Two Weeks In One Gallery

Ann and Elly have been working hard over the past three weeks completing home tasks for practice in line and negative space work. 
The challenge of the negative space class was tough at first but they completed the 'There is no stool' task brilliantly. 
They have now had three lessons and two sets of 3D homework to date. Here is a gallery of work from their lessons and homework since the last blog.

It shows how far they have come in just 4 weeks!

Elly

 We had a chat in our last lesson week about remembering to limit shading to help with clarity of the image (See blogpost Just John) 
Elly was unhappy with the cabbage drawing because it looked messy and we also discussed the shading issues on the rose below. The drawings are well observed Elly just over-shaded. The great foot drawing above shows that you know how to limit the amount of shading and the hand drawing below done in class was excellent too so don't despair!

I really like how you have gone outside your frame with your negative drawing of the plant. It really adds something to the composition, but I get the feeling that you 'lost it' a bit with the shading of the negative areas. You don't need to shade the negative spaces if you find that hard to do tidily Elly, you can just go round the spaces with dark line or your pen liner to make it appear, like you did with the stool drawing. You really are making great progress. Well done with all this work Elly.

Ann

 

Again over- shading for the rose and the first pepper was an issue we talked about in the lesson and the second pepper line drawing showed a clearer structure. The first pepper became confusing because the tonal shading was too similar, but is still a nice image.

 
The rose Ann drew was red and she wanted to try to suggest that, so it was a good point.

The line drawing of the rose, Ann, was really nicely observed and again the foot drawing and your hand image were brilliant. 
 

I really liked the drawing of the sneaker. The shading was perfect and the whole image was well observed.



The negative space work done at home really did fit the bill. You commented in your book that the proportions of the corkscrew were still out. This will come with more practice and I am still convinced that  working in a more upright position will help sort that.

I particularly liked the graphic quality of your plant drawing Ann. You really get a feeling of movement across the spaces and the composition works nicely. A really pleasing set of images Ann.



Looking forward to next lesson already!

New Class

Welcome to Ann and Elly who started on the course three weeks ago.
Both ladies have had some experience of artwork but not drawing, so here we go!
They have both made a great start.

I decided to change part of last week's lesson -#2 lines and contour drawing - to incorporate work on shading earlier than planned. I usually don't instruct on shading until lesson #5, but John and Lian in my other class were both intrigued and frustrated by the need to shade during their three week sketching homework. (You can read John's comments and my responses on last week's blogpost)

 So, after completing their skull drawings, Ann and Elly then did my ´Less is More' shading work. You can see their results below. Brilliant work girls!

Just John

Lian is busy in Holland with domestic chores moving house and has been unable so far to do any drawing. So this week's gallery is just John's work and I will publish Lian's later once she has found time to complete her practice. 
This week's gallery has brought up the key issue of shading! 

To be fair we haven't covered this yet as a session in our lessons and will be doing so in a week's time. But it is true to say that shading is one of the most difficult skills to teach. 
Not so much how to do it but how NOT to do it!

So since this came up in John's comments of his work this week I have addressed it by example at the end of this gallery. 
Normally I don't change the content or quality of the drawings done by my students but I did so to one of them this week to give an example of my 'Bauhaus' style theory of shading which is 'LESS IS MORE'.

The first task was to draw a flower in a glass of water from an elevated position.
But, being completely enthusiastic about the idea,John ended up doing three views of the same subject...read his commentary below.

Arum Lilly #1

Arum lily in vase - #1 (1hr 10 m): Started without a frame and viewer, but soon realised it would go pear shaped! So within a frame I set out some key points, and then drew the outlines. Found the curves of the vase very difficult and did not get it right, but went back to the bottom of the vase later and corrected it. I amazed myself at the flower – perhaps a bit small but quite life-like, I think. Certainly easier than the camellia of 4 weeks ago!

Arum Lily #2

Arum lily #2 (55 min): The flower and vase were put on the supper table and I was mesmerized and just wanted to draw it again from another angle. Candlelight threw some lovely shadows on the petal, but were so hard to capture. And how do I get that feeling of the flower leaning towards me? Initially I was not going to include the vase – just the stalk – but the challenge of these damned curves got the better of me, but I ran out of space at the bottom of the page! The light refractions and shadows on the water are fascinating.

Arum Lily #3

Arum lily #3 (40 min): This is getting obsessive! Stood up to pack it in, looked down on the lily so it was much flatter, and … The shadows thrown by the stamen are fascinating but difficult. How do I capture the bright glossy yellow of the stamen? And how to capture the folds of the leaf?

'All in all my favourite of all of these drawings is the first one John. I know you had problems with the curves of the vase, but the simplicity of the lines and the excellent observation of the shape of the arum made it a lovely composition...and the refraction of the stem in the water of the vase. I have used the second image to show how less shading reveals more!'

Here all I have done is reduce the amount of line and shade on the front curve to suggest the structure of the flower, where you drew your correct contour line..remember that the line is there because you have observed a difference in light, so below the curve remains clear, representing the highlight while the shadow remains behind, up to the contour line you have drawn.
I also removed some of the lines at the top of the lily where the light would have reflected on the outward curve, but leaving enough shadow lines to indicate the funnel shape of the centre.

'

 Potting shed (1 ½ hrs): The most enjoyable drawing so far. I feel more confident in setting the sharp negative spaces, and also being freer with the more fluid lines of the bags and sacks.

At the back of the shed, in the gloom, was a folded-up white sun lounger – as I quite softly drew some of the obvious edges, the outline appeared, so I thought it best left at that to convey the rather vague outline in the gloom. (Good move, since you need to identify which parts of the composition should take precedence)

At the bottom left hand corner was the top of a sack, but it seemed to do nothing for the picture, so I erased it, stood a spray bottle in its place and redid that corner. Probably too left brain!

I’m not at all sure about the extent of shading – but the whole scene of the unlit shed is quite ill-defined. I loved doing the jumble of stacks of pots.

Hand whisk & tea towel (1hr 10 m): The folds and abstract shapes of the tea towel, and the shading of the pattern of the material, were really hard, and I think are a mess! 

I need help as to how to emphasise the firm, yet all-white, edges of the machine; in comparison with the smooth folds of the material. I think the machine alone would have been a nicer drawing!

OK so in this example John, I have made your shading blurred by blending the shadows rather than shading with pencil lines ( remember the q-tips?) And, since I don't have the still life in front of me I have suggested where the light would be and taken out the shading before the contour lines.
By blending the shadow you automatically suggest a softer fabric than the machine..therefore the machine looks cleaner and the lines are harder. To help with that effect I also erased any smearing on the surface of the mixer, which may not be on the original and may just be and artefact of the scan. But once you have done a drawing it is always a good idea to check for smearing and smudges and remove them with your eraser.

I hope that has been helpful.

Finally here are three lovely little sketches from three different viewpoints that John did from life. You can see the view in the photo below. He has been busy this week! 
Well done John.

Gallery #3

 Working from life is a difficult stage in developing drawing skill and this week's lesson was geared to help with that transition. With the aid of viewing windows John and Lian worked in the studio to complete a negative space drawing of a stool (there is no stool!) and to do their first composit still life.  



The stool negative space drawing was a real challenge for them both but they managed to make the stool appear by real concentration and effort, focusing on the negative spaces within the format of the frame.

The still life images were really excellent and done in just 45 minutes.
So then we spent the afternoon outside drawing nooks and crannies of the environment of our quinta.

 

 All in all a good day.

Drawings from the first week of home practice.

John

Household chores – still life of 3 objects: I have always admired the pure lines of the white porcelain loo brush holder, and I found the contrast with the softer edges of the plastic bottle and the soft bristles of the brush interesting. I decided to use a ruler for the loo brush holder and handle because the straight lines are so important.
 'Bad boy!!! No rulers in your drawings, you need to practise the art of drawing straight lines as much as the curved ones. The composition is good though and even with slightly wobbly straight lines this would still have had character'

Chair with hat: I had looked across the room at this chair the previous evening, and thought it would make a good subject. But could I do it? First tried to carefully do the negative spaces to form the outline of the chair, and then worked on from there, doing each major space. Thought I had set out the main outer points (legs, sides, top) OK, but in fact it is a bit narrow at the front and too deep at the side. I found the hat v difficult – many attempts to get the circles.

'Did you have your book tilted on your drawing board John? It seems to me that the perspective was affected by the difference of angle between  your viewpoint and your diary. With more practise of working on the board and perspective you will discover how to correctly 'see' the angles and widths before you put them down on paper'

Chestnut tree, seat & stool: What a lovely way to pass an hour and a half on a spring morning! The base of the old chestnut tree has really interesting gnarls and lines – hard to represent. And those curves of the tree seat …. 

'You have chosen quite a difficult perspective view again John but managed to cope with the differing viewpoints well. Trees are notoriously difficult to reproduce but your attention to negative spaces really helped with the overall composition. Well done' 

 Lian

Garry was visiting us, during his visit I drew his hat. I tried to make more long lines, because I saw on the scanned drawings that I
draw with very short lines. It needs a little bit of courage to do so. 

 
'Working with confident lines will become easier with your increased confidence in the construction of your drawing Lian. You captured the perspective of the objects and the spaces well and I particularly liked the business under the table in your garden corner drawing. The hat perched on the corner of the chair was a nice touch.'