Charcoal is a material I have avoided, mostly as I find it smudges easily and spoils otherwise crisp work.  But, for the purpose of this exercise, it was interesting to witness its behaviour; when I have used it in the past, I have mostly used a tool (such as a compacted paper stub or finger) to blend it for shading purposes, so seeing it in its unblended form shows an aspect of versatility .  Pastels acted similarly to charcoal, in that the circular marks were not consistent when drawn very loosely, resulting in broken lines which created an interesting effect.

When it came to mark-making on a much larger A2 sheet, I seemed to produce the same marks as I did on the smaller sheet!  These were mainly sweeping lines or continuous circles/spirals.  Although, I did achieve a different effect each time.  Using a larger paper size was intimidating, as I wasn’t sure I’d be able to fill the sheet as required, but eventually I found it to be quite satisfying and wasn’t conscious about making ‘mistakes’, as I usually am when working on a larger scale.

Exercise 2: Doodling

I absolutely loved getting stuck in with this exercise!  I didn’t think that I’d be able to idly doodle without trying too hard to create an actual image, but I let myself go, as suggested, and was quite surprised with the results.  I noticed marks and motifs that I’ve never stumbled across in my own work before, and it got me wondering where I’d been hiding them all!  This exercise made me realise that doodling is quite indulgent, and I’ll be looking at filling some more pages – either in my sketchbook or just in a pad by the telephone – to see what interesting forms I come up with.  I’d imagine that these kinds of forms are useful when generating ideas for abstract works.

Out of all the media I used, coloured pen was by far my most preferred; the colour was strong, the marks were clear, and the images produced were almost graphic, especially when doodling with a certain subject in mind e.g. here, I let myself be influenced by flowers and trees.  I started off fine, but as I doodled more, I found that some images were probably identifiable as flowers or trees.  Note to self – practice this some more without letting the theme distract too much from the task at hand!

Exercise 3: Mark-making techniques

Once I had marked up the many 5cm squares in my A3 sketchbook, I thought making a start would be easy; how wrong I was!  Something about all those small, empty squares gave me ‘artists block’; not only was I not sure about what materials to use for each of the squares, but I also struggled to think of interesting – and varied – techniques to fill them with.  I couldn’t put it off any longer so I got started, and found it became easier with each square…although similar marks cropped up again and again, which I was trying to avoid but clearly couldn’t.  All I can think is that certain techniques are ingrained in me, and they rise to the surface in exercises like this and make it difficult for new ones to get noticed!  However, the different materials used ensured any similar-looking squares were slightly unique in themselves.

The A2 exercise was equally as satisfying, as working with the softer materials on larger areas means the swatches are clearer.  Charcoal cross-hatching is a little scruffy – for me personally – with the lines quickly becoming too thick and inconsistent.  The technique that worked best for me here was using the dark pencil charcoal pencil, and pressing hard to create short, multi-directional strokes that are reminiscent of thick animal fur.  Although, the pencil was worn almost to the hilt after using this technique!  Using conté crayons was the least enjoyable part of this exercise, as they are far too crumbly, with smaller marks merging as the crayon became thicker due to wear.

Exercise 4: Using charcoal

As I mentioned before, charcoal has never been (and probably never will be) my favourite drawing medium, but nevertheless it was good to explore its versatility and discover what marks I could make and how I could apply them to future work.  The darker charcoal, for me, yielded the best results in terms of depth of shading and strength of line, and I’d look at using this more when working on the human form maybe, using blending and the putty rubber to model the figure.

Exercise 5: Line and other marks

Again, I seemed to struggle coming up with new marks each time, but I resisted the urge to control what I was drawing and let my materials do the work.  I did notice similarities again between some of the marks in the boxes, at which point I did try to consciously decide what to draw a little more.  Pencil and pen were most pleasing, as the tips are fine but can be manipulated in various ways to allow for thicker areas of colour or tone.  However, charcoal, oil pastel and wax crayons were rather frustrating to use, as they seemed to ‘resist’ application, especially the oil pastels that left rather a lot of residue on the page.  These marks were merging together and didn’t seem to offer much in terms of depth or form.  No matter how hard I applied them, it didn’t seem to make a marked difference to the strength of the colour.

The pen is my favourite tool, due to its ease of use and almost graphic qualities when producing various marks and strokes; it never seems to loose its consistency or fluidity.

Research Point: A Vincent Van Gogh pen and ink drawing

Vincent Van Gogh: The Cottage Garden, 1888 – reed pen, quill and ink over graphite on woven paper

It was extremely hard to choose just one of the many extraordinarily beautiful pen and ink drawings produced by Vincent van Gogh to study, however this particular one – The Cottage Garden, 1888 – caught my attention immediately.  I was taken aback (in a positive way) by the sheer number of different marks van Gogh had produced, just by using his drawing materials in varying ways.  I set about identifying and duplicating some of the marks I found in my sketchbook:

Many of these were straight lines, applied in different directions and of varying lengths.  For example, the low gate at the entrance to the garden is made up of vertically placed, long straight lines that overlap slightly; these suggest texture (i.e. wood) and also form, which makes you feel as though a gate is there even though it is purely a collection of lines which make up the overall shape (see below).

Detail of gate from The Cottage Garden, 1888

I especially liked the three main, dotted areas created in the sky and foreground of the garden; the sky features minute, lightly-applied specks that almost convey a cloudless day, while the bottom left and also bottom right of the drawing employs differing sizes of dots that suggest areas of earth that are perhaps dense (those dots placed closely together), and areas that are looser (the quite stretched, directional and widely-spaced dots).  It is such a simple – but extremely clever – technique that tells you a lot about the structure of the garden.

The foliage and flowers are no doubt the main attraction of the piece, and are an exciting expanse of circles, hoops, squiggles and solid spheres to suggest the plethora of plants in the garden.  Van Gogh is clever to use marks of various strength so as to break up the different blooms,  such as the solid circular forms of darker, denser flowers next to the much larger-petaled, lighter ones (see below).

Detail of flowers from The Cottage Garden, 1888

I am truly astounded by what I have seen in this one drawing, and will look at van Gogh’s work further when I have the opportunity.  I never thought it would be possible to produce such exquisite work with simply some ink and different marks that suggest form and shape as opposed to actually realistically drawing them.  After studying this piece, I aim to try and produce some similar drawings, possibly introducing colour to see how that affects the outcome.

Conclusion

I can honestly say this is the first project of this kind that I have ever attempted, where I have been encouraged to take up all manner of drawing materials and experiment with so many different mark-making techniques.  My mind has been broadened as to what I can achieve with my materials, and has given me ideas for future work – and also made me aware of those materials that I am or am not so fond of.

Pen, either ballpoint or coloured, has emerged triumphant in this exercise as my preferred tool – mainly due to its consistency – with graphite pencil a close second.  I believe that given time, with more practice, some of the other materials – such as charcoal – will gradually grow on me, and I’ll be actively trying not to avoid them in future, especially as they are capable of producing beautifully blended tones.

Holding my pen or pencil in a different way was rather strange, and I realised how difficult it was to train yourself to draw with the instrument in a different position.  I don’t believe that dangling my pen or pencil will even yield any good results for me, but then I had to experiment with this technique initially to establish that.

If I am striving for clean, crisp and consistent marks, I will always reach for a pen or sharp graphite pencil.  However, for softer and more subtle shading and modelling of quite solid structures, I will be employing charcoal a lot more often.

I found that when I introduced colour to my mark-making, I somehow managed to create much more interesting marks, as though the colour had a positive effect on my creativity and imagination in some way.  I have a love of colour, and colour mixing – which will probably be evident as the course goes on – so it is only natural, I suppose, that my colour swatches were much more enjoyable to do.

Overall, my most enjoyed part of this project was the doodling; it is something I’ve never really participated in, despite being artistic.  I have a tendency to want to produce tight, realistic drawings so maybe it is my controlling nature that has stopped me from doodling away, a fear of making marks that weren’t legible or didn’t translate into anything anyone understood.  Therefore, being given ‘permission’, as such, to let my imagination – and materials – take over was extremely fulfilling and I’m glad to have had the opportunity to let those particular marks come out onto the page.