360 Studies

This exercise should help me to see how drastically my view/drawing can change from just shifting my view, and will help me really think about my composition and point of view when approaching a landscape drawing.

North

I started with the North point of view, facing down a path and past a pub into some wooded areas. I feel my perspective has improved with this sketch, but I still lack skill in depicting a building with a realistic perspective. The building takes away form the drawing, making it feel very flat in comparison to other areas, which has made me feel disapointed and unhappy with this piece. But now I know that is an area I really need to focus on. From my last exercise I really struggle with presenting buildings with an accurate perspective, but hopefully with time and practice this issue can be fixed. I like my approach to the grass, it is minimal and effective, it adds to the environment and isn’t too distracting, and works well within the 15 minute time limit on the sketch. I built up the confidence to add a blocked in shadow of trees to add to the layers of the background which works extremely well with my choice of medium. I can see my skills really developing with using a pen for such a broad scenes, both tonally and with perspective as well.

South

I turned the opposite direction and began sketching the other side of the path. This path was more complicated as it twisted and turned around all of the trees and shrubbery, but I could see improvement with how I capture perspective with paths. The minimal approach to grass works really well here and allows me to emphasise the shadows in the background and middle ground even more. I’m also really happy with the light tone I used to show the puddles on the path, I feel it really adds to the atmosphere of the drawing.
My use of tone also improved, I like how the shadows under the big oak tree work really well to add dimension into the landscape and split up the two fields. I think I could have done more with the sky, but it was a very white, cloudy sky, but I should have tried to maybe add some light shadows to add some subtle texture there.

West

The curve of the page in the photograph distorts the perspective of the path here, but I still could have made it straighter regardless. I could have done better with my use of line, for example you can see the line I use to mark out the path and the grass I draw over it doesn’t hide it, and it doesn’t look the best. I like my used of tone in the trees to really depict where foliage of different trees end and begin. I like how the lamp post stands out, but I feel it would look better had I used a ruler to make the lines straighter and much more accurate.
I think my attention to tone on the path works well, especially contrasting the dark foliage behind it, but I feel the grass in the fore ground could have been approached better, it looks very repetitive and there is not much attention to detail to make it really work. I clearly spent most of the 15 minutes working on the foliage. It doesn’t help that this isn’t as broad a view as the other two sketches, its very close to the the background. This highlights to me that a viewpoint being too close or too far away can make or break a drawing, my composition is finding that balance within my viewpoint of being too close and too far, to find a view that works perfectly.

East

With my previous sketch being too close to work well for the 15 minute time limit, this viewpoint is too bare. I tried a different approach to the grass this time, using thin scribbly lines to show the tone of the field, rather than trying to depict all the blades of grass. I like the outline of the trees and my use of tone there, I feel as the trees got closer along the left hand side, I still should have kept it relatively dark. I think my depiction of a bin on the left ruins the sense of perspective, as it doesn’t really work and it isn’t drawn the best in relation to everything else. The field goals add a point of interest, but would work better within the composition if they were more centre and clear, for the viewer to focus on on. The two goal posts blend into each other because of my point of view, so if my perspective were to move they could position better on the field.

Moving forward

This exercise really helped me to focus on the importance of my point of view and how my angle and perspective of a landscape can change the narrative and the scene drastically. Moving forward I need to pay attention to my space, and find that balance within the composition where the scene works best and and has a clear focal point and view that works well for what I want to present to my viewer. I need to know what I want, if I want to depict a lot of texture, I should get a closer view, like in the West sketch. If I want to depict an interesting and broad landscape I should go for a viewpoint like in the South sketch, which can separate easily into different sections ( fore ground, middle ground and background) in order to add layers and perspective in order to create a dynamic and interesting point of view . I need to work more on my use of perspective when it come to man made landmarks and structures, such as buildings and paths. This should come with practice as I move through the other exercises.