Proportions, Drawing Figures

After my attempts to draw inanimate objects, I have been moved onto figures. These are some of my initial sketches done to test my perspective of figures.

My sister was kind enough to pose for me for some simple every day poses. As you can see, I have difficulty with perspective, and making a figure fit to the page properly. I know how important it is to be able to draw what you see with a sense of perspective. Some of these figures display those skills, and others need serious improvement. I am working on using a method that works in order for me to see the figure in front of me and translate onto a page. I've been trying not to focus too much on details as I feel it would confuse me, so I'm just trying to get used to putting figures onto paper with a basic outline. I did study art at school, and learnt some fundamental basics there, such as eight lengths of a head make an entire body. I found this very strange at the time, and remember thinking that the body was far too long. It wasn't until my teacher pointed out how long our arms are, and that actually our arms reach half way down our thighs, that I began to understand that just because you see something everyday, it doesn't mean that you are fully comprehending it. Another example is the proportion of our faces. The eyes are around half way down our heads, in line with our ears, which I initially thought was ridiculous, but realised was completely accurate. One trick my teacher taught me whilst I was learning to draw in school was to put a circular line down the middle of the head, and one across the middle so as to get the facial figures in the right position. Even now, this is something that I apply to my drawing.
Other things that were particularly difficult when I started drawing was foreshortened limbs, and general sizes. I know what you're thinking; that drawing figures in proportion is relevant to the overall size of the figure you're drawing, but when drawing a figure that is slightly heavier than I am used to, I find that the figure ends up disproportionately large and really unflattering.
Then of course there's the difference in shape between male and female figures. Males tend to have harder lines and are more angular in shape, where as women have more curves, and their body shapes tend to flow from one curve into another. Trying to establish the difference between the two and identify the traits that make up the masculine and feminine is a skill that I need to establish quickly if I am to successfully draw figures of all shapes and sizes.
I haven't had any particular preference to materials as yet, I'm enjoying using them all, but as the marks I'm making at the moment are a bit timid as I'm unsure of myself, pens can sometimes prove difficult to use.

I love that I can make an organised mess when sketching. The mark making used here was controlled, but still makes sense (I hope) to those who are looking at it. You can quite clearly see where I made mistakes in terms of relatively of one limb to another, but was pleased to find that I didn't make as many as I anticipated. I did attempt to make some use of the light and shade available in the room, and I think I portrayed the basic shades. I tried to focus less on the facial features and minor details and more on the prospective, general outline and tone. Sketching like this enables me to look more closely at my, (for want of a better word) muse in it's entirety then if I were to use lines that are more precise and less...hasty. However, using this type of mark making requires a certain amount of trust in your ability to draw what you're seeing without constantly looking at the paper. As I continue to draw, the more confident I am with my mark making.

I think that this type of mark making is becoming a distinctive part of how I draw. It's definitely food for thought.

I wanted to do some more quick sketches of everyday natural poses. These are some of a family member lounging around the house doing various fairly immobile activities. Again, I  used different materials to try and establish which materials work for a certain style of drawing. As my model sat cross legged most of the time when I was drawing her, I tried to draw from different angles for a full composition of the figure, much like I suppose you would if you were to sculpt a figure.

Another relaxed pose. I should have used more depth in shade for this sketch, and the fact that I'm still a little unsure of myself as yet is evident in my sketching. I tend to have a reoccurring problem of not being able to press heavily on the pencil for more dynamics in shade. The thing about using all of these different materials is that I feel like I've forgotten how to use a pencil, which is the material that pretty much every artist starts off using! Unbelievable. I'm not decided as to whether this is because I now don't like using pencil, having discovered all these other materials, or whether it's me just needing to reacquaint myself with pencil once again. To get the broadest outlook possible, I will continue to use as many different mediums in as many different ways as possible.

Anyway, back to the sketch above. The leg closest to me, the one propped up is out of proportion, the thigh is too long, which inevitably means the shin is too long. It's frustrating to have everything so out of sink because I have one detail wrong. I really need to work on drawing what I see instead of drawing what I think I see. I suppose I'm taking it for granted that I'm able to see in perspective all the time because of light and shade, and I need to be able to translate this confidently onto paper. You can also get a sense from this sketch that the model is in a fairly relaxed pose, although I think my muse was very aware that I was drawing them and so was unable to relax completely, which is a shame.

That being said, just because a lot of this is wrong, it wasn't a total waste of time. I am learning a lot from my mistakes. It's a trial and error basis; this doesn't work, let's try a different way. It is a rather long process, but I know I'll get there eventually.
One thing I have learnt, is to be more observant about the materials the model is wearing, because of course it shows the contours of the figure. I know that this is something that I will be looking at later on in the assignment, so I shall continue to observe the clothing on figures carefully.

This pose is wrong in it's proportions. I've fallen victim to a very common mistake, which is that everything above the waist is in proportion using the head size, but everything below the waist is too short and makes the sketch look ridiculous. It's definitely something that I'm really struggling with and find really frustrating. I need to work on being able to fit the figure comfortably on paper. The bottom half of the figure is seriously off. The crossed legs in the air completely threw me. Where I was sitting the crossed legs were leaning slightly towards me and so part of the legs were foreshortened whilst others seemed elongated in contrast. I will try to do more difficult poses such as this one to work on my weaknesses.



I am very proud of this particular piece of work. It displays tone and proportion, and lots of definition that gives the figure a three dimensional feel. You get the sense of the figure coming off of the paper; especially with the blurred/smudged background. If I am unsure of myself, and the proportions, I prefer to use pencils or charcoal; something soft that can easily be drawn over, or manipulated. I found that using the clothing helps illustrate the shape and proportion of the figure underneath, and I think I demonstrated these skills successfully.

Tutor Report

Overall Comments

What you need to send me for each assignment are your exercises and projects and

the assignment pieces themselves and examples from your learning log and sketch books.

The exercises and projects can be on loose sheets so that you can vary the size and

paper type. What you have sent me is fine for assignment 1 though.

You do need to be making sketch books to augment what you do in addition to the

exercises and projects. If you go for assessment you will need between 3 and 6 of

varying sizes. I will speak about this later in the report.

Your learning log needs to be an entity in itself and not attached to your drawings. You can

do this on the computer so that you can import images also to enhance your text and you

can print it out easily. I will talk about learning logs again later. You can present this in an

A4 ring binder or indeed do it as a blog on line. This is up to you, but how you have done

it for this assignment is unsatisfactory both in format and content.

The reasoning behind how this course is organized is that having done the exercises

and projects you can bring the experience, knowledge and know how into the resultant

assignment pieces. This is worth remembering as you progress.

Feedback on assignment

Good drawing essentially almost always contains aspects of the exercises that you have

done in this part of the course. Good tonal understanding, inventive and appropriate

mark making, varied use of line, an understanding of light source, good composition

and inventive and appropriate use of the media to render a particular subject effectively.

Your experimentations and try outs work is imaginative and exploratory, full of varied

line, tone and different applications for the drawing media.

What is important here is that you implement a full range of tone, a variety of

appropriate mark making, varying uses of line and a good understanding of your light

source as you draw. These are not just exercises but tools to use as you progress and

develop.

Basic shapes

Your understanding of ellipses gets better the more that you do, which is how it should

be. The pan on the same page as the earphones shows really good observation and the

way that you have found the ellipses and form is spot on. Leaving the corrected lines

in is fine. By the time that you get to the cheese grater drawing you are really getting to

grips with some complex issues of perspective and eye level. This drawing is not perfect

by any means but it does have character and integrity.

The principle is that the closer to eye level an ellipse is the narrower it is. If you look

from directly above at a cylindrical object, in fact, you will see a circle. If you look

straight on at eye level at the top of a cylindrical object, there would be a line. Ellipses

range from none to a full circle. They all must refer to eye level. You do need to look

very hard when you draw, draw what you see, not what you think that you see. If it

doesn’t look right you need to alter, re draw, re look until you get the objects operating

in 3 dimensions effectively. You have started to do this very well in your pencil studies

and some of them are very effective indeed.

The parallel perspective principle is that parallel edges recede to a vanishing point which

may well be off the paper. Again most artists will not grid up their work with vanishing

points but will look very hard and use their eyes to determine correct perspective.

Distorted perspective needs to have intent and be in the right context otherwise it just

looks wrong.

Tone and Form

The tone and form page in the A3 book demonstrates that you are starting to understand

much more succinctly how to manipulate marks to establish forms in space that relate

to a ground. The pencil and the ink versions are really operating effectively.

The best drawing so far is the study of the bananas and eggs on a plate. This very

well observed and the objects sit well in 3 dimensions. The light source is beautifully

rendered and you have dealt with the different textures sensitively. Well Done! You must

look to this drawing as a qualitative bench mark as you progress. You must try to sustain

this effort throughout an assignment and indeed the course.

Reflected Light

The pencil study is well observed although the ellipse is out on the pan. This said you

have captured the reflective qualities of the objects well. The lack of a drawn outline is

really working well in terms of tone but may be the breadth of tone could have been

greater.

The foreshortening of the pan handle is compositionally very effective in terms of

how you manipulate space, bear this in mind for the future as it is rather unusual.

Still life

Both batches of still life work are operating very effectively. You use the media

appropriately both in the pencil and pen versions and the charcoal versions. These

are examples of real quality in terms of the fundamental aspects of drawing that I

mentioned earlier. The fruit drawings are splendid, and deserve commending (please

look at these in reference to the large assignment pieces).

A Drawing with texture

This drawing is very flaccid and you have not really got to grips with exploring

the possibilities that texture offers in terms of mark making and the activation of the

surface of a drawing. There is no tonal range here which there should be. The invention

that you need in terms of mark making is also absent from this piece and the marks are

very wooly and approximated.

Texture is an important part of drawing and combines with the other fundamentals to

produce effective work if used creatively and with intent. This drawing is too generalized

and lacks focus.

Assignment 1

Still life with Natural forms 

The studies for this assignment piece get better as we reach the third one where you are

just beginning to get to grips with the nature of objects in 3 dimensions in colour.

However the tonal range in colour is not wide enough to establish the objects

convincingly enough.

In the large assignment piece itself the range of colour say in the reds in the pepper would

go from pinkish to almost purpley red to almost blue to really give it the depth that it

needs. Look at how Cezanne paints fruit; this should help you in understanding this.

There is very little tonal range in this drawing and as I look and half close my eyes there

 is in fact hardly any. You have to read this tonal distribution in order to make a

drawing effective. In shape, to a large extent, the vegetables are well observed but you

need to capture the different texture much more succinctly through the mark

making employed. You captured the tonal range very well in some of the charcoal drawings

 in the drawing book but have not yet understood how this happens in colour.

Shadows and spaces between objects are just as important as the objects themselves in

the overall composition.

Shadows are made up of a mixture of object colour and ground colour and variations

thereof bearing in mind all colours in a particular piece will have a greater or lesser affect

on each another. They are not made up of a neutral grey as in your drawings.

The parts of this drawing do not have enough of a relationship to each other in terms

of existing in proximity to each other and operating in 3 dimensions. You need to get to

grips with shadows, reflected colour and the layering that can be achieved when using

colour, all of which will help you establish more convincing relationships and a better whole.

In some ways it would have been good to see you make this drawing in charcoal to see if

you could have retained the high quality of some of the B/W studies. You will have a lot

more opportunities to develop your use of colour in assignment 2.

Still life with man made forms

The preparatory drawings for this are to some extent generalized and for the most part not

as well observed as you are capable of. As preparatory drawings they do not give you

enough information to work from in terms of tone variation and mark making or

indeed composition. They are a little rushed and unfocussed. One is better than the

other 2 but I can’t pick it out. It is the first one in the book as you look through.

This general feel is apparent in the assignment pieces themselves. What lets both these

larger drawings down is the unfocussed looking and the looseness in how you have

interpreted what you have seen in the charcoal, especially in terms of tone and mark

making. The tonal range could also be more specific to the shapes and to insides and

outsides. Your mark making could more inventive also especially in the reflective areas of

the drawings. You have to work /draw to get internal relationships right as they refer both

to each other and to the whole. You have been too easily satisfied here.

I don’t think that you have looked hard enough when working on these drawings and you

really have not been particular enough in interpreting what you have been looking at. 

You have demonstrated your very competent use of charcoal in lots of your studies but

failed to carry the successes through to the assignment pieces.

You really need to work out why this has been the case. Have a look at the large drawings

and compare them objectively to some of the studies. Comment in your learning log.

Try using just good quality cartridge paper for your large drawings rather than the oil

paper which is not taking the charcoal or pastel well enough, especially in terms of

tonal range.

Learning logs/critical essays

I have spoken earlier about your learning log and the format that it can take.

The learning log should contain, whatever format you choose, objective and

comparative comments on your own work and development. Comments on work of

other artists relevant to what you are doing. Evidence of art you have seen, in the

flesh in books or on the web – with images, annotated where necessary. The log should

also contain the set theoretical studies from the course and your tutor reports and should

be a stand alone document.

You need to be keeping sketch books also, which will have more supporting studies in,

tryouts experiments etc recorded in various media in visual terms. Sketchbooks are a

good source of ideas and can give clues as to what you are interested in and reveal

your strengths and weaknesses.

Suggested reading/viewing

Look at as much art as possible as this will help give you a context in a wider sense.

Look at Cezanne, Degas, Durer and Matisse. The drawings of Seurat and Van Gogh will help

you in terms of tone and mark making.
 

Other

You have lots of potential as demonstrated by some of the work in this assignment,

especially in the book. You have the wherewithal to be successful on this course.

However, you do need to sustain the act of drawing as you work, much more, and not be

too easily satisfied. You need to develop a dialogue between yourself, the subject,

the medium and the drawing. You need a fuller conversation when you draw!

Some of the work looks a little rushed at times and your effort in terms of your approach to what you do comes across as uneven. 

When you set some high benchmarks, as you have in this assignment, you need to

try to maintain them and indeed improve on them.

Saatchi Gallery

Back in February, I went to the Saatchi Gallery. I have always been told that it's really awesome there, and that the art is interesting. I knew that the place was known for it's contemporary art, but hadn't realised that the exhibition at the time was for Modern British Art. I didn't like everything, but as always, it's good to see other people's ideas and interpretations.

These two pieces are by the same artist. She used photography and some sort of perspex type material to give the shiny overall effect (which is why you can see the faint outline of me taking the photo in the picture). I liked the work because she has an interesting way of putting things together. I like her use of colour, particularly in the piece below.

I found this next piece rather intriguing. The entire thing is made up out of old pieces of carpet materials to make a face. Rather scary really, but funnily enough reminded me of African Art. I think it's the use of the bold materials and thick lines. 

This piece actually made me laugh out loud. It's a shame I didn't get more of the artists work. Basically, the artist had a group of photos of people when they were younger, and had them come back years later and pose in exactly the same way and photographed them. I like the idea of seeing the way in which time has changed them all. I took a photo of this one because the facial expression amused me.

This piece really freaked me out. The portrait under the sewing is a photo . For some reason the artist had the idea to sew over the top, by hand I might add. The overall effect reminds me of Spirograph, which I used to use when I was younger. You were given a contraption (I don't know how else to describe it) which you put your pen in, and then traced the shape of the object, which circled around creating a pattern on the paper. The reason I think this freaked me out, is because of the way in which he has chosen to 'Spirograph' the photo, he's obscured most of the face apart from one eye which to me is slightly sinister!

I really liked this piece. I have no idea how, but the artist had made a gold reflective material for the background and painted the cycling figures over the top. The colours used shouldn't really go together, but the whole thing just works. It was a piece that I stood in front of for quite a while, looking at all the figures and taking in the details. I love art work that you can sit in front of for ages and continue to see more and more detail the longer you look. That to me, is the sign of a piece of art.

I think this is actually my favourite piece out of everything I saw that day. This piece reminded me of Monet, with the water landscape. It's not until I got closer the the piece that I realised that the entire work was made using pipe cleaners. The idea is such a simple one and creates such a wonderful effect, perfect for the work the artist was trying to create. The material is flexible making it easy to manipulate into any shape or style the artist chooses. The last picture of this piece is just an example so you can see how every single pipe cleaner is organised into the landscape. The colours are bold and vibrant, and I felt a sense of contentment and peace standing and looking at it.

This work struck me a very strange. On the ground, (or maybe it was the basement) of the gallery was a very big area filled with what appeared to be a series of screens on the floor. The other visitors around me were murmuring excitedly amongst themselves, and to be honest, I just didn't what all the fuss was about. The floor was still, and the room smelt oddly of petrol. Well not petrol exactly, but oil. On closer inspection, the entire room was filled with oil, hence the smell. I remember thinking to myself, "what a bizarre thing to do!" but still I found myself oddly drawn to the room, and standing there for quite some time. I was fascinated by it. I also feel extremely sorry for those of whom have to clean up once the exhibition is over...

 

This piece is called 'Swarm'. It is in a big glass case, and has masses of the insects like the one pictured above. All the insects are suspended from the top of the case using a very fine wire, or string. The entire work is arranged to look just like a battle scene, with the miniature, human like, skeletal creatures sitting astride the giant insects, holding all sorts of different weapons. This is yet another piece I stood in front of for a long time, taking in the chaos of the scene. There were insects on the floor, which were the creatures that had obviously fallen in the throws of the battle. How the artist managed to make the skeletal figures is completely beyond me. When I read the plaque which stated the artists name and materials they had used, it simply said 'various'.

What an amazing idea, and I can only imagine the amount of time and patience it would have taken to create this piece. I was thoroughly impressed and inspired.