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.