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.