Development and statisfaction

Spent the day making sure all my work was ready and properly organised for the assessment deadline tomorrow, first time in a long time, possibly ever, I'm actually ready ahead of a deadline for once. Once that was done it was back to the scenario drawing that is slowly but surely looking like an actual drawing and not just a work sheet.

Still in two minds with how I want to finish the castle in the long run, but not there is some tone down around it it doesn't look so jarring anymore

Tried to make sure the depth of the drawing would work, aiming for it to get from dark to light, currently its all a bit to samey but I can change that later, thankfully I didn't start dark and realise this!

Added some clouds, not too sure I'm liking the general shape of them, but I can change them if I can get a better shape idea, of all the elements of this drawing I am actually happiest with the dog. I am not sure why, I just feel like it works.

I would like to get a few more parts completed before tomorrows deadline, aiming for all the ground tone to be in and possibly the shadowing on the castle? I hope as much, but I might decide to go in another direction and thus do this later on when I have more time.

Overall I have really enjoyed this project, any excuse to just draw something from imagination is always going to get me excited and ever since day 1 I have really jumped in with both feet. The combination of observation and imagination is a really nice mix and I can totally see myself doing more work like this in the future. Oddly I have found that this drawing has had an emotion effect on me, mainly just because of the care and attention I have put into my drawing of Krak, I have such fond memories of it and I know that I will either never be able to visit it again or if I could it will be a shell of its former self, that realisation has made it quite difficult at times to focus on the other elements.

Talking to a brick wall!

So first things first, Isometric project drawing, not 100% completed but to the limit of my sanity.

Sky Island!

Today was interesting, had to sit through the second years presentations about their work, influences and reflections. I learnt a lot from this, and my reaction to it surprised me, it really made question why I was doing this course, my mixed feelings towards the blue sky thinking of some of the presentations really made me feel uncomfortable. I have never really like that out there thinking, I like conformity and the middle of the road works for me, I feel nothing for abstract art (I don't dislike it) and find it hard to express myself emotionally about my work. I draw because I love drawing and I love what I draw, if I had to draw something I did not enjoy drawing or a process I wouldn't be able to fully commit to it.

Anyway after this it was all hands on deck to continue with my scenario drawing in the hope I can get it to a decent standard before the hand in date. I highly doubt I will finish it and I would love to continue working in to once we get back after assessment.

The castle is slowly becoming more rendered, I am going to leave it as is for now until I caught up with the rest of the drawing 

Added the father and the camel, will continue to work into it all day tomorrow, once I work into it some more the castle will look more appropriate!

Maintaining momentum..

Righty ho, today I completely forgot to take photos of my progress, possibly due to the fact I was insanely focused on my scenario drawing, spent a solid 8 hours on the castle, yup thats right 8 hours on one aspect of a drawing that while being a key element shouldn't take the focus away from the rest of the drawing and if I'm pouring all my effort into that then what hope is there for the rest of my drawing...

Anyway in terms of process, I started by finishing all the lines on the castle, then started to add a bricking pattern to them, on the furthest points I used my magnifying glass to get a clearer picture. I got done with this around 4 hours later. After this I started rendering each wall and turret, and I have done around 2/3rds of it.

And on to tomorrow!

Work and missing weekends....

Ok so I have been insanely busy with work this weekend, thus mindlessly forgetting to update on Friday, so I guess this will be a joint catch up / reflection post.

Friday was a pretty constructive day, had a life drawing session in the morning which looked at using movement by scale and all we were to make 7 20 minute drawings on the same sheet. For once I actually settled really quickly, I am never really sure why I can reach the fabled 'zone' sometimes without realising and it drives me nuts most of the time as it never happens when I need it to. Anyway so the drawings went well and received some positive feedback from John which is always welcome. I normally enjoy life drawing but I occasionally feel uncomfortable, not about the model, but more about the atmosphere in the room and constant feedback, so I tend to tense up and try to be too tight as it is my expectation of what tutors want. Obviously this isn't the case at all but thats my problem and I am dealing with it.

My series of life drawings

Ok so Friday afternoon, I carried on with my isometric drawing, decided it was a wise idea to get the project out of the way so I could properly focus on the main project for the week, I am not sure how I honestly feel about my Isomentric drawing, part of me is glad I did something different fromt the rest of the group, however the other part of me is annoyed I chose an approach so time consuming, it really ate into alot of time that I could have spent either on other work which is needed to be done by the deadline on friday or the main project. Anyway after having spent all of friday and saturday afternoon on it I finally finished the drawing and meant I could get back to the Scenario Project on monday.

An in progress Isometric drawing, I will post the completed one tomorrow once I remember to take a picture of it

The beginnings of my A0 drawing

Ok so today I started in earnest on my final scenario drawing. I spent the morning doing some sketches of dogs, horses and a few final sketches of how the family might be standing. The dog I used is a Boerboel, a south african dog which has been recorded in syria since the 7th century, it is a really interesting dog to draw, extremely muscular and stout.

I decided to use the mothers eye level as the vanishing point and then started drawing the castle. I started by making a free hand sketch of it, then started using my ruler to tidy lines and make it work for the perspective. I put down the workings for the family and the dog, then started to work on the castle a little more. I left it at this point and will get back at it tomorrow.

Note loving this drawing!

Isometric Drawing

Ok so today was a personal development day and our mini project was carrying on from the work we did yesterday on perspective, we started with a quick tutorial on eye line perspective, which is incredibly useful for sketching quick scenes.

A quick sketch using eye line perspective

After this we went through the basics of Isometric drawing, using a simple grid system it allows you to draw on multiple planes, allowing you to create some very confusing visual illusions.

Experimenting with the grid to get a feel for the way you can manipulate the planes

Once I'd finished experimenting I started my larger A2 drawing, in which I decide to create a little world on the page, using a river running across the isometric landscape. I have yet to finish it but I am happy with the direction it is going in.

In progress isometric landscape, I wanted to use the grid as a sort of floating island

I really have enjoyed the work we have been doing in the past couple of days, these approaches really clicked in my mind and gave me many new ways to develop my work in the future.

Need to carry on with this and the current project over the course of the weekend.

Perspective workshop and project work

So this morning was filled by an extremely informative workshop on perspective in drawing, we covered a brief history on the use of perspective in art, how it is comes and goes in popularity and note.

Had an ongoing worksheet throughout the seminar, really helpful to be doing the various approaches as we went along.

One point perspective example

Two point perspective example

Three point perspective example

Putting it all together (may have castles on the brain at the moment!)

I really enjoyed this aspect of drawing, would definitely like to continue to use it within my work, now 

I need a personal project that will actually make use of it! Was intriguing to actually see the curve of perspective first hand, it is a really strange phenomenon but incredible when you think about it.

Other than that, carried on working on the project, looked at how a young child would stand with a parent when it is nervous, also looked at how I could go about texturing the castle walls and which farmed animals I will include, thinking Sheep.

Making New Realities

So last project of this semester : using observational drawings as a starting point, then translating and adapting these drawings to create a scenario.

This scenario needs to contain 9 elements :

• Figures in uniform
• A family group of mixed age and gender
• A pet
• A moving object
• A group of farmed animals
• A building or manmade structure
• A place you visit
• A plant or tree
• Weather

I started this project by deciding I wanted to come up with the setting that will be unique but personal enough to be interesting for me to explore in detail, I have chosen Krak des Chevaliers a 12th century crusader castle in northern Syria. After this I did a quick mock up sketch for an idea in my sketchbook which came out well. and so I  began working on the rest of the elements. I have a rough idea for what I want to include and have made an A1 mock up to see if my general idea will work, I am aiming to go up to A0 for this outcome (largest drawing i've ever made).

Initial sketch working from a photo

A1 mock up

Elements to be researched :

• Studies of a dog in movement
• Studies of cattle
• Average family unit in the crusades
• Garb of Syrians during the crusades
• Garb and banners of the Knights Hospitallers
• Drawings of clouds and how wind effects their shape
• Trees native to Syria

Workshop tomorrow on Perspective..

Natural forms: Project crit.

Just had the group crit for our pre break project on natural forms. I was pretty happy with the feedback I got from people and wasn't hugely surprised at what I could have improved upon / done differently.
2 main areas where I could have developed was in my use of contrast and I could have been expressive in my use of line.

Worksheet of skull drawings

Worksheet of lead ore drawings

Celebratory drawing of the skull, have had some really positive feedback on this piece, was definitely worth the time it took.

Blind drawing and playing around with plasticine!

Pretty busy day, had an interesting talk this morning from a practising artist, Jessie Brennan, it was about her process regarding her recent projects, her working practise and advice on getting experience as a working artist.

After this we were set a short project on Blind drawing (something she had worked with in several projects). We got paired up and were given 3 minutes on the first drawing. - Done using a B pencil.

I found this process strangely enjoyable, by not being able to look at the drawing I found myself without my usual plague of self doubt and need for control. The first drawing outcome was interesting as I had 2 parts of the face, the core of eyes, nose and mouth and the other details, eyebrows, hair  some simple marks, both separated on the page.

The second drawing task was, after had changed partners, a 10 minute drawing with a different media, I decided to use a 0.1 fineliner.

This part of the workshop was slightly less restricted as we were able to talk to our partners and in turn led to a reduction in the intensity that was pressent in the shorter drawing. I found myself getting lost on the page very early on in the drawing and knowing that it wasn't truly an issue I decide to try and add as many layers to the drawing as possible. However I came unstuck once we had used up our time and I had discovered that my pen hadn't applied any ink on certain key lines I had made, thus leaving the drawing looking more sparse than it should have.

After this we had a short group crit and discussed each others work, most of us had enjoyed the project, and we had come to the conclusion that the 1st drawing was more satisfying due to the time allowed.

After this we had another seminar and this was lead into our project for the next week, Caricatures. Looking at the work of Ghazzi, Hograth, Rowlandson and Daumier.

Hogarth, a Harlots Progress

 Hogarth used real people to make his critiques on society more real and engaging.

Daumier, The Past, the Present, the Future : 1834

The artist using the shape of a pear for Louis XVI which is considered an insult in France, an act that led to him being imprisoned.

After lunch we had another quick project, before starting in earnest tomorrow morning. Make a plasticine caricature of our partners face and then draw from the caricature. This project was highly entertaining and I ended up with some oddly interesting outcomes.

Creepy face says Kneel before ZOD!