Drawing Skills Learning Log : Part 4 - Drawing Figures

DRAWING SKILLS PART 4: DRAWING FIGURES.

Overall I found this section very challenging but very rewarding also.

I didn’t expect it to be as difficult as it was…it felt like I was starting from scratch again and there was ( and still is ) so much to learn.

I found it difficult to get to grips with many of the projects and had to do lots of trawling through my ever-growing collection of drawing books…thankfully what I needed was there and the lights eventually came on.

Getting models for the exercises was problematic: my family had agreed to model for me , but had difficulty holding the longer poses. I eventually had to work up preliminary drawings from poses and then take photos so as to complete the longer poses.

Working from photos isn’t as energising as working directly from the model and the form in the photo looks much flatter, but after my first effort I generally tried to adhere to using measuring units and drawing freehand rather than simply enlarging the photo.

The pluses of using the family were firstly that I got to work with 3 different  types of model with very differentforms and attitudes and secondly I loved trying to capture them.

ASSIGNMENT 4

1. Line and Shape  - “Playstation “

In Assessment Submission

I did this drawing in watercolour pencil and pastel. I wanted to recreate the eerie glow that seems to emanate from the playstation….almost ghostly. I also wanted to hnt at the inner person within.

I had a glitch with my first preliminary drawing : I had taken lots of care with it , but it completely washed out when I wet it. I think there were some residual chemicals from my textiles work on the brush. I drew up a few sketches to experiment with ink washes but wasn’t able to achieve the desired effect. I finally went with pastels, arching them in  from the right and pushing them into the page.

In drawing the figure, I was conscious of trying to highlight the shapes within  the form and the shape of the from itself within the format. I had difficulty with the face and the feet ( I still can’t figure out why).

2. Tone – “Feet Up”

I did this drawing in pencil and charcoal.

In Assessment Submission

In Assessment Submission

I liked one of the preliminary sketches I had done in conte crayon, but felt I woudn’t be able to execute it on the larger scale. I was keen to try charcoal combined with pencil and I’m pleased with how it turned out.

I was interested to try a foreshortened view and I wanted to see could I crack the feet as I’d had difficulty with them in the first drawing. I was surprised how short the torso was.

I tried to create tonal contrasts to bring the figure out. I especially wanted to try evoking the different textures. I cheated a bit on the shoes and did rubbings to get the detail and texture of the soles.

Weakest areas are probably the face and my use of linear perspective.

PROJECT 1 : PROPORTIONS

Observations following sketches

• Planes and shapes: head – ovoid, limbs and trunk – cylindrical though I keep thinking of the trunk as cuboid withobvious vertical plane.
• It’s easier to draw a standing figure than a sitting figure
• It’s easier to estimate the length of verticals than horizontals, though I tend to draw the arms too long.
• Seated figure: planes of trunk and thighs can be difficult and there may be foreshortening.
• Starting in the middle, I’m tending to run off the page. I also tend to focus to much on the wrong things eg.facial features or furniture rather than getting the general statement right.
• Finally, I need to do a lot more observing before I start to draw.

Check and log

Exercise : Quick poses:  In general I found it difficult to make a complete statement in the time given.I also found it disconcerting to start from the middle and tended to run off the page.

Strangely, the first 2 minute sketch I did was ok, but it went downhill from there: sometimes I only got half the body drawn in the 2 minutes,mainly because I got distracted by detail such as features or furniture.

I had more success capturing the characteristics of the pose when I focussed on the overall flow rather than on the individual elements. Proportions still proved difficult, especially the head, hands and thighs.

Exercise : The Longer Pose:  

My elder son was modelling for this and despite his best efforts couldn’t hold the pose for the time required, so I ended up working from a photo …not ideal I know.

I was doing an evening drawing course at the time and I brought in the drawing to get some advice on tackling it.

The teacher recommended using a grid to enlarge  the photo to the required size.

I did this and completed the exercise, but felt it was more an exercise in enlarging than practice at figure drawing. I did learn quite a lot about proportion, angles and foreshortening but felt I hadn’t benefited as much as I would have from checking and measuring against the model in pose.

Problematic areas for me:  width of the head, length of arms ( often because I drew the seated torso too long), upper thighs and feet.

To improve I need to get better at constantly checking the areas drawn against my measuring unit and redrawing whenever necessary.

PROJECT 2 : FORM

Exercise : Essential Shapes  

I  found it difficult to get past the person and see just the essential shapes.

I got great help from the chapters on “Proportion and Shapes” and “Structure and Form” in Collins “Drawing for Beginners”. The advice was really good, especially the advice on looking for the negative shapes  and drawing “tin can figures”(p82). So I tried to simplify my approach, drawing small tin can drawings rather than the larger drawings I did in the first project.

As these weren’t timed I found I managed to do both the shapes and the proportions.

Exercise : Essential Elements

As these were timed, I found it difficult to juggle all the elements, working more on a sense of weight and form at the expense of measuring and proportion. I really enjoyed them nevertheless:  my models were my husband and younger son (sleeping) and I was amazed at how evocative the quick sketches were, even done by a complete and utter beginner like me.

I worked mainly on the darkest end lightest  and lightest areas on the model, but perhaps could have blocked in more of the darker negative shapes round the form.

Check and Log.

I found it difficult to juggle form and proportions in the timed exercises-tried an initial stab at overall proportions : head, total and key elements but worked on weight and form thereafter, unless something major jumped out at me.

I feel the elements drawings give a better sense of pose and mood of the sitter / sleeper, possibly for 2 reasons (i) I used “tin can” drawings as the basis for the essential shapes whereas the elements drawings have more emphasis on the form of the individual model (ii) I used different types of shading in the elements drawings: stronger and more angular for my husband, softer and more rounded for my sleeping son.

PROJECT 3: GESTURE

I loved this project and still get excited when I look at the drawings. My older son modelled for them and we had great fun. I found it all very dramatic and really enjoyed the movement into space.

I did find it difficult initially to capture the poses and found the stance exercises more difficult than the energy sketches, particularly where the model was either leaning backwards from me ( as distinct from sideways ) or pointing right at me.

I tried the exercises firstly without an easel and found I was line drawing from the wrist and the drawings looked stilted. Once I switched to the easel, I found I used bold lines and sweeping strokes to convey energy-using the whole arm rather than just drawing from the wrist. I pinned the sheets to a piece of cardboard and the corrugation (is this a word?) came through in the drawings, giving them a lovely broken effect …I’ll try this again.

I’m finding it hard to get to grips with the centre of gravity concept-have read lots, but still not sure is it an imaginary fulcrum or what.

I’m probably using far too many lines and a lot of shading: fewer more effective lines might be better, but I love the fullness of the forms and the contrasts in light, shade and shape. I’ve learned to do free machine embroidery since I started my Textile course and can’t wait to try it out on some of these

Check and Log.

I think overall I managed to capture the main thrust of the poses though I relied mainly on tone and could learn to work better using just line.

Most of the time my figures balance, though I still don’t fully understand the centre of gravity concept. I had considerable difficulty when they lunged towards or leaned backwards from me..

Expressing energy : Reviewing my drawings, I seem to have tried to express energy in a number of ways:

• the focus and direction (momentum?) seem to be outward, so I try to emphasise the outward movement with darker tones in the counter balance (I’m probably not explaining this well) and strong lines and brighter shapes leading the thrust of action.
• The level of force is denoted by relaxed (open lines and lighter tones) or coiled (short forceful lines and dark tones) actions.
• The more energetic the pose, the stronger the thrust from the centre, with angles and tonal contrast becoming ever more pronounced.

PROJECT 4: STRUCTURE

I found the research interesting. I had some idea of the skeletal structure but little of musculature. I can see how understanding the body and its structure would help in my drawing, especially with proportion and details such as hands and eyes.

Check and Log

• Overall proportions of the figure: I used my younger son as a model for the three drawings. His proportions are a lot different from those of his brother. I was careful to keep checking and measuring when doing the drawings as the proportions changed with the different stances.

• I tried to magine how the skeleton and muscles would have worked in the different poses : how the limbs were arranged relative to the torso and how the muscles supported the pose.This helped me to convey the structure and form.

PROJECT 5: THE CLOTHED FIGURE

Exercise: Fabric with line and form

I found the 15 minute line sketches more difficult than expected. First I tried contour drawing but found it hard to identify reference points, the proportions were all wrong and there was no sense of flow. I also had difficulty drawing the chair – at the beginning this too most of the 15 minutes allotted.

I then tried working with the main shapes and the flow of the fabric and this worked better I think.

Exercise: Form and movement in a clothed figure.

 I drew my son in his dressing gown but did include the detail of head, hands and feet.

Check and Log

• I did find details distracting and had to try hard to focus on the figure as a whole.
• I found using curved lines and tonal contrasts worked best to create volume in the folds
• I think the finished drawing gives a sense of the sparseness of the figure beneath the fabric.I did a second drawing in charcoal . I think the movement is clearer in this.
•  I also sketched my other son sleeping, laying emphasis on the folds of the blanket covering him.

Project 6 : The Moving Figure 

I really enjoyed this project and enjoyed trying to convey movement or energy or capturing a fleeting moment.

I went out and about with a small sketchbook and was surprised at how much fun it was.

I also used the tv : I got lots of practice capturing movement from Bryan Adams and Mel Cs '' Baby WhenYou're Gone''

Check and Log.

• I tried to focus on the movement and motive in the quick sketches which helped create a sense of a fleeting moment. The focus of the people was on what they were doing, not on me and this helped.
• I had great difficulty retaining an image and drawing later...I found it hard to catch the particular flavour of the moment in hindsight and will have to practice more.

I tried to use just a few lines to suggest movement and sometimes it worked eg outdoor sketches of strong willed dog, long haired girl , morning walks.  I need to observe and practice more to better suggest not just the movement but also the mood and possibly the motive.

Project 7: Self Portrait

In the 5 minute sketches, I had the biggest difficulty deciding the shape of my head and facial plane but was happy enough with how I drew the features.

However when it came to putting it all together, my first self -portrait didn't look like a real person. I then tried some exercises from Claire Watson Garcias ''Drawing for the Absolute and Utter Beginner''. These certainly helped in that my second drawing is more life-like but still doesn't really look like me.

 I tried a number of drawings but still couldn't crack it.

l had more success when I tried again a few days later. This time I bad a clearer idea of how to handle the facial plane and the angle of the head.

I also noticed that I was sizing the eye segment incorrectly : because it wasn't a full-on view,  one eye was twice as big as the other and the space between them was less than the width of the bigger eye. I also had to reduce the proportions of the right hand side of the face .

Portrait from Memory 

I was trying to draw my younger son in a three quarter view and again had considerable difficulty with the shape of the head and facial plane. I couldn't seem to get anyway close. I felt I was going wrong on the proportions of the different sections of the face.

I eventually got help from an article by Dan Gheno ''Artist Daily'' especially a section on measuring facial features. This made a big difference and was really helpful when I tried my own self portrait again a few days later.

Check and log

• Pencil yielded best results because I needed a number of runs at it : I still can't seem to express myself in just a few lines. I tried using both pen and crayon but I was too heavy handed.
• I attempted a number of self portraits and only the last one looks at all like me. My family's feedback was as follows: My husband said things such as the patting of my hair are on the wrong side but that it looks quite like me My elder son thought it looked like me but was too young....so l added some more lines and wrinkles.

• My younger son said it looked like some lady we met at the doctors surgery but that it looked more like me than the earlier ones.
• 1 didn't find it at all easy to convert my sketches into a portrait : I found it disconcerting that though I had practised the individual elements, I couldn't seem to get them to work as a composite.
• My preliminary drawings can't have been adequate - though I thought they were at the time. In most of the earlier drawings I did, the eyes weren't level, the face shape was off and the proportions of the lower face looked wrong.

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