Exercise 1 Drawing Fabric using Line and Tone
I draped a scarf over a garden chair as it was a sunny day outside. The sun was strong, so it threw strong shadows in some areas and made the cloth transparent in others. There were also areas of almost white brightness on the material. It was a little windy, so the cloth was moving and changing shape.
This task took me back to Assignment One of the course, where I had used draped fabric in my final drawing.
I used charcoal to sketch a line drawing and charcoal for a tonal drawing. I like using charcoal as it is quite sensitive to creating tone without over working. The negative aspect of this material is that it is very easy to go too dark. I tried to keep the lines fluid and light to suggest movement in the wind and the soft drapes. For the tone, I tried to match the dark patches to folds in the cloths and left white the pools of sunlight. I tried to keep the drawing quick and fluid.
60cm x 50cm brown paper charcoal
50cm x 50cm brown paper charcoal
With the close-up five-minute sketches, I tried to suggest shapes, folds and shadows with a light touch – to make the drawings more fluid. Again, the wind was playing with the shapes.
59cm x 42cm white paper charcoal and pastel
Were the drawings successful? I need to really keep working on developing grades of tone. My tutor has suggested cutting in with an eraser to help create tone. I need to experiment with this further. I have made some attempts, but have found the eraser smudges the charcoal into grey – I think I need to experiment to improve my technique with this. Maybe the eraser I’m using is not right for this task? Maybe I can’t erase in if the tone is already too dark – so need to do this from a light/mid-tone only.
Exercise 2 Emphasising Form with Cloth
My model (husband) laid out on the couch in his dressing gown and I tried to represent the cloth and his figure. The folds of cloth wrapped around him, suggesting the shape underneath, but also with a life of its own. Clothes are made to fit the human form so they do, by their nature, created a second skin. This second skin has its own characteristics, but they do need the body within to bring them to life.
I sketched in the couch behind and underneath him as the surrounding support.
42cm x 59cm cm brown paper charcoal
This drawing didn’t work well, as there was not enough definition between the dressing gown and the couch. It all just blended in to one. The different areas of the drawing were to similar. Again – more work needed on grades of tone. The face of my model was not remotely a true likeness.. I think it needed less detail, not more, to make it a believable person! Once an unbelievable face is in the picture the image is spoiled. I don’t think the face needs to be a photographic reproduction but does need to hint at character, emotion and proportion. I know this is a future challenge.
I had another attempt below, with very light marks. This shows the folds and form with no depth from tone
60cm x 48cm brown paper charcoal pencil
A did a quick pen line drawing for a later exercise and this worked a bit better to show form with cloth. The lines followed the shape of the body and hinted on the weight and shape beneath.
26cm x 30cm white paper 0.8 fine drawing pen
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