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.