Week 5 Life Drawing & 3 Dimensional Form.

Reviewing 3 dimensional form. 

All paintings and drawings above by Pablo Picasso

You will be drawing the model in the context of the studio, looking at spatial relationships between Mel and props of simple three dimensional shapes.

We're looking at tone again - why? (I hear you ask)

To understand, we can use tone we observed around and on a object to describe its three dimensionality on a 2D surface.

Drawing tone is and not just as an end in its self, or just a way to describe mood/atmosphere, it’s a way of bringing something to life on the page. Once we grasp this (extremely helpful) technical skill we can choose to make our drawings have a sense of the three dimensional.

Warm up session.

'Taking a line for a walk' exercise – revisiting previous weeks task

'This builds on the 'build drawing' continuous line approach, of hand eye synchronicity. This time you'll be focusing not only on Mel and the props but also on perspective; such as the angles of the plinths, and focusing on shadow, created by and seen on the props, Mel, and the floor.

Place a sheet of  A1 paper on a vertical drawing board, start the drawing half way down the left hand side of the paper, you will eventually draw slowly across to the other side of the sheet.

Begin the drawing at a left hand point of the tableau, to start find an area of interest to draw first, it might be Mel's foot, or the edge of a plinth, now let your eyes wonder around the tableau and allow the charcoal/pencil to follow suit on the page, whatever your eye notices of interest draw on the page, this time it might be . . . .

• The Plinths
• Shadows, however faint
• The floor
• Windows
• The walls
• The piping
• Fellow students
• Drawing boards
• Peoples shoes
• Outlines of dark corners
• Outlines of the light
• Mel's feet, elbow, legs etc.
• Peoples hands
• Etc, etc.

Remember to keep the charcoal/pencil on the page, all the objects, shadows, angles, will join with your 'walking line' . You may find you can't draw the entire tableau, so place another sheet on the board and carry on where you left off, then attach together with masking tape when finished.

Complete this exercise once more – working over 2 sheets if necessary. 

Warm up session completed

Exercise to quickly establish dark, medium and light tones in the studio.

Select 3 dry mediums; one dark black (compressed charcoal or black oil pastel), medium grey (Graphite stick or willow charcoal) and white (chalk or compressed white charcoal)

To get your eyes 'warmed up' to see tone, we will complete the following exercise.

Following on from the previous exercise, where you  mapped the studio space with a flowing line, this time you'll quickly map the space just with tone – remember to keep recording perspective , the geometric props are there to help see and describe form more simply. 

Place a piece of paper on your drawing board,

·       Take your dark medium, and draw the darkest areas in the room. Take 5-10 mins to complete this.  

 * Please note draw what interests you, no need to draw everything within the room- be selective *

·       Next draw the medium tones. Take 5-10 mins to complete this task.

·       Now the lightest areas.  Take 5 mins to complete this.

·       Review the drawing, make the necessary adjustments, adding more dark or/and medium tone, don't forget to add more light if necessary.

Review the drawing again, if you observed the space well, noticed and recorded the tones, your drawing will have a simply sense of space, foreground and background. Mel and the props will also have a sense of form. 

·       Repeat the exercise once more, learning from the 1^st drawing, you'll be much more observant, your eyes will notice the varied tones more accurately this time.  The aim is to describe 3 dimensional form through the drawing tone. Again remember to observe and draw perspective, angles, corners etc.

*When finished, reflect on your achievements. Look at how you've describe form, ask yourself how you achieved this, what did you do ?  Notice where the drawing is flat or confused, write down (in note form) how you might alter the drawing, so it describes form and space more clearly.

 Prolonged drawing poses focusing on tone to describe three dimensional form.

With the time left in the session create 2 prolonged drawings.

The aim here is to building on the knowledge and observational skills gleaned from the previous exercises (and last semester)  to convey a sense of space and three dimensional form on paper.

Use your view finder to look for an interesting composition to help you exploit the exercise, don't draw something face on, look for interesting angles, shadows, light areas, something to get your teeth into, anything view that'll inspire you. Include Mel, and at least one other prop, be it in the background or foreground.  

For some of you working on a prolonged drawing will be welcomed, (in your reflective essays, a lot of you wanted longer to get to grips with a pose) whilst others might think they've finished way before the end, struggle to make amendments, alterations feeling unable to change their artworks – remember your drawings are working drawings, not exhibits in a exhibition, challenge yourself, work outside your comfort zones and make those alterations, you'll feel better for it, and your skill set will grow !