Quick drawing.

 A quick drawing in fine liner and pencil crayon of the shield bug. It was difficult to draw because I had to scale it up while I was drawing, and it kept moving, but I think it has turned out okay.

Design visualisation: observational drawing and modelling.

I decided to use a glove as the base for my observational drawing, to link with my theme of trace elements. A glove is often something people lose without noticing, if it falls out of a pocket, and it is a trace of the person who has been there.

I started off by using a graphite stick and pencil to do some quick sketches of the glove, in various different sizes and positions. I then used ink and collage to work into my drawing, to highlight interesting patterns and shapes.

I also did some separate quick drawings, to try to capture some of the different tones and shadows in the glove. 

After this, I started picking out some of the interesting patterns and shapes to make in wire. I found it difficult to bend very tight angles in the wire so some parts were more curved than I hoped they would be.

I then started to use black thread with the wire to create different thicknesses of lines, and some sharper angles. Some of the wire bits didn't look at all like a glove, but I found this was a good way to generate ideas from everyday objects, that could be used for jewellery or a printed pattern.

  After this, I started using collage, string, masking tape, sewing, and photocopies of the glove to create small object, taking ideas from my first drawing.

Illustration: Observational bird drawings

 In our first day of illustration, we were doing observational drawings of stuffed birds.

 The first drawing we did was with our non-drawing hand, so for me my left hand. This was to create a looser drawing, and to capture the basic shape and essence of the bird. We then did another drawing of the same bird, on top of the previous drawing. I like this because of all the overlapping shapes and messy lines.

 This owl was drawn without looking at the paper, just looking at the owl. At one point. my graphite stick fell off the edge of the paper. The basic shapes are all there, but aren't all in the right place.























This toucan is drawn using the same method, but with a felt tip pen. I like the shape of his beak and his feet. It looks like a toucan even though his head isn't complete.

This is my favourite of my bird sketches, it was done mainly looking at the bird, and only glancing at the page. I like it because it is very simple but also very accurate to the real bird.

Life Drawing: Perspective.

In our third week in life drawing, we focused on drawing figures from different perspectives and angles. The hardest part I found was not being able to measure in heads, when the whole of the head wasn't visible. we didnt do much work on tone this week, just proportions, angles and perspective.

 This one was very difficult. I measured it it feet instead of heads, and it was hard because my brain was telling me that a torso should be long, but because of the angle, this torso needed to be very short and angled, so I was trying to draw what I saw, and my brain was trying to draw what it thought a body should look like.

Life drawing: Line and Tone

We used pencil this week, and as well as line, and started to use hatching to build up layers of tone. we also had some more difficult angles and poses. We started with quick 20 minute sketches, then moved on to longer drawings, so we could get the proportions and tone.

We only used hatching, not cross hatching, so that the lines all go in the same direction and eye won't see it as lots of small lines, but rather areas of dark and light. I am very pleased with the collarbone and shoulder area of this drawing because I think it shows the contours well, but I think I could improve by using even darker tones, to make it look less flat.

In the lying down pose I think my hatching works better because of the very dark parts, like the shadow on her tummy and the back of her thigh.

Fine Art

 This is the first piece I made, using a variety of methods to get my objects onto the paper. I used a projector to change the scale of my objects, like the pink scissors and the washer and bolt, and drew around them as well, to portray the same objects in different ways. I used poster paint, pencil crayon and pastel to get different textures and effects, but only used four colours, pink, purple, blue and green.

 I like this one because it is more direct, I used objects to apply the paint to the paper, such as a fork, a yoghurt pot, a piece of string, and then because my hands were covered in pink paint from the string, I made hand prints  instead of just drawing around them like I did  previously.

This one is one of my favourites, because I like the contrast between the very precise, almost photographic nature of the background with the random, messy blue on top. I found that dropping the paint-covered string, rather than laying it down, made better patterns and wiggles. I also like the simple blue and brown colour-scheme, because I think the brown makes the blue look bluer.

I like the contrast between the pink and green on this one, and the simplicity of the design. I added the blue right at the end, because without it, the colours felt too unbalanced because there was no mid tone in between the bright pink and the dark green.

I used rolled up paper and a projector to make the green spirals. I liked the green and brown together, and they looked very natural together, so I decided to add the blue as a contrast and focal point. I used the same method of dropping the string I used earlier, so the random patterns contrasted with the repetition of the background.

Line Drawing

This is my line drawing of a coffee percolator which I did in pencil, without using shading. I found it hard to get the lines straight and make it look 3D. I  also struggled getting the top and the bottom curves equal. I then chose to use a 9B graphite stick to get a more definite line. I drew the ellipses first, to get them lined up, and then drew my next line drawing. I found that this was more successful because the proportions were right and because the lines were darker I think it communicated the shape and form better.

   We also tried drawing objects with as few marks as possible (each time the pencil lifted off the paper counted as a mark). I drew a phone using nine marks. I found this very interesting because it made me really think about which lines were important, and what could be left out without affecting the communication of the object to the viewer. I quite enjoyed the challenge of drawing in such a stripped-back and basic style.