I have been working on Drawing 1 for a year now and have gained so much from it. It has also been frustrating and difficult – but I know this is all part of the process of growth and development. My tutor’s comments and suggestions have been invaluable – I have used them to try and move myself forward. I know the year spent is very much just the start of the process of expanding my creative life.
Part One Form and Gesture
I enjoyed the temporary drawings. I need to use this concept more – to free up my ideas and spark creativity and interest.
I had some success using different papers to work on, besides standard white sheets. I used tracing paper, tissue paper and brown paper in some of the exercises. These papers created different feelings and outcomes. The brown paper feels less precious – promoting looser, braver drawing. The tracing paper was translucent and the light shining through was an interesting effect. The tissue paper emphasised how delicate the natural structures were that were drawn onto it. The frottage method also added to the effect of delicacy and being more in touch with the natural structure. I have gone on to experiment with different papers in later parts of the course, but I need to develop this further. I was not as brave as I would like to be with using different materials.
I found my tutor’s suggestion of looking at the work of Jenny Purrett and Tacita Dean really very helpful. I will cover my feedback about them and their affect on me in a later part of the blog. I will say here that I have referred back to their work time and time again over the year, for inspiration.
Completing part one emphasised areas that needed development. As mentioned above, I need to take more risks. I need to explore different materials and papers. I also need to look at different scales of work.
A problem I found was using multi-media effectively. I attempted to use both drawing pen and charcoal in the final assignment. The pen around the mirror frame didn’t add anything to the image, it just gave it too many focal points and detracted from the main focus (the flowers). I was trying to give the piece more texture and interest, but it just confused the eye.
I wasn’t really understanding the use of a sketchbook as a tool at this point. Now I am at the end of the course the penny has dropped. A sketchbook is a great place to formulate ideas and test materials. It’s also a great place just to play.
Part Two Intimacy
My successes in this part of the course were experimenting with different materials in my sketchbook and on separate larger sheets.
I was starting to understand that this type of work is important to understand how materials perform and for better image outcomes. It is also enjoyable. I tested pens and the affect water would have on them.
I worked with pastels and the effects created by blending, expressive contour lines and colours were quite pleasing. I saw that spontaneous, expressive lines created better images. I enjoy using the pastels as they create a quick, pleasing effect and can cover a large amount of area with immediacy.
I did use brown paper for some images and again the use of a less precious material gave a better outcome. The marks made were looser and more expressive.
I was realising that my better images were created when I was more spontaneous and energetic with my marks.
The problems I was experiencing were highlighted in the end assignment. The final piece was rather dull and lacked spark. It lacked immediacy.
Section of the Assignment Piece Part 2
To improve this, I have learnt that cropping an image can add excitement. My technical skills with pastels also need much more work. Hence, even more tests and experiments in my sketchbook may have developed this further.
I also used standard paper – not brave enough to experiment. This holds back development of ideas. I needed to put more of the things I was successful with in this part of the course in to practise with the end assignment!
I also struggled with the indoor subject work.
I find inspiration indoors rather tough, as its not an environment that excites me. I find that I prefer outward-looking, liberating outdoor places. Looking at other artists work was helpful though. It helped me to see where their inspiration came from – for very affective images.
Part Three Expanse
I enjoyed sourcing the subjects for this part. I drove to and walked around places looking for interesting things. I do like being out of the home. I was using my phone and the image crop on it as a viewfinder. I was now thinking more carefully about composition.
I enjoyed the tree sketches and these images were fairly pleasing. I tried using different coloured paper for them, e.g. black and brown. This did make the images more free and loose. I experimented with coloured pastels.
I was finding that using charcoal was becoming my favourite material. It is spontaneous and fluid and its marks are expressive.
I was finding creating different tonal ranges and values a challenge and this is apparent in the final assignment piece. There we not enough ranges of tone. My blending and mark skills also need more development.
Section of the Part 3 Assessment piece – demonstrates tone skills need work
Again, the issues I was finding could be worked on in the sketchbooks with more tests.
My tutor’s comments about the final assignment really made me see what I needed to do to create a better image with the charcoal. The penny dropped a little when my tutor described the absolute light and absolute dark and the shades in-between. This, I feel, moved me forward by a fair chunk with this material in future work.
Part Four The Figure and the Head
I had an issue with this part as the UK went in to full lockdown when I started it (Corona Virus). This resulted in difficulties with finding live subjects to draw! Luckily I had completed a few months with a life drawing class and this helped me approach part four more effectively.
I was using a range of materials at the class – some with a little success, some less so. I used drawing pen, pastel, pencil, charcoal. It was a brilliant educational experience with a live nude model. I got to see others’ brilliant work and ideas. This was then cut short.
My use of charcoal was developing further. At the suggestion of my tutor I started using an eraser to cut into images – this was helping me graduate tone and pick out lighter spots. I was beginning to really feel that using charcoal is about creating volume and shape with light and dark and that outline is barely necessary. I was definitely getting more confident with it.
I learnt about foreshortening and enjoyed using it to create interest and focal point. I used this technique in one of my assignment images. Although the image was a bit clunky, the foreshortening did bring something positive to it.
I experimented with using yellow paper. I thought this made the image more dynamic – as a stark contrast to black marks.
I did have problems with this part. My technical skills need work – my reproduction of human proportions was, in some places, laughable! As demonstrated in the images below. They are not good!
I need to work on my compositional skills – cropping images more affectively. My compositions lack excitement.
I was enjoying the charcoal experience – but now not trying other materials and creating detail in my drawings. I need to redress this, to give me many more means and variety of expression.
I definitely want to try different scale as I move forward as I feel a larger scale would be enjoyable and add interest.
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