Monday 24 September 2012

Still life using line, tones, stipples

Still Life using line


 
 
This drawing was a selection of objects from the beach at Mersea.
 
Aware from my reading that masters such as Ingres and Matisse could increase the pressure on a line I decided to use a dip pen and attempt the same.The composition was set up by using the pebbles from my drive placed on a baking tray with the objects on top. I begged some rope from a local hardware store and added this -it was thick and I coiled it around about. 
 
This didn't work- for several reasons- I decided that the rope should diminish in size as it went away but I wasn't sure by how much. Consequently when I drew the two stones the whole image changed to look like a beach scene and the stones looked like distant cliffs. This looked even stranger as the rope looked as though it was out to sea.
In an attempt to compensate I increased the line on shells but then noticed that I'd placed some objects 'kissing' instead of overlapping which is a basic mistake. Despite all of this I quite like the finished drawing as the strong pen lines around the shells have a clarity that is pleasing to my eye.
 
So, all in all, lots of errors in perspective and could have been much better.
 
Still life in tone
 
 
For this I decided upon coloured pencils. I chose rounded objects that wouldn't require much line work. However I found it almost impossible to draw the ellipse at the top of the jug without resorting to line. I depicted the flowers by toning the background area and left the petals as the paper showing through. I felt I created a sense of depth by placing the pears as overlapping and by shading down the jug. I decided on the colours first by working in the sketch book.
 
Working in tone without line is difficult if fine detail is desired and working in line without tone creates problems of light and shade contrasts and perspective. Seeing the work of master draughtsmen shows, though, that  these problems can be resolved with the requisite skill, not necessarily to the level of the masters.
 
 

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