Assignment One – final thoughts (check and log)

Did you do enough preliminary work before starting work on your final piece?

I was happy with the result of my final pieces so that would suggest that I did enough preliminary work. However, I think I would experiment with a few more compositions next time. I found that I learned as I worked through the studies and by the end of the first piece saw the benefit of experimenting with different ideas. Doing more studies would enable me to experiment more and come up with something more unusual.

Do your large drawings give an accurate interpretation of the still life groups? If not, what went wrong?

My large drawings were successful I feel. I think this is due to the drawings done at a smaller scale. These enabled me to get a feel for the proportions of the objects and how they fitted together. The more I drew them, the more accurate the result.

Did you make a good selection of objects or did you try to include too much? Would you change the arrangements if you were to start again?

I am happy with both groups of objects. I spent some time giving thought to the best combination and then tried sketching some alternative layouts to be satisfied. I carefully chose the vegetables to give variety of colour, tone and texture. The teapot and cups were chosen due to their reflective nature and the effect that would have on the light. Due to my careful thought and drawing experiments, I feel there would be no need to change things around unless I wanted to create an entirely different feel and look to the pictures. I feel I achieved what I set out to achieve.

Do your drawings fit well on the paper or could they be improved by working on a larger sheet of paper?

I think they drawings fitted ok on the A2 sheet. It was a challenge to draw at that size as previously I had only drawn on A3 paper. I think any larger would have been unnecessary.

Did you have problems with drawing or find hatching too difficult?

The size of the paper was a challenge as my simple group of objects had to be drawn quite large. Although, I had previously not used hatching techniques before this course, I have been trying to practise these in the exercises whenever possible. I believe this helped me when using hatching to complete the pencil drawing.

Assignment One – reflections sent to tutor

General comments

This is the first art assignment I have ever completed so I was unsure on how to approach the exercise. I found that as I progressed through the studies for the first drawing, I was beginning to learn what the purpose was for doing them. It is a chance to try out ideas, for example compositions and media, and firm down what one wants to do with the final piece. Although I am sure the course was trying to highlight this during the previous exercises, I found that the whole process of doing the assignment really made the point. Therefore, my approach to the second drawing was different as I began to understand more what I was trying to achieve and therefore I produced better studies in line with this approach.

DRAWING ONE:

1. Mark-making study for still-life study of natural forms

This is not a drawing in the conventional sense. I had probably misunderstood what the term studies meant at the beginning so I did not produce an actual drawing but I have included this piece of work as I feel it shows the thought processes I went through. I was attempting to find the correct techniques to represent the different textures of the vegetables in my final drawing. I experimented with pencils, drawing pens, a brush pen and coloured pencils using different techniques of stippling and hatching. This was a very useful exercise as it gave me the basis of how to represent these textures in the final drawing.

2. Composition sketches for still-life study of natural forms

These four sketches were experiments to see the best layout of my vegetables. After doing these sketches I was happy with the number and type of vegetables I had chosen and it confirmed the layout I thought would look the best. I think there is a good variety of positions to compare. The challenge for me was not to draw in too much detail, something I have been trying to work on improving. I am happy with the sketches as they gave me a good idea of what the final version would look like. The change I would possibly make is experimenting with different numbers of objects. In this case, I thought the four I had picked would work as they varied in tone and texture which is why I only tried drawing these four.

3. Oil pastel drawing of still-life study of natural forms – a study

I love the bold and vibrant colours of this drawing. This was an experiment in using colour which I have not used much in my drawing. I love using the oil pastels as they feel very expressive. I decided to use them as they are a complete change from the effect of pencil and I wanted to see the result as I had not experimented with them in the mark-making image. It was more of a challenge to represent texture using the pastels but easier to produce tonal variations using the different shades and mixing colours. I like the finished result of this drawing but decided to do my final piece in pencil as I felt it held more possibilities of expressing different textures.

4. Pencil drawing of still-life study of natural forms – final drawing

Overall I am pleased with the result of this drawing. I had to use a combination of hatching and shading to give the desired effect. It is quite a detailed drawing which is more in my comfort zone when drawing in pencil. I wanted to convey both texture and tone in this drawing and show how I have developed new techniques such as hatching. Previous to this course I had only used shading to produce tonal variation so it has been a challenge to develop the technique of hatching. Although I feel the drawing of the subject looks good, I am having problems putting my still-life drawings into context by drawing backgrounds. Therefore, I decided not to draw one and just barely represent the table. This is an aspect I would like to improve and something I would like to change about the drawing.

DRAWING TWO:

I chose the teapots and cups for this set of drawings as I thought it would be a good subject to show what I had learned about drawing reflections, light and shade.

5. Composition sketches for collection of made objects

This was an important set of sketches as it really helped me understand and see which composition would work best. I tried to vary the placement of the teapot and cups, although, again I had not altered the number of items. This was because I felt it would look more balanced with an even number of cups. It also enable me to start looking at how to represent the reflections and light patterns on the surfaces of the objects. The surface of the cups and teapots were smooth, so there was no need to experiment with different textures as in the first set of drawings.

6. Preparatory drawing for collection of made objects in charcoal pencil

This drawing was a two fold exercise. I wanted to see how my chosen layout would look on A3 paper before committing to an A2 drawing and I wanted to try a different media. I thought using the charcoal pencils would be a change as, apart from early mark-making exercises at the beginning of the course, I have not attempted to draw with them. I chose black and white as I knew I would be doing a colour drawing in my next study. This drawing confirmed that black and white would be suitable for the final version but I was unhappy with the result produced by the charcoal pencils. Even accounting for the smudging, I feel there is still not enough tonal variation in the drawing. I found the pencils to be limiting in this regard and decided not to use them in the final drawing but to go with willow stick charcoal instead if drawing a black and white piece.

7. Oil pastel preparatory drawing for collection of made objects

This drawing was intended to show whether a colour or black and white drawing would be most suitable for the final drawing. I chose to draw the objects in blue using oil pastels as I like the vibrant colours. Although I enjoyed doing this drawing, it is an interpretation as the objects are not blue but white. It is difficult to draw details when using oil pastels and I think next time I would ensure my sticks are sharpened to create more accurate lines. I think using different shades of the same colour give an interesting effect and helps to create a three dimensional image. Despite this and after comparison with the previous study, I decided that the final drawing would be in black and white using my favourite media, willow stick charcoal.

8. Willow stick charcoal drawing of collection of made objects – final drawing

I am very pleased with the result of this drawing. It is how I envisioned the drawing to look. I like the boldness and contrast of the black and white. The deep charcoal tones enabled me to show highlights and other reflections. My criticism is that there could be more white in the drawing, e.g. in the highlights. This is difficult to achieve once the charcoal is down on paper and needs to be thought of previously so white space is left. This is a current difficulty I have with drawing in charcoal but I still love the freeness and expressive nature of the media. Another criticism is that again I do not have a background. I find that when I draw them in they detract from my still-life objects. I think this is because I like simple, bold drawings. Overall, I am very happy with the drawing.