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.