Week 11 - Urban Landscape Drawing

These images were created using soft pencils and they focus on studying the techniques behind urban landscape drawing.

The first drawing shows an interesting composition and an implied line which follows the curve of the pond. Perspective isn't that obvious and was focused on mostly for the buildings in the background ( two point perspective). The detailing is done in an impressionistic manner, due to the complexity of the original scene. The shading gives a good sense of depth, especially with the main building of the drawing.

The image on the right shows a fast sketch of a scene with a single point perspective - the vanishing point being located far in the background. The original scene was highly detailed but the silhouettes of the building and lights are contoured well. The composition is appealing as there are several points of interest in the drawing. The background however is almost completely missing from the drawing, and other buildings should have been detailed as well for a better depth effect.

Week 10 - Urban Interiors

These drawings were created using soft pencils in A3 format, and they focus on studying the techniques of interior drawing.

The first one is a light sketch of a staircase with a really pleasing composition. There is a sense of depth in this drawing, though the perspective is a bit wrong in certain areas due to the high number of orthogonal lines and complex details of the actual scene.

The second drawing shows more detail and shading, with an interesting composition. It also exhibits good depth on the right side of the image. The left side however seems to lack detail and the perspective isn't fully accurate, which makes it not fit in with the rest of the scene.

Week 9 - Non-human Life Drawing

The focus of this drawing session was to study animal figures and the variety of characteristics that different species have. These drawings were created using soft pencils and all of them are quick sketches of a taxidermy collection. 

These pictures manage to give a good sense of proportion and pose with the use of contour lines, without the use of too many details. Some sketches, such as the one of the tiger, the parrot or the bird in the last drawing, manage to illustrate the weight and balance of the subjects, while in a natural pose.

Week 8 - Life Drawing (Movement)

These drawings focus on movement and the balance of the human body in more challenging poses. They were created using soft pencils and graphite sticks on A3 paper.

There is a clear impression of movement in all images and the first one shows great balance and proportion. In the second image however the proportions are a bit wrong due to insufficient measuring, and the perspective is a bit unclear as the drawing lacks foreshortening. The angles of the body were kept right with the help of construction lines.

The last image is a sequence of drawings which succeed at portraying an action done by the model. In this image there is a great sense of rotation of the human body which accentuates the balance and weight of each pose. Several construction lines were used here to mark these rotations as well as the angles of the shoulders and hips, therefore maintaining a good perspective. 

Week 7 - Life Drawing (Dynamic Poses)

Both drawings were created using soft pastels on coloured A3 paper. The aim of this drawing session was to study dynamic poses and describe the shape of the human figure using coloured shading.

The first image manages to describe the rotation of the model, and the shading accentuates the shape of the human body. Proportion should have been worked on more, as the feet are clearly too large compared to the rest of the body. This issue could have been avoided with good measuring.

The second drawing displays a great sense balance and weight, with good anatomical proportions. The muscles are nicely contoured and the shape of the subject is implied with good shading. The high contrast of the shading also adds a nice overall effect to the drawing.

Week 6 - Life Drawing (Proportion)

 

The medium used in this drawing session was a graphite stick and the drawings were done in A3 format. The  focus was to keep human proportions right, while also studying the posture of the model while in simple poses.

The first image shows a series of sketches in which the the proportion of the human body are accurate. There are visible construction lines on the page which mark the angles of the hips and shoulders, and this creates a greater sense of balance and weight of the model in those poses.

The second drawing is a more detailed piece which also displays good proportion overall and manages to describe shape with the help of shading. There are however certain issues caused by poorly observed perspective. The foreshortening on the legs isn't correct and this causes a loss of proportion, and also creates the impression an out of balance pose.

Week 5 - Still life (Foreshortening)

These images show two studies of the principle of foreshortening, in this case drawing still life from extreme angles.

The perspective distorts the proportions of the object, and therefore construction lines were used to simplify the form of the object and establish the size of different parts of the skeleton. The first drawing exhibits a good sense of depth and also contains enough details to describe the form of the object. The second image also has visible construction lines which helped with maintaining correct proportions. The depth however isn't as clear as in the previous drawing, and this is due to the incorrect size of certain bones - the hip and lower limbs should have been even bigger for a better foreshortening effect.

Week 4 - Still Life (Composition)

This still life drawing was completed in around 1 hour using soft pencils on A3 paper. The aim was to arrange objects in order to obtain a good composition.

The composition is asymmetrical and this makes it appealing to the eye. There seem to be several implied lines such as a diagonal one from the top left to the bottom right of the page, and there are a few points of interest where the shading is more detailed. The values are quite varied though some objects seem to lack shading, such as the lemon, and that could have helped with describing the texture of the fruit better. The proportions are right but there are certain issues with the form of the objects - the verticals and ellipses aren't correctly drawn. 

Week 3 - Still Life (Light and Shadow)

These drawings were done in A3 format using charcoal. This exercise focuses on studying the way light creates shadows on the cloth, and cast shadows on the wall behind it.

The shading offers shape to the cloth, and indicates that the light source is coming from the right. The cast shadows behind the object offer a good sense of depth, especially in the first drawing.

The detail drawing on the right exhibits all the principles mentioned above, though the shading would have needed more attention, as the ripples in the cloth aren't realistic enough. There is however a good contrast between the main object and the cast shadow, which offers an appealing composition.

Week 2 - Still Life (Form and Shape)

Both still life drawings were made using soft pencils and show a scene which contains many objects of different shapes and textures. The composition is a balanced one which is pleasing to the eye.

The first picture focuses on the representation of form - strong lines which describe silhouettes and mark certain details on the objects. Construction lines were used during measuring to maintain accurate proportions, but also to mark the spacing of each object and give a sense of depth. 

There is a clear sense of depth in the second picture, in which shading was used to further describe the shape of the objects. The table cloth manages to tie the whole scene together, but it could have been shaded more, for a better effect.

Week 1 - Anatomy (Bone Structure)

These drawings were created using soft pencils in A3 format. Both pictures display good proportions which were kept with the help of measuring. The visible construction lines were also used to mark the angles that the skeleton has in different poses. Both anatomical studies are very detailed which offer a more complete look to the pictures.

The perspective isn't right in the second drawing and this issue is visible from the orientation of the construction lines used for the legs.