Natural Forms

In this session on the 17th September we had all chosen groups of 4/5 and then asked to go outside and find around 2 natural forms each. These included; leaves, conkers and flowers. After doing this we then went back inside and picked 5 things out of the 10 that we all wanted to draw. Then arranging them in a way that enabled us all to see at least 1 thing clearly. Then after setting up our easels we all did timed sketches again, 2 minute, 1 minute and 30 seconds to get us warmed up. Then like what we did for our charcoal drawings we had to draw with our alternate hand and blind. After doing these small tasks we went on to actually drawing our natural forms by using fine liners and the we used continuous line, this caused a web effect. You was clearly able to see where I had started drawing and where I had decided to change to. Then using a small thin sable brush and water went around different parts of our drawings to make the ink bleed, this made a cloudy effect. I also used the water to show light and dark tones by adding more water to the lighter parts of the leaf for example and then using less water and going into the ink more where it was slightly darker. Materials I used during this session were the following; cartridge paper, natural forms and a fine liner pen. I also used several techniques throughout the lesson for example; timed sketches and alternate hand drawing.

























Areas of work I think I could improve on would be the size of my drawing. I think I should make it bigger and more to scale, make it fill the page more. Also I should proportion more things such as the size of the leaf compared with the conker and what part of the natural form is touching another. I would obviously finish with the water to make it finished and to get use more darker tones to show more deeper shading of where the light is coming from, and to also show the naturally darker places of the forms this would make my work more realistic.
Areas of my work I think worked well was the effect of the bleeding ink. This was my first time using this technique and I think it worked well with my drawing and with the natural forms. I really liked the cloudy effect it had given and think it worked well as a whole piece of art. I also really like the web design we had drawn on, all the different lines made it look like the leaf had veins running all through it, and when the water was added it meant that I was able to make more shaded tones and go darker and lighter in some places because of the individual parts of the leaf.
To extend my skills I will look further at how to use this technique effectively so I am able to complete my work and try out the technique this will make my work progress as I will start to get used to techniques and enable me to use these techniques on other work I do.

https://holsart.wordpress.com/tag/fineliner/

I really like this artwork as it look so realistic and the use of water to show light tones and to use it to also show the darker has been use effectively and properly. What I would take from this would be the appropriate use of the water. I think this because the use of water to show the tone is done really well and I think that if I was to do this it would add more detail to my work.


In this session 17th September carrying on from the fine liner drawings we were then asked to draw the natural forms again but this time using a dip pen and black ink. Materials that were used for this task were cartridge paper, dip pen and black ink. The technique used for this task was cross hatch. after drawing with the dip pen and ink we then used cross hatching to show darker tones of the forms. This was done by drawing thin lines close together going in a different direction forming cross hatching.

Areas of my work I think worked well was the drawing itself, the proportion of the different natural forms. They all were in proportion with each other and the scale was small but everything was proportional. Also I think the little cross hatching I had done worked well and look effective showing the darker areas of them.
Areas of my work I think could be improved would be the size and scale of my whole drawing I would try and increase the size of it because I think it looks too small and I would try and fill the page more. Also this would give me more opportunity to use cross hatching as there would be a bigger shape for me to show tone and shading.
To extend my skills I will look at other peoples work such as peers out of my group, and see how they have used this technique and how it has made their work look like and the effect it has given. Also I will Google and search other dip pen and ink work and research how to use them properly and how other people use it.

Charcoal

In this session on the 11th of September we were asked to do several timed sketches of keys, 2 min, 1 min and 30 seconds. We then went on to do the similar tasks but we had to use my left hand and blind drawing. We used several materials during this lesson such as drawings pencils, putty rubber and charcoal. It was the first time i had ever used charcoal so i was completely new to how to use it. I had also used quite a few techniques as well these include; blind drawing, timed sketches, alternative hand drawing and scale. I found it difficult at first to try and think of the size I should try and draw the keys at and to make sure that it was all drawn to scale. Areas of work that i think worked well was the scale and size of my drawing as i found it hard at the start. An area of my work that i think could be improved would be the charcoal tone, this is because i don't think it looks very good and i could of  used the charcoal in a better way this would mean my work would be more accurate and the tones would be mixed better. Also I would change the shape of my third key (key in the background/one I've already started) because when i look back at the drawing now i can instantly see the size of the end of the key compared with the body of the key. it would definitely need re-shaping and making bigger. this would mean that all of my drawing would be more accurate and to scale. To extend my skills i will practice techniques that I have started in class and improve so when I come to do it in class or for any project I may have I will be used to the technique and know how to do it effectively. I will also look at my fellow peers work and take ways they have used different techniques and carried them out on their work and take it and try and either re-create it or take parts of it and improve my work with what I've learnt from them.

I then compared my work to a piece of charcoal art I found on the Internet that I really like. What I like about the professional art work I found was that the charcoal has been blended so well that it looks realistic. Also the charcoal has been used to make shadows and to show where the light has been reflecting off of the keys onto what they have been laid on. Also the shadows that have been made by the charcoal to also show where the light has been reflecting onto the keys. One thing I would take to use on my work would be the blending of the charcoal, I would practice at home to perfect my technique so when I was to finish my work the keys would look more realistic. 

Extension 

For my extension of this material I went off and chose an image off the internet to draw in charcoal. I decided to draw a flower as they seem easier to show tone through petals and the background.

To start this drawing i first used a 2B pencil to draw the outline of the flower. I did this because i wanted the drawing to have an accurate size and scale on the page. I then went onto using the charcoal to show the tones throughout the drawing using the side of the charcoal instead of the point because I found that it made a more delicate mark whereas the point of the charcoal was hard and not easy to smudge and blend out. After doing most of the flower with only darker tones I went onto using the point of the charcoal on the background. I decided to shade all of the background in as I thought it would make the drawing look more realistic. I then went onto using the white charcoal to show the little beads of light in the centre of the image, after doing these I used the point of the charcoal again because I wanted the lines to be dark and strong because they needed to be seen as the stems. After completing the image I thought it was an improvement to my first charcoal drawing of the keys, I think this was down to the drawing being a smaller size so it easier to show the detail. I think if i was to improve this I would start off by researching the technique of how to use charcoal correctly and effectively, then use my knowledge and understanding into another drawing of a bigger scale. This would able me to show my progress and improvements of using this material.