Drawing

Life Drawing

Blind

This lesson we had to draw a life drawing model whilst not looking at the paper. This meant that we concentrated more on the details of the figure instead of keeping our eyes to the paper and making up lines. Although my drawings obviously weren't perfect, they had lovely bits of line it it that mirrored the contours of her body, and also helped me get used to looking at the figure more, and not imagining what it should look like.

Traditional

We then completed a traditional life drawing, using the idea of focusing more closely on the model. I thing the blind exercise before helped me look more closely and produce a more accurate figure.

Tonal Collage

I love doing collage so really enjoyed this exercise. For this we used several different coloured sugar papers as different tones (we had to imagine them in black and white), and rip them up to create the model. This allowed us to focus in on large blocks of tone, and helped you simplify down the shading of the body. This really helped me as normally the sheer amount of tonal range in a body can be quite daunting when you come to draw it, however this exercise let you simplify it down. I then drew over it allowing me to see if my collage was correctly in proportion. To my surprise I found it was, apart from the leg, however this was easily rectified as I could take off some of the loosely stuck down paper and redraw in the leg to make it more proportional. Proportion in the legs is something I need to work on in general in life drawing.

Mark Making and 2p Collage

For this exercise not only did we have to use our least favourite media but we also had to push a 2p coin round the paper with it whilst drawing our partners portrait. I was very sceptical at first about this technique, however was very surprised at the result. The act of pushing the coin around meant you took more time to make your marks, this also resulted in you taking more time to actually look at the person and take in every small detail. This especially helped with using biro as it resulted in clean lines, instead of a jumble of wrong ones (as you can't erase it). I will definitely try this technique again when I practise my drawing skills, as it really helped me focus.

Personal Mark Making

This week we looked at taking a more personal approach to mark making, allowing us to not only create new and exciting marks, but for these marks to have meaning behind them. To create these marks I used random objects from my bag, I picked the objects that I did as I saw that they had interesting grooves and textures to them.

Objects used: Zip, necklace, rings, lip balm, bobble, key, tube of hand cream.

I used a mixture of taking rubbings of objects with oil pastels, and using ink to print, and sweep new marks onto the page. I realised whilst experimenting, that interesting patterns can be made by repeating a small shape over and over, this what I did with the end of my keys, and I really liked the pattern I created. This is an experimenting technique I think I will use in the future to help with my design work.

We then used our phones to take photos of our work and isolate small parts of the work that we liked. This gave a whole new life to the small marks, and allowed you to visualise new ways of using these marks. I decided to develop the tube marks and the imprint marks from my necklace . I chose the scrape of my tube of hand cream, as I enjoyed the neatness of it, especially next to the business of the necklace pattern.

More Tonal Collage

For this tonal drawing, I made a quick stick figure sketch first in order to get the proportions of the figure more accurate when I start to collage. I found this collage more difficult than the last one I did as the shapes of dark and light were more varied and smaller, making it harder to simplify them down into blocks. However, once I created some bold lines with my charcoal afterwards I was actually very pleased with the quite contemporary looking result.

Drawing Fabric

This lesson got us to look at fabric more closely and in different ways, as being able to draw fabric is obviously a very good skill to have as a costume designer as you need to be able to communicate what material, feel, aesthetic, mood you want your costume to have to the maker. I found it interesting how selecting small parts of your fabric to draw could help you create a whole new pattern, and found making a window in a piece of paper a useful way to focus in on small details on the fabric. I also found the idea of different fabric colours and textures conveying different emotions and what each of these would look like. I plan to consider my fabric choice more carefully in future designs.

Life Drawing- tone and clothing

This week in life drawing another element was added to the drawing; clothing. I found this made the figure harder to draw as you couldn't see the main structure on the body due to the clothing being in the way. We also had to concentrate on how to convey the weight, movement etc of the fabric onto the page. When we did some quick sketches of the model wearing a light weight kimono like garment, I decided to keep my lines flowing, and not join them up, in order to capture this lightness. I also pressed harder with my charcoal on some lines in order to differentiate the light and dark areas.

We also followed on from the collage, tone lessons, by adding simple tones to our figures, and their surroundings, in order to eliminate the outlines. For speed I used the side of my charcoal to block in these tones.

Drawing with a stick

This lesson was similar to the 2p lesson as drawing with a stick and ink meant you took more time over the marks you were making as there is only so much ink a stick can hold. I fount that my snapping the stick, you could tear the fibres apart slightly allowing you to create a type of paintbrush that not only took up more ink, but created good hair texture marks. I documented my work as I went along meaning I could see how it improved, this is something I am going to try and do with my other projects, so I can see how things develop and where something went wrong.

Life Drawing

This time in life drawing instead of using free and gestural movements to draw we used a lot of measurements to make sure the figure was in proportion. To get these measurements a ruler was placed vertically next to the figure, and other objects placed around them so we could use these to gauge measurements. I found this way of working much harder, as it meant I had to be precise straight away. I also felt like it made me concentrate too much on small parts of the figure instead of the whole thing, meaning by the end it didn't look right or have any movement to it. I don't think this is a technique I will use in the future as it doesn't work for me.

Drawing Fabric

This lesson was about using techniques we've learnt to draw the pile of fabric in front of us, capturing the pattern and the drape of it. I decided to use a mix of media to do this with as I wanted to experiment, and was worried if it went wrong. I've discovered from these lessons that I enjoy blocking in tone with pieces of paper as it gives me a starting point, texture and something to build on. This is a technique I will use in the future. Overall, I think my finished piece looked a but messy, however when I photographed it in different lights, and zoomed in on some bits, I realised I really liked the textures created by the mixed medias.

Life Drawing

In this weeks class the model had clothes on, she was wearing baggy trousers, shirt and waistcoat. This made it difficult to get her proportions right as you couldn't really see the shape of her body under the clothes. However, I enjoyed drawing the clothes as the excess of fabric helped give drama to the pose and gave a new character to the model. I played around with shading in parts of the figure to make areas stand out, I layered up the charcoal to create different shades.

Drawing Profiles

I have found that I am now more confident in drawing faces, I felt fairly confident drawing profiles, and found that I am now more free in the way I draw and am happier using charcoal than pencil, as I have discovered the variety of textures you can create with it, and as it doesn't rub out well it makes me think before I make a mark. I plan to continue to practise drawing portraits in the future so I become fully confident in drawing faces in my costume designs.

Egon Schiela

This weeks life drawing was inspired by Austrian artist Egon Schiela. He uses simple lines that vary in width and often have interesting little curves and wobbles to them. He also accentuates body parts and creates interesting angles, especially round the hips, which he highlights with white chalk. I enjoyed recreating his style, as it made my think about using lighter and thinner lines instead of just the bold thick ones I normally used. I also thought it was interesting how he highlights small angles, and nooks that are found on the body, giving them a new dimension.

Life Drawing- Watercolour Wash

In this lesson we looked at how adding colour through a watercolour wash can add another layer to our life drawings, and helped us explore a new style of drawing. I added watercolour to my page first, I looked at the model and decided which part of the body I wanted to emphasise, then using loose brush strokes I painted in the basic shape of these body parts. I then drew over it in charcoal, not paying much attention to my painted shapes, as I didn't want to be restricted by my previous brush strokes, and wanted to keep working on getting the proportions of the figure right. In my next drawing I used brighter bolder colours in my drawing, after being advised to do so by my tutor. I am really pleased with how the brighter colours really elevated my drawing and brought it out the page more. I also used the technique from last week of drawing the figure so it toughed the edges of the page and not getting too hung up on fitting the whole figure in. I think this has really helped me with my compositing, meaning my work looks more thought out, and less like a floating figure on the page.

Life Drawing- Dryden Goodwin

This week in life drawing we used the artist Dryden Goodwin to inspire our drawings. He uses quite thine detailed lines that build up the figure to create depth and tone. I really liked how you can see all the individual lines as he hasn't blended them, as they add texture and interest to his drawing. He is also very good at capturing expression which allows the viewer to create a narrative for the person in their head. I found drawing in the this style pretty difficult as I worked in pencil which made me work closer to the page and be more detailed. I have found from these life drawing lessons that the media I prefer to draw with is charcoal, as it allows me to stand away from the page and make gestural lines full of movement, and create intense thick and thin lines. The only thing I struggle with in charcoal is capturing the face, as it is hard to create small details, however I plan to experiment with using charcoal pencils and chalk to capture these details when I have more time.

Adding Costume

I really enjoyed this session of life drawing, as our models wore different costumes whist posing which meant I could include lots of different textures in my drawing through making different marks with my charcoal. This was our last session of life drawing, and overall I believe I have really improved my drawing skills by participating in these lessons through practise and letting myself be looser and less precious in my drawings, and the realisation I can create lots of dynamic sketches quickly using charcoal, this has helped a lot with my rough drawings for design. I have also started including some techniques from the different artists that we have learnt about, such as highlighting and exaggerating certain angles in the body and making the figure touch different sides of the paper.