I really wanted to capture what the exercise talks about in the first paragraph, to capture the ‘most striking feature’ . I wanted a point of interest that could stand out against the trees within my composition but also help draw the viewers gaze in and then out to the trees surrounding this focal point. I thought this could help create an interesting drawing that doesn’t feel to crowded with all the similarities present in the structure of trees. I did think about maybe incorporating a contrast with my choice media of a fine liner pen with oil pastels, but I ended up preferring the more simplistic take with loose lines forming a monochromatic, observational sketch. I found a good composition on my walk, an electrical pole surrounded by trees and decided to get to work on this exercise.
I am happy with the compositional layout of this drawing, I think the electrical pole working with the the perspective of looking up works well to draw in the viewers gaze and expand into the surrounding area, brimming with trees and grass. I really love how I captured the trees in the centre, hiding the bottom of the wooden poles. I wanted to add lots of detail in the centre of the drawing and limit this as I expanded out. I think the tonal contrast of the trees in the sides of the composition work well to separate from the trees in the centre of the image.
With drawing the trees, I began in the centre, I drew long squiggly shapes representing the branches and the directions they twist and turn. When it came to shading certain areas i would use light cross hatching in areas of the branch shapes I created, building it up for harsher tone. For the two trees in the center, the branches poked out and stuck out more, so I showed this in my outline which helped to differentiate them from the surrounding trees, which didn’t have branches protruding outwards so much. My approach to detail differed among the different trees, keeping trees which were further away less detailed and more a mass of different tones, which again helped to distinguish the different trees from one another.
For the foliage I used blocks of tone to fill up the space and to give it some weight. The blocks of tone helped to convey the light and where it hit the branches and foliage and where it couldn’t reach, again adding to the send of space and weight the foliage takes up. This was easier to do on the other trees further into the background that I did not use much detail for.
Improvements and moving forward.
I am happy with how my observational study of numerous trees turned out. I really love the focal point point of the electrical poles and how to draws the viewers gaze in and helps break up the drawing and composition. I love how I captured the center of the drawing, with lots of detail. However looking back in hindsight I wish some of the areas of tone were harsher in places to really make the position of the trees and its branches pop and stand out a lot clearer. I was to light on the tone in the centre. I liked my approach to the grass at the bottom of the page, but I wish I expanded it out more, especially filling out more of the blank space to the bottom left. I think that would have helped emphasise the perspective I wanted to have for the piece.
Finally, I tried to tackle the outlines of some of the clouds with some loose lines in the sky. I regret this choice and wish I left the sky plain to really emphasise the pen marks for the scene. Pen is a hard medium to use to capture something as delicate as a cloud and I should practice and explore capturing such a shape and subject. Something like charcoal or pastel would work well to capture this, so perhaps I should have combined mediums with charcoal to help add more layers of tone to both the trees and the sky.
I know my next exercise will be looking at capturing clouds, so hopefully I can use that as an opportunity to branch out and explore ways of improving my landscapes and capturing scenes which will involve the sky. I’d like to try a big variety of media for that to really explore how I can effectively capture something as difficult as clouds.
Simona Hopewell : Drawing 1 