Ins and Outs

Now that Ann and Ellie are utilising all new skills we spent last lesson working on developing composition of nooks and crannies and still life.
For their first week's homework they were charged with drawing a corner of their utility room, a section of their garden and a flower in a vase.

 Ellie

Section of Ellie's utility room

 Ellie commented in her email that she didn't think this drawing was particularly good. 'I think that the drawing skill is pretty competent Ellie, but the composition lacks interest. Remember that a good composition involves interaction of objects and negative spaces between and around within the format that you decide. This view you have chosen lacks the interaction so I think that is why you felt disappointed with it'(Sylvia)

Two drawings of flowers in glass container

 Ellie chose to draw wild flowers for this work. Again she wasn't happy with the daisy so did the foxglove. ' I think the daisy would have been more interesting Ellie if you had drawn it from a three-quarter view coming towards you so that more of the head of the flower worked with the glass container. The container and refraction images of this drawing were better proportionally and observed better than the container of the foxglove, but the well observed foxglove gives the still life more interest! So between the two you have done well!'(Sylvia)

'I think this drawing is lovely Ellie and a real challenge. The wheel foreshortening obviously gave you problems but we will deal more with perspective in lesson 6. But I love the composition and the differing strengths of line, shade and the perspective you have worked through. Well done!
(Sylvia)

 Ann

Ann didn't comment on her work this week but this little corner of her garden is really nicely done. 'I love the simplicity of the composition Ann and it has enough negative space and movement to keep interest. I particulalry like the way the leaf at the bottom cuts through the frame of your format.  You have also used minimal shading to help with clarifying the textures and strengthening the format'(Sylvia)

Fence section study

Rose in glass container

 'Roses are a great challenge Ann and give interest to any composition. Well observed refraction and symmetry of the curved glass and water level although the left hand container looks like it wants to tip over! The bottom curve and left hand side are not balanced.However all in all these are lovely drawings. Well done Ann.'
(Sylvia)

Utility room corner

'A nice busy section here Ann with lots of interest and a really good go at perspective, proving that even a mundane little section of a room can still make an interesting composition. Great stuff!' (Sylvia)

Negative Space - Extension Homework

Ann and Ellie's homework after our negative space session in class is shown below. 
During last lesson we discussed the images and talked a lot about the problems that were encountered.  

I am going to paraphrase their and my comments with the images because it is always helpful for anyone reading this post to understand the processes and problems that occur when working without guidance.

Ann

It took Ann several attempts to do a drawing of this table intersected by a vase.

 Ann has identified that she has difficulty with proportions at this stage 
and her drawings tend to 'grow' disproportionately if she is not careful. We both think she needs to work on a drawing easel so that she can track what she sees directly onto her drawing. Foreshortening can easily occur when you draw on a sketchpad that is angled.
The benefit of doing more than one sketch was that her table proportions really improved!!!

 However she had little problem with drawing this sketch of negative spaces around foreshortened arms and feet. 

She was also pleased with her improved proportions of the hand plus object sketch on the right



In this practice piece of a section of a 2D drawing, the focus was to create it from the negative spaces and not focus on the 'subject'. The foot in the drawing didn't 'look' right to Ann until she realised that she had really focused on the shape of the leg and foot and not on how it interacts with the spaces around it. I also think that if she had included more of the surrounding information she would have found it easier to spot the problem.

Ellie

 Ellie had a lot of trouble trying to get her vase to 'sit' on the stool in her still life. After looking at it together she quickly saw that the base of the stool looked as if it was floating because it was on the same plane line as the back of the stool.
However her negative space work on the stool was really positive, even if the composition wasn't 100% successful.

So she decided to have another try and produced her cat-on-the-table sketch. I really liked the graphic quality of the image.

2D work

Ellie had a couple of tries with the 2D hands and arms work but completed these well and her section of the girl on the chair had good focus on the negative spaces.

 





In this hand plus object sketch we disussed how her point of view had changed where she must have moved her head after drawing the thumb, pencil and first finger, which made it look our of proportion. She also tends to change or invert angles of lines, which we will be looking at in Lesson 6.

All valuable points for discussion and in general I am really happy with the progress that they are both making.
 

Lian's Portraits

This week's post is dedicated to Lian's work on portraits, since John didn't have the time to complete his yet because of work commitments in the UK.

Life drawing is extremely challenging and our lesson was a simple introduction to facial proportion.

Portraits are agonizingly difficult. We are so tuned into likenesses that we can't accept any deviation from 'photographic' imagery. So it can be very frustrating as a student trying to capture the essence of a face, with enough likeness to feel a sense of achievement. 
For this reason the brief for the homework was to be able to draw likenesses that were uniquely personal, in as careful proportions as possible. In other words not to produce perfect portraits, but drawings that are 'lifelike' and proportionate.

These first profile portraits were done from photographs, including the self portrait profile. All unique and well observed. Well done Lian.

Full face Portraits from photographs..second challenge!
Lian drew herself from a photograph first and the portrait is lively because of the smile! Features well balanced and proportioned.


The proportions of the portrait on the left, however are less balanced. 

The nose is too long and the mouth is too small and too close to the chin.

Even so it is obviously a real person!



 

Portraits from Life! The final challenge.

Well done Lian. I know you say that they don't seem to you to be true likenesses and you wonder what is missing. But both these portraits have essential essences of both you and your husband. I am sure people who know you both will look at these drawings and be able to identify both of you.

Congratulations!

Portraits of Lian and Husband