D1 - Drawings for formal assessment

Following drawings are those produced during the  D1 course that I intend to include in my submission for formal assessment:

1. Section 5, Assignment 5, Final Drawing 2:

2. Section 5, Assignment 5, Final Drawing 1:

3. Section 4, Assignment 4, Tonal Portrait:

4. Section 4, Assignment 4, Line Portrait:

5. Section 3, Assignment 3,  Garden View From Window:

6. Section 2, Assignment 2,  Still Life, Focus On Natural Objects:

7. Section 4, Fabric Study - Woggle (Coloured Pencil):

8. Section 4, Fabric Study - Woggle (Wax):

9. Section 3, Cloud Study:

10. Section 3,  Statue Study:

11. Section 3, Arial Perspective Study (Pencil):

12. Section 3, Arial Perspective Study (Coloured Pencil):

13. Section 3, Tree Study 1:

14. Section 3, Tree Study 2:

15. Section 4, Self Portrait

Assignment (D1) Five

Upon reaching the final drawing for assignment five, having drawn the skull numerous times I had a good idea of what I was going to draw(position of the skull) and and which medium I would use.

The subject matter is slightly macabre so I wanted a dark background expressive in its application, I wanted the marks to be visible (not blended), for the background I used a dark charcoal for the skull it's self I drew it both pencil going over some of the lines in pen. Colour was added to the skull using soft pastel, based on previous exercises felt this was the best medium for communicating the smooth/fry quality of the skull's service . Given the dark background the shadows are loosely outlined using acrylic ink...possibly adding to the macabre feel of the final drawing.

After feed back from tutor,  I am encouraged to continue the "looking closer" component of this final section of this course...I shouldn't be concerned that the drawing I considered to be my final piece for assignment five perhaps moves towards abstraction or certainly doesn't give the viewer any obvious clues as to the subject matter.

I liked the drawing produced in the initial looking closer exercise, and still felt I want to focus on the skull's eye socket


In this study, pen and watercolour wash, I minimised the detail, but it is still clear to me what the subject matter is... but having drawn the skull so many times now a viewer of this  picture may have to work harder to make sense of it...sometimes this can be a good thing

Combination of watercolour and pastel, the pastel adding a different texture/mark and red added as a background wash to help distinguish the drawing marks belonging to the skull from the those in the background...pastel shading also helping to give form to the skull.

Back to pastels on a mid-tone grey sheet of paper, this will allow for stronger highlights, make it easier for me to pullout  the highlights  that I want in the drawing...

Next picture really focusing in on the eye socket, landscape format and blue background... no longer trying to help the viewer identify the object.. making them look at it possibly in a different light... could be looking at some imagined landscape.

Final study back to the mid-tone grey and more soft pastel (pen and pencil also included) which, given the subject matter, is ideal for expressing the form.  

Exercise - Tonal study (option 2)

For this exercise I wanted to use charcoal, working from a mid-tone using a putty rubber to draw in the highlights. The same approach I took when drawing the replica monkey's skull in an earlier exercise for this part of the course.

As suggested in the course notes, squinting was used to identify the the darkest areas

Initial study done using water soluble crayons, the blue background added to help define the shape of the horns and push forward the lightest area, the top of the skull.

Same position as the initial study, in this picture I have included the shadow surrounding the skull. Working in charcoal for a tonal study, for me, was the right choice though looking at the picture now as I add it to my learning log I am wishing I had made some of the highlight a little more pronounced.

Exercise - Looking closer (option 2)

For me the most prominent features of the the sheep's skull are the eye sockets, cave like quality when viewed in isolation from the rest of the surrounding skull.  Still wanted the final piece to hint at what the subject matter was, so included some of horn and the jaw line running down to the teeth.

Study:

Final drawing:

The final drawing done in pen and soft pastels, the pastels on paper was easily blended to define the smooth quality of the skull. Also conscious of the negative shapes surrounding the skull, purposely including the triangular areas to left and at the top of the drawing.

Colours included where kept to a minimum, just a enough to distinguish the horn from the skull and the background.

Possibly out of all the drawings done for assignment five this one appeals to me the most, capturing the components that attracted me to the subject matter in the first place without feeling the need to include/draw the whole skull.

Research - Working with line

Have been researching the works of David Hockney and Charles Rennie Mackintosh for ideas on working with Line.

I have assumed with drawing the if  I try and produce on paper what  I see in front of me then a I should be moving in the right direction and my drawing would in prove the more  I practised this...thinking that the lines, the type of marks, I made would stay the same but my drawings would move closer to correctly capturing the subject matter and this would result in a successful outcome. Now I am beginning to understand that the successful outcome is more than how realistic your picture is...variety of marks, composition, choice of of colour amongst others are all factors in creating a good drawing... obviously aware, or it is my believe at this level, for this course, that I should avoid being overly illustrative

When I look at the drawing of Hockney and Mackintosh I think they have sense of realism, draughtsmanship skills are apparent, but there is also and illustrative quality about the work that doesn't compete have too strong a say in the finished work.


My copy of  Hockney's  drawing of W H Auden

This drawing appealed, the sense of weight /mass you get in shoulders and hands in just few number of lines and with no shading/tones

With Mackintosh's drawings  I see the influence of Japanese prints, two dimensional pictures with very flat washes of colour. The floral subject matter again borrowing from Japanese works, traditionally more accepting, than the West, of taking their subject matter from nature. His work I find more stylistic than Hockney's but this is probably influenced by the fact that Mackintosh was an architect and designer during the arts and craft movement.

Exhibition Visited - Leon Kossoff

Article in the week magazine drawing my attention to the exhibition, selection of charcoal drawings by Leon Kossoff,  London landscapes selected from works produced over the past 60 years. Liked the drawing the magazine had included in the article and after looking at some of the images of Leon's work I decided to treated  myself to an extended lunch break (I'll make up the hours... honest) to visit the exhibition.

All the work have drawn with strong/ energetic linear marks, which helps to intensify the sense of perspective in some of the drawings  (e.g., Willesden Junction (1962)) and in others adding to the feeling of busy urban life (View of Ridley Road  street market (1975)).  All drawings and paintings used a limited colours palette, the drawings mostly done in charcoal with the addition of no more than two or three pastel colours, helping to define the sky, foliage on trees and in the Arnold Circus series the red brick work of the buildings (quick look on Google street view to make sure I was happy with the choice of red).

In all drawings the limited palette in keeping with the subject matter of the London city landscape, but for me his drawing are about the marks rather than the colours. The paper crowded with confidently applied marks that all appear to be trying to grab your attention with very view areas of quite (e.g.,wall above entrance of station in The Flower Stall, Embankment Station 1994)... I am sure this helps replicate the feeling of a being in a busy place, stuck in the hustle and bustle of city centre.

Blind Contour - Hand Studies

Exercise suggested by the tutor in last assessment, had tried this recently when drawing the sheep's skull and found results all though wrong in the sense that the accuracy/realism that I would achieve if I was looking at the paper and assessing the marks I was making as I drew was not there... the lines, although mine, had a life of their own.

The same results where true of my hand studies. I took my time whist making the marks alway looking at my hand however I felt I could go slower but worried that if I did I would then start to loose sense of where I was in the drawing in term of what parts I had already drawn and  scale.  Also holding your hand up and keeping it and fingers in one position for a period of time is a challenge in it's self

After performing the above blind contour studies, I did two studies where I allowed my self, as normal, to look at the drawing.  Perhaps I had my drawing head on the evening when I was doing these hand studies but the drawing seem to go smoothly, didn't introduce and errors that are obvious to me or struggle to much with the study....perhaps performing a blind contour drawing would be a good/ useful warm-up  before starting other drawings in future.

Exercise - Torn paper collage (option 2)

Studies towards collage..



1. Thumb nail sketches, working out composition

2. More thumb nail sketches

3.  Smaller collage  studies thinking about colours and the combination of paint with the collage

Looking the above studies I think I go with a three quarter view of the skull that fills most of the paper, less abstracted representation of the skull and quieter background but staying with the blue and the green.


In the final piece, for this exercise,  I coloured some cartridge paper with watercolour prior to tearing it into strips, the intention here was to have a more subdued background than I felt could be achieved taking pages/pictures from a magazine.

Wanted to highlight the fact the picture was a collage and allowed a certain amount of space between the pieces of torn paper, also used a dark mount for this reason.  Not sure I am entirely happy with this decision.

Happy with the rendering of the skull in the more closely joined/overlaid pieces of paper...

Detail of skull, yes need to consider cropping this work...

Exercise - Line drawing (option 2)

Blind contour drawings, apparently drawing the subject with out looking at the drawing forces your brain to work in a slightly different way (left and right side both getting involved) practicing this can have a positive impact when you  go back to drawing in a normal manner .

Although there are obvious issues with the drawing, I was surprised that the end result was still recognisable as a sheep's skull and how a sense of symmetry is present ( eyes and horns) given that in all three drawings I was working slowly from left to right. 

Exercise - Introducing colour (option 2)

Colour studies, the first two produced using oil pastel which I enjoy using, the medium which suits my heavy handed fast approach... certainly not a medium that allows you to be to concerned with detail ...will not the way I use it.


1:

2:

In both drawings I switched of the spot light I had been using too generate strong tonal contrasts, switching of the light and allowing indirect natural light to hit the skull's suface allowed me to see/identity more colours...pinks, blues, yellows and greens.

Exercise - Different angles (option 2)

Sheep's skull drawn from several angles in each drawing I have tried to remain conscious of my mark making, hopefully avoiding marks that I revert to out of habit and in each drawing introducing marks  that different, however subtle, from the last.


1:

2:

3: In this drawing I have been more adventurous with the mark making I think this is most noticeable in  the horn in the foreground. Though the marks are somewhat contrived I think they give the horn a sense of solidity that is not present in the  first two drawings.

4: In the this drawing I have slight dark purple wash to heighten the focus on the sheep's skull and emphasise the light source.

Exercise - Draw & Select (option 2)

Enjoyed the last section of the course and am tempted to stick with  life / portrait drawing in section five  but feel it would be beneficial to do something different and use this as opportunity to revisit a part of the course that was possibly less successful. For this reason and the practical benefits  (no need to find models) I have chosen to do Option 2, Observation in nature as the final assignment.

The outcome I will be hoping for will be stronger drawing, in my opinion (and hopefully my tutor's) than the one produced in section two... needs to show some obvious signs of progression.

Thinking back to still life arrangements at secondary school I remember them including the skull of a horse's head I also remember (positive memories) drawing some bird skeletons that the art teacher had found clearing out a chimney at home... perhaps animal skulls rather than fruit or house plants would be subject matter that I would find more inspiring.

Several skulls ordered from Ebay, not cheap...



Red fox skull:

Sketch 1:

Sketch 2:

Sketch 3, longer study:

Replica monkey skull:


Sketch 1:

Sketch 2:

Sketch 3, longer study:

Sheep skull:


Sketch 1:

Sketch 2:

Sketch 3

Sketch 4