Week 11 Study - Facial anatomy

 

This week the study was all about facial anatomy and the proportions of the features on the face. These are two self portraits at different angles. The one on the left is a more successful image than the one on the right because the features are much more in a correct proportion. In the right image, the nose is too big and too far up on the head. In both images, the glasses are not symmetrical. Much more detailed planning and more guidelines of the features of the picture would solve this problem.

Week 10 Study - Skin colour

Week ten's studies were all about colour, more specifically the tone and colour of skin. This image was done with pastel chalks. While I got the colour right on the head, the rest of the body needs work. The dark blue line across the back is very distracting and out of place. The dark blue should have been blended in more with a pink or a red and slightly at a different angle to make the body look a more realistic colour. Some parts of the arm also should have been shaded more where the light didn't touch it, and the creases on the elbow and hand should have been more subtle. 

Week 9 Study - Clothing and drapery

In week 9 we studied clothing and drapery. Here are two self portraits of me wearing different clothes so that I could study the way how different types of fabric folds (I managed to do both arms by drawing the basic shape of the right arm with my left hand and then filling it in). 

On the left image, I feel that the folds came out well in the waterproof jacket as they show how the fabric hangs. I feel that there were more creases on the sleeves however. On the picture on the right, the skirt looks a bit flat at the front, and doesn't really look like the material it is made out of. Shading it differently and adding texture could improve it. the vest on the right image also has creases slightly in the wrong places, which I could improve by paying more attention to the way the material hangs off the body. The hoodie's creases turned out quite well as the material looks realistic.

Week 8 Study - Vehicles

 

This train was drawn during an excursion to the Bradford Industrial Museum. As you can see in the image, I planned out how the train would look by quickly sketching a small thumbnail before working on the actual image. I feel that in this image the perspective turned out quite well but the proportions on the train were a little bit off, as the front of the train was much bigger in comparison. The shading could have been slightly improved to represent the metal parts on the train a bit more. 

Week 7 Study - Still Life and transparent surfaces

This week for observational drawing we looked at still life for one part of the lesson and transparent surfaces for another. Still life, especially when it comes to plants, have a lot of complicated shapes and little details so I had to really study what I was drawing and recognise the features of the object. With transparent surfaces, it is tricky to get the reflected and refracted light to look correct in the subject of the drawing, so like the plants I had to really look at the glass and pick out the actual detail. 
 

Out of these studies, I think I managed to capture the reflective properties of the glass pebbles and glass bottle particularly well. You can see that the glass bottle is supposed to be transparent through the shadows and strong contrasting highlights used to represent the light being refracted through the glass. I think my ellipses need work though, as some of them are slightly off in shape and are sometimes not equal on both sides, like on the metal jug.

 

Here is another glass that I did in pencil. Pencil is good for glass surfaces as it is easier to do fine details such as the reflections in the glass. 

Week 6 Study - Interiors

For week 6's Observational Drawing class we went on an excursion to Bradford Cathedral. I ended up drawing this image which took quite a long time, about an hour. I am disappointed with the composition of this picture, and I felt that I did not spend enough time looking for a good composition before starting the image. This is because I did not properly plan out the composition properly, how the image would look on the page or getting down what I wanted to include in the picture, which is important for a scene with a lot of detailed things in it. The picture does not follow the rule of thirds quite well, which means that the eye won't stay on the page very long and certain areas of the image have little to no intresting qualities to them. Quickly sketching some small thumbnails would have improved my confidence and overall produced a better finished piece.

 

I think the shading turned out well in this picture but I am not too pleased with much else. The perspective of the piano is particularly out and the left pillar I accidentally drew far too skinny and it gives the impression that the pillar is not sturdy. I should in future take more time to look at what I am drawing and to put more effort in to my images.

Week 5 Study - Seas and Skies

There was no observational drawing class this week as it is study week, so I took the opportunity to go back to my home town and tried to practice drawing seas and skies as directed. I have one image here that I did late on in the day when the sun began to set, done in 30 minutes using pastel chalks. I found it difficult as the clouds were continously moving and of course the sun was setting so I had to get infomation down very quickly.

I feel that I may have got the colours slightly off, and this could be improved if I had gotten the information down faster. The colours used ended up being an interpretation of the mood that I wanted the image to portray, rather than a literal portrayal. the brighter colours I used give the image a cold yet light-hearted feel of a sunny autumn/winter afternoon, with the blues and purples making the image give the impression of coldness and the pale yellow highlights giving the image light and making it appear that the sun is still in the sky.