Botanical Drawing II - Developing Your Skills - first class

First class was all about learning how to build layers of graphite to create different tonal values.  It is surprising how long it can take to correctly fill a one inch square.  No burnishing allowed!  To fill an area you start with long light strokes with the long side of the point, no pressure.  Turn the paper and do it again.  Turn and again.  Over and over until there is no increase in darkness.  Then move to the point.  Draw small tight ellipses in a line.  Line after line of ellipses   Turn the paper and work the other direction.  Over and over until you are at maximum darkness.  That's your 100%.  Do half of that for 50%.  We started several such exercises in class and then completed them at home.  We are working with the same three pencils as in Drawing I - HB, 2H and 2B.  To really get to know what they can do we did the following:  

This took HOURS!  I am not super happy with it.  Part of my problem, identified in class by my teacher, is my pencil sharpener.  It does not create a long enough point so I end up  dragging the wood on the paper which messes it up.  So I will buy a new one and start over.  If I can find them I will also buy a different brand of pencil.  The above was done with Staedtler pencils.  This page is a keeper for reference--you always want to know how dark your pencil can go.   It would be nice to have the same page done with another pencil brand since they are all different.  I want to try Tombo.  For an exercise like this a super sharp pencil is a must.  I think I wore down over an inch on my HB.  The bottom exercise (the cylinder shape) shows five values which every tonal drawing should have or it looks weird.  

Now to show how nuts this can get…I bought a new pencil sharpener (a two phase one-  first you sharpen the wood, then the graphite) and some Faber Castell pencils and repeated everything.  It's hard to see here but they are quite different and I am glad I did both.  Next I will try Tombo pencils (made in Japan) which I also bought today.  May as well figure out  what brand I like best.  Pencils are an easy to justify indulgence.  Under $2 each.  

Botanical Drawing I - Materials and Methods - sixth and last class

This all went so fast.  Our last class was about composition.  We each brought in three pears and set them in different arrangements trying to find one that was pleasing.  We made thumbnail sketches of our arrangements so we could get a feel for how a drawing would look.  We tried landscape and portrait orientation, and varying amounts of white space.  

The we drew the arrangement we liked best.  We still aren't toning our drawings so we tried to indicate light and dark with line weight.  I added some bruises and specks to give a little dimension.  

There is a final project.  The assignment was to draw an arrangement of fruit or vegetables to include cone, cylinder and oval or spherical shapes.  We have a couple of weeks to complete that and then our work will be graded.  This is what I have done so far. I may do another.  I don't love this.  The tomato is too close to the center.  Also the shapes are boring.  Maybe fennel or something crinkly would-be more interesting…I bought fennel and a gnarly parsnip for this project but I ate them last night.

I start Drawing II on Saturday.  That will be about toning and shading. 

Botanical Drawing I - Materials and Methods - Fifth class

This class was all about creating depth and dimension with line weight and no toning.  We started by drawing a ribbon.  We learned to draw the near side first, the far side second, and then fill in the connections.  Then we drew the lines darker and lighter so they look dimensional.  I have a hard time seeing light and dark on the ribbon, but I kind of got it.

Then we were given a piece of ivy--real foliage!  First step is the armature.  We measured (with our dividers)  the stem sections and drew them on tracing paper.  Then we added the veins of the leaves, also measuring carefully.  We then drew the outline of the leaves and transferred the whole thing to paper.  

We were told to use atmospheric perspective.  The idea is that elements that are higher or further back appear lighter and those nearer appear darker.  This makes the drawing more dimensional.  Next week we are to bring three pears to class.  That should be fun.  

Today is a gray gray day and it is interesting that the paper photographs gray too.