Exercise 5: Drawing fabric using line and tone
I chose a couple of my attempts to show here, due to how my thinking changed as I drawing.
Subject is a towel, dropped over-top a tin, then I let the excess pile up on itself to create interesting folds.
I started pretty standard for myself. Chalk on kraft paper. I was thinking about trying to define the flow of fabric. Using curves to define cavities and ridges. I then moved towards tone, and brought in black to give me shadows. I like the feel of dimensionality to the rolls in the front of the form.
But, as mentioned, pretty standard for me. So I decided to put aside the kraft paper, and move over to white cartridge paper and use a large graphite block. I really enjoyed the marks that I could make with this, using the edges, points and surfaces. Working “up” from the shadows was very enjoyable, if quite a bit less formed than my prior attempts.
Here I found it interesting using texture to define the edges of shadow, to help provide volume.
Exercise 6: Emphasising form with cloth
As I was working through my continuing experiments with Pastels, I was noticing how my nitrile gloves crinkled and folded. How they emphasised tension and relaxation of my hands underneath. Decided to draw my hand, gloved, as part of this exercise.
I initially found it very difficult, as any movement (such as breathing) on my part caused the wrinkles and folds to move. I decided that I needed to take a few photos so I could better arrange lighting and interesting poses. I took a number, and eventually chose a pose with interesting spiral folders, and foreshortening.
Below is my first attempt. I struggled with the foreshortening on the extended finger. I tried to focus on using tone, more than line, here and used line to emphasise the finer folders. I liked how there is clear tension on one side, and crinkly relaxed glove on the other.
The colour of the gloves — a very medical blue — reminded me of some negative medical family news that came up over the holiday. This has set me off thinking about how I can take this further. Perhaps a pastel drawing of this, with the subject being the anthroquinone red pastel which has a very red/blood tone. I like the multiple meanings in this.
Side note
I like how the underlying doodle is showing through in the photograph. Is this something to explore?
Online life drawing with Joy
Again, via the 2b or not 2b Collective.
Here I was trying to “do things differently” again. I often feel like I get stuck in my ways. As I’m sure you’ve noticed (and I’ve mentioned above), lifedrawing appears to mean conte and kraft paper to me. It is definitely where I’m most comfortable.
I switched over to using a charcoal pencil, and sharpened it out like I see on Youtube. Generally let me create some interesting brush-like effects, though i still made heavy use of the point.
I’m also trying to be faster and more “expressive” here. I’m not trying to construct like I do normally. I just want to splash down marks and try to convey what is happening.
Most of what I did was a mess. But I’m not unhappy with these two. This session had the model being wrapped and styled by another artist. So this was less “clothing” in the traditional sense, and more these interesting twists and bundles of folds.
Hard to see, let alone render, and I enjoy these sorts of things.
Reflections
I’m very inconsistent. I know this comes with time and practice. And I know that my “trying new things” means I necessarily won’t see consistency. I need to silence the voices in my head that criticize the lack of consistency.
I’ve always admired Mucha’s curvilinear lines; the confidence of the strokes; the precision; and the motion. Looking through his drawings, I really am drawn to how he uses hatching to create tone; pulling the lines to evoke the surfaces and folds of the fabric. His line control makes me envious. I really enjoy flipping through the Dover* collection of his drawings, and looking at the lines. I should spend time trying to draw these lines for myself.
Going back to my brief reflections above, I understand that this sort of control comes with practice — a practice that I honestly don’t put enough time into. I always move towards sweeps of tone instead of pushing myself with hatching. Something to consider.
I’ve also been exploring the Tate’s archives, and stumbled across Keith Vaughan’s sketches. I was searching for artists who were part of the LGBTQ+ community, to see where parallels might exist in my own work.
This image caught my eye, due to the nature of this unit. The quick hatch marks and angular shapes give a strong impression of the stretch of the jacket. Its so expressive, and yet so simple.
The background marks give me the impression of pine tree limbs, but I have no way to know if that is the intent. Its an interesting little study and is encouraging. I shouldn’t worry about trying to create perfectly when I’m just doing studies or capturing ideas in my sketchbook.
The way some of this artist’s war period drawings remind me so strongly of Picasso. Years ago, I was in a comic store with a friend of mine and she looked at the cover a book and said “This is about the Holocaust” — I couldn’t see how or why she could identify it but my friend had become so familiar with Holocaust imagery in comics/illustration that she could identify the themes immediately.
I can see Keith’s sexuality in his drawings. I can see the struggle with identity, and the struggles of the self. How do I describe this?
- *Drawings of Mucha (1978) Garden City, New York: Dover Publications Inc.