Week 5: Landscape Drawing

 A 10 minute sketch of a dawn scene, in this image I focused primarily on the trees and how they are constructed. I paid attention to their rough texture and tried to emulate this using crosshatching. I think this is successful in the tree to the right, but in the middle I feel like the lines I have used are too obvious and bold. Still I am happy with how the branches turned out in both the trees, and I think the softness of the clouds in the background is successful.

A 40 minute drawing of a landscape, in which I paid attention to completing the whole scene, and tried to capture the feel of each area through how I applied my lines. I think this is successful in the grass to the left and the central building, and I also feel I have successfully represented the trees and bushes in the background. The pavement down the middle has a slight look of a river, which I'm disappointed with, but overall I think the image works.

Week 4: Light and Shadow

A 45 minute drawing of a several chairs with drapery placed over them. This drawing is primarily aimed at studying light and dark, and how shadows are created. The shadows underneath the chairs are particularly interesting as they do not go in one direction, due to the multiple lights surrounding them. It is also clear that the shadows are not one solid colour, but instead are made of gradients which get darker as they move away from the chairs and other lights.

In the drapery itself I attempted to create both light and dark areas, to highlight the contrasts created by dramatic lighting. The left side of the drapery is darker, as the most bright lights were on the right. There are some very bright highlights on the left however, as well as darker areas on the right, created by the properties of the folds in the fabric. I also studied how the direction a line is drawn has an effect on what you create, and I used some very fine crosshatching to create an idea of fabric and scratchiness.

Week 3: Composition

 A 5 minute composition sketch which originally had the pole on the far left of the image, I decided to add another area to the composition on the left, as visible by the line. I believe that although rule of thirds stated that the image should not be like this, I prefer this version, as it adds something as the focal point is in the middle. The tree on the left also still utilises rule of thirds, and the eye may start by looking at the tree, and following the line of the building.

 A 10 minute composition sketch from on top of a balcony, there is a distinct foreground, midground, and background to this image, provided by the fence, chandelier, and wall. This creates an image with very good potential for depth were it worked into.I positioned the chandelier to the left as it creates a much more interesting line for the eye to follow and get lost in, lingering for a while on the image.

A final 5 minute composition sketch, this time with only a foreground and background, but I believe it still works. Although at first glance the pole would appear to be central in the image, upon closer inspection it is slightly to the left, a conception aided by the fact that it is slanted and not straight.

Week 2: Perspective

This is a 40 minute drawing of a bookshelf, along with a bit of the roof and wall to highlight that this is the corner of a room, and to get a greater sense of perspective. In this picture the horizon line is right at the bottom, just off the picture, so all the lines are heading downwards off the picture, but at different angles of steepness. I believe this has made for a successful perspective drawing.

In this picture I elected to not draw or shade any of the book covers, and only to shade sides of book that were heading backwards, to represent their not being as visible. I believe this has been successful as the image has a good sense of depth and that there is space behind the books, created by the lines of the shelves going behind the books. 

Week 1: Still Life and Composition

This drawing is a 20 minute drawing of still life using pencil. I was focusing primarily on compostion, and so tried to use rules of thirds in my placement of the objects and vantage point. This is especially true of the large glue bottle to the left, which is where the eye is drawn to begin with. I then connected this to the other objects using the scissors, but as they are not close, I don't think this has worked very well.

The shelf at the top third is a separator for the rest of the image, and serves as a somewhat rudimentary background, but I believe it may be too dark as it draws attention to itself and away from the image. Overall, I think the composition is a success, and there are 3D qualities to the image and especially the glue bottle which give it a good depth.