Semester 2. Week 10, Peer Review

This week we had peer review. I always find this practice useful in understanding where I am with regards to my grades, and also to gain inspiration from my peers.

I was lucky enough to be in a group where the three of us have very different styles; Luke and I compared Nikita's drawings to Picasso and praised her for her confidence in each task, we could see that she threw herself into each piece, and also for focusing on shapes and tone in a way that we hadn't. Nikita and I praised Luke for having his own style and making briefs his own, going outside the box while remaining in the parameters of the task. These are all qualities I hope, now, to develop in my own work. 

Here is a copy of the review I was given:

After reading their suggestions we chatted for a bit and it seems what I'm lacking is a variety of media - particularly colour or wet media. I agree in the sense that, compared to my last project, this semester's work is not colourful and I have focused on honing use of charcoal and continuous line, which is best done with pen. Although, as we have not experimented with colour and my goal was to use what we have learned, I do not feel as if I need to change any of my previous artwork to fit this. However, I have added more colour in the Hive map book I created in week nine and it does work better there.

I also appreciated the positive comments as they gave me confidence in the work I had already done, pushing me to complete work that I had left to do.

Week 9. Location Drawing at the Hive

I enjoyed lots of aspects of this task; from making the books to using what was around me to create art. I loved that by the end of this creation I had a little book that showed how I experienced the Hive while using the techniques I had learned over this semester.

(1)

Byro

Continuous Line

(1a)

After going back and adding colour with coloured pencil.

(2)

Byro

Continuous Line

(3)

Felt Tip and Fine Liner

Limited colour

(4)

Collage and Oil pastel

(5)

Collage and Fine Liners

(6)

Brown Fine Liner

(7)

Byro

Continuous Line

(8)

Fine Liner and Felt Tip

(9)

Charcoal

(10)

Charcoal

(11)

Felt tip Pen

(12)

Pencil

(13)

Watercolour Pencil

(14)

Byro 

Continuous Line

(15)

Byro 

Continuous Line

(16)

Charcoal Rubbing of other side (Happy Accident)

(17)

Assorted Charcoal, Tissue and Erasers

(18)

Byro

(19)

Pencil

Semester 2. Week 8, Location Drawing River Walk 4 Pieces

It took me a few trips to get down the parts of the river I wanted. I am proud of two pieces and not pleased with the other two, but I take that as a win because I see where I went wrong and I know that next time I will do things differently.

The theme I chose to go with, to show differing parts of the river, was the way that the people of Worcester interacted with it. I wish that for figure (1) I would have gone for further down the river where the dam is, where there is no people. I generally dislike this drawing as I was going for an empty feel but looking at it now it just looks unfinished.

I am really pleased with figure (2) and my attempt at continuous line. I think it shows what I'm trying to show, people using the river and being part of it, in a way that conveys movement.

I'm not completely pleased with figure (3). At the time, charcoal seemed like the right medium to use to get a good reflection on the water but it doesn't look like water at all. I wish I'd brought inks or watercolour paint with me, that would have been a better medium to use. 

Figure (4) is one of my favourite pieces so far. I wanted to emulate the style of Carl Larsson (a Swedish painter that has been influencing my work for a long time) and so used watercolour pencils. The effect it has created only using water on the river, and not on the houses, is really effective and I'm so proud of this piece. I'm also pleased because I've found water difficult to draw for a long time and only if the past few weeks challenged myself to try anyway.

(1)

Empty by the River

Pencil & Fine Liner

(2)

The People in the River

Byro

Continuous Line

(3)

The People on the River

Charcoal

(4)

The People Above the River

Watercolour Pencil

Semester 2. Week 8, Location Drawing River Walk Thumbnails

For this session I spent two hours walking round the river starting the opposite side to the Cathedral, going down to Diglis Bridge, and walking up to the cathedral and down to Sabrina Bridge. I enjoyed the walk and took a few pictures as well as sketched. They are very rough ideas and little experiments so that I could go home and plan what I wanted to do.

(1)

(2)

(3)

(4)

(5)

(5)

Semester 2, Week 7, Experimental WildWoman Life Drawing Class

For today's session we experimented with the model moving around in a man-made environment comprised of string along with black and white bin bags. I enjoyed incorporating the past weeks learning in this lesson where we had to be observant and imaginative.

Environment that life model walked through in the session. 

At first I found it difficult to find the grey zone between drawing what was in front of me and what was in my head, but over the course of the season this came more naturally.

I really enjoyed the element of background music, whenever I draw at home I like to have music on to help me concentrate and having it in class increased my focus. It also gave me ideas as the music was interlinked with the theme WildWoman. We heard rainforest sounds, peaceful music, voices, and all this fed into my drawing from the imagination standpoint.

(1)

Ink and brush

Over the past few weeks I have been getting used to, and enjoying, using ink. I like the result but should have made smaller people as it would have been easier to incorporate more. I also had the chance to use my imagination and make the bin bags anything I wanted which I didn't do in this piece; this was due to playing it safe and getting used to the session and in future I think it would be better to get stuck in straight away and, as usual, not worry so much.

(2)

Ink and brush

For this one I used my imagination a little more and made the life model's stick into a spear which I imagined stab a fish. I then made the bin bags hanging from the ceiling into creeper vines from a tree and played with depth by making the model close up for the next pose, creating a narrative that she was walking away from the water. I like this piece but the creepers get in the way of the face so I should have maybe not made the environment so concrete before drawing the figures.

(3)

Charcoal, Ink and Brush, Assorted Fine Liners

This piece, in my opinion, was very successful. Not only did I enjoy creating it but I love the narrative I've built using each pose. I decided to learn from my previous mistakes and do smaller figures; this enabled  me to fit all 5 poses into my piece. It moves from charcoal on the right, to ink in the middle, to fine liner on the left but I have also added in bits of the medium in each part for e.g. Background, grass, vines etc. I only wish I'd bought some colour media with me as I think this could enhance the piece.

(4)

Charcoal, Ink and Brush, Assorted Fine Liners

I decided to use the same medium as before because i got good feedback on it. I also wanted to incorporate water in order to challenge myself, and as it went well in the previous piece (which I did not expect) I wanted to try again. This is my favourite piece as I think it's most imaginative.
I was actually, when creating this, thinking about the landscape in the lakes in Sweden (where I am from originally) so I also like the piece for that reason. 

Semester 2. Week 6, Independent Study, Movement

For this independent study, I wanted to focus on getting the technique of conveying movement improved.  I really find movement very difficult, especially as this semester i'm trying to do less scribbled drawings, and it's so easy to slip into it when i'm trying to draw quickly. 

I believe the most successful pieces are figure (2) and figure (8) in the way they convey movement, I don't think the rest are very good but they are experiments so I don't mind. 

I definitely preferred pen over ink and brush in this exercise as I had more control of where things were going. I would have used charcoal, as I like this to do quick movements but I don't have different colours of it and I think the colours are also a key part in making it look like a moving piece. Particularly the blue and red technique.

(1)

Observed Drawing - Guitar Playing

Fine Liner and Red Pen 

5 Min

I wasn't particularly proud of this piece, although it was a good starting point.

(2)

Observed Drawing - Guitar Playing #2

Byro Pen, Red Pen and Blue Pen

10 Min

This second piece was much more successful. I felt I captured the movements well and that using two colours and taking my time were what made the difference. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_4cLvDte8iI&list=PLrdnztWm2mx7sJnb9MrjRsyAoNDxmxCTJ

Homesick Stanza/ An Ode to Home - Spoken Word Poems by Miguel Guerreiro Lourenço

(3)

Secondary Source - Poetry Video of Friend Filmed by Me 

HB Pencil and Coloured Pencils

5 Min

Here I focused on portrait and facial movement as the camera was fairly zoomed in and he looks up at the camera now and again. I like this piece but it would have looked better in pen.  

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2vjPBrBU-TM 

Sia - Chandelier (Official Video)

(4)

Attempt at Capturing Dance

Fine Liner

This went wrong, the dancing was too quick in the video so I decided to do another one.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jc1esMeDb5k

How To Slow Dance - Social Dancing 101

For the next three pieces I played this video again and again and tried to capture movement. To begin with, in figure (5) I used ink as we'd used this in class and I liked it, but I misjudged the size and found it difficult. I decided that I'd take a more simple approach so with figure (6) I did silhouettes, but they ended up looking terrible. Lastly, in figure (7) I used byro and it worked out much better. It still wasn't perfect though so I found another video to work from.

(5)

Slow Dance Tutorial Attempt #1

Ink, Water and Brush

(6)

Slow Dance Tutorial Attempt #2

Ink, Water and Brush

(7)

Slow Dance Tutorial Attempt #3

Byro Pen

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wz_f9B4pPtg

Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky / Nina Kaptsova - Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy / 2010

I found this video a lot better to use to show movement. The ballet dancer repeated movements while she danced through the song and I could replicate them on page. I am not happy at all with figure (9) as I think it just looks messy, possibly because of the use of only red ink., which I think I may have watered down too much. However, I'm really happy with figure (8). I did the red figures first then the black, and it goes through the entire dance left to right, finishing with a curtsy. I feel this is one of the most successful pieces in showing movement.

(8)

Ballet Dance Attempt #1

Ink, Water and Brush

(9)

Ballet Dance Attempt #2

Ink, Water and Brush

Semester 2. Week 6, Life Drawing & Movement

Today's lesson was really enjoyable for me, which has been a theme throughout this semester. I believe it's a mixture of becoming more confident not only in my drawing abilities but in being able to draw and not worry so much about the outcome. I've also found each lesson very engaging in topic. This is probably because last semester we were learning the foundations of life drawing and though we are all still beginners, it is now getting more complex - challenging me in a way that makes me look forward to the next lesson.

One thing I decided to do differently today, compared with previous lessons, was to take notes during the session. I don't know why this idea never occurred to me before! I take notes in every other lecture but I've been preoccupied with drawing continuously in this class. What I did was, if I had time after changing paper, I would jot down some notes about how the piece went, then during the break I wrote more; though I didn't manage to make any notes for the final two 45 minute tasks while in class. I think this process helped me evaluate myself better in my blog because I could see exactly how I felt about pieces at the time of drawing them.

(1)

Charcoal

Top Left: 5 Min

Top Middle: 4 Min

Bottom Left: 3 Min.

Bottom Middle: 2 Min.

Bottom Right: 1 Min.

Middle Right: 30 Sec

Top Right: 15 Sec

As I was prepared to do a quick sketch so accidentally rushed the first drawing (top left), as you can see it is overworked. I found this exercise fun to get myself ready to draw quickly. I am particularly pleased with the 15-second drawing and feel I have captured the essence of that pose.

(2)

Centre: Three Main Movements and Inbetween

Top Right: Multiple Quick Sketches as Finished Centre Image

Charcoal

15 Min

At first, I found this exercise quite difficult. The life model kept moving and for a while, I could only focus on the first two poses. After a few minutes though I really got into it and enjoyed it. I made the lines thicker for the main poses and added in the transitions in a less harsh mark, this was inspired by the art piece shown in the Anim1003 blog that used a similar technique. The 3rd pose was the most difficult as I found trouble getting the angle right, and I can see now, on the second pose, the model's left foot is in the wrong place. Overall I'm very pleased with the piece.

The sketches top right are there because I had a few minutes spare and I didn't want to overdo the main piece, I believe they were beneficial in getting used to drawing transition poses.

(3)

Moving Across the Room

Charcoal and Red Watercolour Pencil

15 Min

With this task, I'm not sure why I didn't take the same approach as to the previous. Sometimes you have to try something different to see that it doesn't work and this is the case here. I definitely found it more difficult because the model was moving across the room not just moving in the same spot. I noticed, and upon feedback, it was agreed, that I did too many in between poses instead of focusing on a few and making them look good. It looks quite messy and overcrowded and in future, I won't use the same approach when conveying movement.

(4)

Moving Across the Room and Action

Charcoal and Red Watercolour Pencil

5 Min

I found this pose really difficult to draw. I feel like it was because I knew I only had 5 minutes to draw it so put pressure on myself. Although the two main poses are good and show movement, the transition pose is faint and evidently rushed. It is a shame because it was an interesting pose and could have made for an interesting drawing.

(5a)

Attempt One of Drawing Below.

I started by making the model too tiny so I flipped the page and began again.

(5b)

Focus - Proportions & Angles

Charcoal

19 Min

I decided to focus on proportions because it was part of my feedback from last semester, with regards to what I need to improve. I also wanted to focus on angles because I feel that a lot of the time that's what gets me in a jam in the first place. When I'm drawing, I'll get one angle wrong and reference other things from that wrong angle, thus ending up with a disproportional or wonky piece. 

This went fairly well, I received feedback that the foreshadowing was good and that without the life model as reference the piece looks well proportioned, but that the mistakes were visible. I could see them also and wanted to push myself so got a second piece of paper.

(5c)

I marked the areas I needed to improve proportionally with X's and an arrow to show I needed the shoulders closer together. I then taped this to the bottom of my easel to reference it as well as the model when I drew my next piece so that I did not make the same mistakes again.

(6)

Focus - Proportions & Angles

Charcoal

20 Min

I feel like this method worked really well. By drawing the pose once and seeing where I went right and wrong, I could reproduce the image looking at the life-model with the specific pitfalls in mind. I am very proud of this piece and feel I have achieved my focus on angles and proportion as well as foreshortening well. I also drew in the hands, feet and face in detail as sometimes I avoid these features and I wanted to use this task to push myself.

(7)

Focus - Close Up Hands

Charcoal

6 Min

Because I didn't want to overwork the previous piece and I had a few minutes left, I did a close up of the hands as I find hands difficult. I like this drawing but the model's right hand looks a bit smaller than it should.

(8)

Focus - Continuous Line

Byro Pen

16 Min

I did not enjoy doing this piece and regretted my decision immediately. I would have tried something else, but my reluctance was a sign I should challenge myself and move forward. I found it difficult to put everything in the right place and find the composition a bit odd. Generally, I think it was an unsuccessful attempt.

(9)

Focus - Tone

Charcoal, Eraser & Chalk

21 Min

I wanted to practice tone without line and so with this piece, started by creating a background then rubbing out the lightest parts of the piece. I then went in and shaded the darkest parts. Then I added mid tones and went on from there. I felt this was valuable as I did not use an outline and that is definitely a crutch for me when it comes to tone. Everything is in proportion so I feel I've gotten over my no-outline fear and created a nice piece of art.

(10)

Focus - Drawing Movement/ Quick Sketching

Charcoal

7 Min

Again, in fear of overworking my previous piece, I spent the last few minutes doing small drawings. I decided to draw people drawing in the room in preparation for this week's independent study task. I like the piece but my favourite figure is the top middle, you can see the movement in it and I think it's down to the pose. This is something I will think of when planning what I will draw for the independent study task.