By now you should have a clear idea of the basic elements of your drawing. For this exercise, work on a large scale (A2-A1):
•Use light marks to map out the composition. Be sure to use all of the picture space.
•Look carefully at how the light falls across your subject. Half close your eyes to help you see the broad tonal areas and map them onto your drawing.
•Thinking back to the exercises you did in project 4 using different materials select an appropriate material or set of materials to take this drawing through to resolution.
•Keep looking from your subject to your drawing while squinting to check on tonal values.
My Process
After much swapping and changing my mind I decided this was going to be my composition. There are a lot of different materials here and looking up from almost the floor I think gives it an interesting perspective as it’s one that we don’t often think about. I decided on willow charcoal as my medium because it’s so versatile and can cover large areas quite quickly.
I was getting stressed out at this point because I was so aware that I had run out of time to meet my deadline that I wasn’t concentrating on what I was drawing properly. I quite like that I have stretched the perspective to make the far door seem further away but most of my values are wrong. The reflection on the side door looks like a completely different object because the tone is way too light. I spent so long trying to work out the angle of the mat on the floor that I actually felt like ripping the whole thing up.
Whilst I was drawing I felt like I was doing the bricks too small compared to the rest of the drawing but looking at the photo of my drawing I actually quite like them the way they are. I also like that they’re different shades to, because they’re like that on the wall.
I decided to go back to what I had discovered about frottage to do the concrete floor. Rather than try to draw each bump and little hole, I decided to do a little experiment to see how it would look to use the actual floor to give me the right texture, I tried to blend it out as it faded into the background. I think this could have worked had I done more practices first.
I had completely given up on the plant pot. By this point I just wanted to finish it and move on. I wish I had spent time on putting the shadows on it now but I was so stressed about it that I probably would have done it wrong anyway.
At some point in the future when I have made up some time I will return to this drawing to fix my mistakes.
Lindsey Whittle Artist 