I bought a small sketchbook that fits in my handbag, a pencil, putty rubber and decent pencil sharpener, for sketching on-the-go. This is Lindsey reclining on a sofa. In 2B pencil on A5 NOT cold pressed fine grain watercolour paper.
I'm happy about some aspects of it. I think I got all the objects in space where I wanted them, the outlines are right. But I find it hard to get a likeness of someone - I don't think it looks very much like Lindsey. I also think it's very flat, there's not much modelling.
I've got a window open of the drawing while I write this.... I think if you drew her from a steeper angle ie if you stepped to the right one step and forward half a step, then you would increase the effect of the foreshortening. Or, take two steps to the left and back a step, so that her whole body is flat on the 'picture plane', ie she's parallel to the paper you're drawing on. Because your kinda half way between the two, the foreshortening of the feet away from the head is halfhearted. Taking the steps right would make a stronger composition to work on. Stepping left simplifies the view so as not to confuse the viewer. However, I agree that it looks like you've placed her & the sofa correctly on the paper. If you want to capture a likeness, you need to decide what area & details you're concentrating on. Here, you're giving all areas the same level of dtail so the viewers eye is wandering over all the picture, but isn't focusing on anywhere in particular. Congratulations, I can now use this picture as a perfect example of a weak composition. Your comments are right too, about there being little modelling. If you do a google image search of Rubens or da Vinci's drawings, you'll see how the hatching, shading lines they use follow the curves and planes and help define the shapes. Cylenders, like legs and arms, have curved hatching, flat reas like floors and walls have hatching at 60 & 30 degrees for example.
3 comments:
How do you feel this came out?
I'm happy about some aspects of it. I think I got all the objects in space where I wanted them, the outlines are right. But I find it hard to get a likeness of someone - I don't think it looks very much like Lindsey. I also think it's very flat, there's not much modelling.
I've got a window open of the drawing while I write this.... I think if you drew her from a steeper angle ie if you stepped to the right one step and forward half a step, then you would increase the effect of the foreshortening. Or, take two steps to the left and back a step, so that her whole body is flat on the 'picture plane', ie she's parallel to the paper you're drawing on. Because your kinda half way between the two, the foreshortening of the feet away from the head is halfhearted. Taking the steps right would make a stronger composition to work on. Stepping left simplifies the view so as not to confuse the viewer.
However, I agree that it looks like you've placed her & the sofa correctly on the paper.
If you want to capture a likeness, you need to decide what area & details you're concentrating on. Here, you're giving all areas the same level of dtail so the viewers eye is wandering over all the picture, but isn't focusing on anywhere in particular. Congratulations, I can now use this picture as a perfect example of a weak composition. Your comments are right too, about there being little modelling. If you do a google image search of Rubens or da Vinci's drawings, you'll see how the hatching, shading lines they use follow the curves and planes and help define the shapes. Cylenders, like legs and arms, have curved hatching, flat reas like floors and walls have hatching at 60 & 30 degrees for example.
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