I found I enjoyed Part 2 much more than I anticipated and found my drawing skills and development of personal ideas were really starting to grow and flow so much better. I made improvements in key areas such as making my development of ideas into a cohesive journey, fleshing them out and experimenting. I also was able to introduce myself to a broader selection of media and look into how to depict different subject matters, but also how certain media can help visualise certain textures and materials more effectively than others.
From Project 4 Exercise 2 I really learned the value of preliminary drawings and that quick sketches of many viewpoints and options were a great help to developing my ideas into a final drawing, rather than just jumping into creating a drawing head first. As said in my feedback from Hayley, to improve I should spend more time developing the skills exercises are set out to teach me and use thumbnail sketches as a way to do this. I tend to breeze through the exercise in order to develop my personal ideas immediately from the tasks. Moving forward I should take more time to focus on developing the skills these exercises are meant to encourage me to think about in more detail about.
Research and written work is one of my strong points and I should spend a bit more time looking at Artists who both relate to my current work but who I also have a deep interest in. I would love to start finding Artists who really help me to develop and find my voice and truly inspire me how I work. I should look to well known Artists as much as I do lesser known Artists, as they often made the building blocks to certain styles and techniques within their time period and movements.
Project 2 Exercise 2 wasn’t a strong point in the development of my skills. My choice of ink as one of my mediums for this exercise wasn’t the best and ended up creating a flat scene in terms of my use of tone. As suggested by Hayley, I looked into the exercise again and gave it another go, choosing some Starfish to help develop my drawing skills in presenting 3D objects.
For this first drawing I started by using the lighter blue (aqua) ink to draw out the basic shape and add in the areas of tone. This helped to develop a 3D shape before I went on top in a slightly darker blue ink to add details of the texture. I used a brush and watered down the ink to draw the shadows, layering it up as each layer dried to add areas of tone to show the shadows cast by the starfish. I think I have improved in showing the dimensions and shape of objects and how they interact with the light of the environment, by working in layers and building up my tone. I think my drawing style for the texture helped to show the rough texture of the starfish as well as its tonal properties.
For this attempt I added more layers and worked on a smaller scale which created a darker drawing. I used the same technique of using a lighter blue ink in order to create the basic blocks of tone within the shapes and then layer a darker blue on top to show the texture of the objects. I’m happy with how these came out and think i have improved on making a more dimensional shape, but moving forward I should look at more artists and how the use tone, what techniques they use, and try and look at incorporating that into my work to help me create more realistic objects tonally that fit into the environment of the drawing.
An important point I want to take with me moving forward is how I create my marks and to be more experimentative and creative with making marks tonally and stylistically to experiment further with my personal style as an artist. I want to take my time with exercises and really dive into them thoroughly and try to push the development of my drawing skills even further and improve. With the title of Part 3 being ‘Expanse’ I also want to look at how other artists use their space in their composition and what I can take away from their ideas and techniques to form my own compositions. I’m excited to push forward and really expand on my skills in drawing.
Simona Hopewell : Drawing 1 