Thursday 28th November

Figure Drawing: Impressionism With Colour And Tone

This piece was produced on white A3 paper with pastels In 1 Hour 30 Minutes.

To start with the values used there appears to be a large amount of warmer colours as apposed to cooler colours however the cooler colours have been placed so that the warmer colours don't completely take over the piece, this is evident especially around the stomach where the cooler colours are used to present light hitting the skin.

Moving onto the contrast there appears to be more on the body and arms than that of the legs and that's a problem as it doesn't create balance within the piece and makes it feel as though the legs are disconnected from the rest of the piece.

Shadows are correctly presented as it's possible to see a casting shadow on the floor from the figure and also some self shadowing under the breasts.

Constructively the brown hue is to overpowering when it comes to the colour range, the choice of a saturated yellow and pink allows the skin to look more realistic in this impressionistic piece but it doesn't blend correctly with the blue and red areas, evident around the leg area.

Sunday 24th November

Figure Drawing: Drapery

This sketch was produced on grey A3 paper with Pitt Artist Pens in 1 hour 50 minutes.

Beginning with the values there doesn't appear to be a large amount of contrast due to the grey paper but it's possible to see gradients throughout and this allows us to see the light highlight the higher areas of the dress however by using cross hatching as the way to produce the mark making it's possible to see the direction in which the drapery hangs off the figure, this can be seen specifically where the dress hangs between her legs.

There appears to be a large amount of self shadowing with in the dress as it creates bumps in it's form and this allows us to understand it's surface as the gradients previously explained make the material appear softer than that of the skin which has less shading and we're also able to see casting shadows from the shoes on the floor.

Constructively the part of the dress hanging from her left leg doesn't appear to go around the top of her leg properly and this makes it look as though her leg isn't connected to her body underneath the drapery.

The lighting on the dress to her right side could have more contrast to create more harmony in the piece as a whole, it feels as though much of the shadows are to her left side of the composition.

Friday 22nd November

Still Life - Final Piece

The following piece was produced in 3 hours 30 minutes on brown A3 paper with pastels.

Looking at the piece as a composition we can see that the rule of thirds have been applied as the plant hits the top left of the piece, we can also see foreshortening happening as the orange floor narrows inwards this implies depth within the piece.

As an arrangement no objects appear to be kissing along with a balance in values as the warm orange is countered with the blue walls and blue plant, this increases the harmony within the piece.

We can see shadows are being cast to the right of the page implying that the light source is to the left, we're also able to see some highlights on the vase and fruits which moves us onto the materials.

The natural objects such as the fruits don't reflect a large amount where as the man made materials such as the kettle reflects most objects in sight, this establishes form with in the piece.

Constructively the perspective of the pots seems off as they slant slightly to the right, the lid of the kettle also requires some fixing as the ellipsis is off.

More contrast should be added to the grapes in order to increase the depth within them, the same can be said for the shadows in the piece as they all appear to be the same saturation.

Sunday 17th November

Figure Drawing: Dynamic and Static Poses

The first sketch was produced using pastel pencil on grey a3 paper, the middle sketch was produced using charcoal on plain a3 paper and finally the bottom sketch was produced using pastel pencil on plain a3 paper. The top and bottom sketches took 30 minutes whilst the middle sketch took 45 minutes.

The sketches all indicate a usage of pose, the top sketch presenting it's self as a dynamic piece includes information such as weight as it's possible to see the woman balancing herself up with one foot on the ground as the weight from her right leg begins to move in mid air.

The second sketch is again a dynamic piece as it appears as though she is about to get up from the ground, her hands and feet balance her up and this presents again usage in weight, the gesture with in the piece is closed as her legs close against her body to create a ball like effect, the arms can be considered open however.

As for the bottom piece it's a static pose in which is balanced on the chair as the weight from her bottom holds her up. As for the gesture it's open as the arms are not closed together.

Constructively the middle piece needs more time spent on the anatomy of the hands, the fingers appear very sharp on the left hand when they should be smooth. 

The neck on the bottom sketch is also very thin and the left shoulders perspective appears to be off.

(Next week may contain a fix for the issues described)

Friday 08th November

Transparent Objects: Tonal Values In Refraction And Distortion

The following piece was produced on grey A3 paper with charcoal and white pastel in 1 Hour 20 minutes.

The values used with in the piece are of a high contrast, this for example can be specifically noticed in the glasses where highlights are presented.

The lighting is indirect in which causes a terminator effect on some of the glasses, the lighting in the piece also affects the form of the glasses as well as the materials, by having lighting in the scene we're able to see through the glasses transparency, this creates distortion when one glass is in front of another as seen in the piece.

Where shadow is concerned it's possible to see that the glasses cast a shadow onto the table along with the place mat and shadow is also used for the chair in the background, this creates higher contrast as it's very dark as apposed to the highlights on the glasses.

Constructively the base of the glasses are kissing on the left hand side and almost on the right hand side.

The ellipses on the bottom of the glasses could also be corrected as they are at an incorrect angle, the shadows of the glasses could also be a lot stronger on the right hand side.

Saturday 02nd November

Man Made Forms: Vehicles

The following piece was produced on brown A3 paper with Pastel Pencils in 2 hours.

To begin with the piece correctly presents usage of light to help reinforce the form of the car, since it's shiny we can see a large usage of contrast, especially where the metal is painted black, we're able to see where the light is bouncing off it.

By correctly reinforcing the form we're able to understand the hard and soft materials, for example the back of the trailer is made out of wood and we're able to tell this because the rest of the car is metallic and shiny with a large contrast where the wood doesn't have.

Line is also considered where the car doors are, by looking at these lines we're able to see the angle of the car and the piece correctly foreshortens as it reaches the trailer of the car, this implies depth in the piece.

Constructively the contour of the roof isn't in correct perspective to the front of the car where the grill is, it's angle is incorrect.

The ellipses at the back of the car which represents the wheel is also not at a correct angle, the same can be said of the light to the right of the car.