Drawings

This first drawing is of the side of a string bass.  I enjoy the simplicity of form, movement.

Drawings

Drawings

Drawings from sketchbook

The next few days I will be sharing some drawings from my sketchbooks. Some show examples of the drawing techniques that I shared previously.

Drawing Techniques- Line thickness

Changing the line thickness in a drawing creates a more interesting and dimensional piece.  Making a line thicker can pull a section forward making the thinner line recede.  A thicker line can make a section look more weighted like someone putting more weight on one foot than another.  I also do this in creating leaded glass windows-  using thicker and thinner lead within a piece to move areas forward and backward.  

Drawing Techniques- using symbols

Use symbols or shapes as background, texture, shading or to define an area.  Matisse is a good example of this.  Shapes and symbols are used in aboriginal art and each shape has a particular meaning.
The painting below is titled Dancer which I painted in 1994.

Drawing Techniques- shading/light to dark gradation

This technique helps to develop light to dark gradations using pencil.  The trick to this is to layer building from light to dark.  If you try to draw light and then dark it will not have the gradation look.  You will end up with distinct lines showing the difference of light and dark.  You can also do this exercise doing hatch and crosshatch.

Drawing Techniques- drawing opposite side

This will stretch your brain- as you are drawing something think of what the opposite side looks like and draw it into the piece.

Drawing Techniques- hatch/cross hatch

Hatch and cross hatch are used to shade areas, add definition and shape.  If more shading is needed cross hatching is great. 

Drawing Techniques- timed drawings

A great way to change the way you see things and draw is to do timed drawings.  Warm up with 30 second drawings to get the flow, idea of the object/ person down.  After a few of those do 1 minute, working your way up to 5 and 10 minute drawings. You can even mix it up- do a 1 minute drawing then a 15 second, 30 second drawing.  These are also great for group and class settings.

Drawing Techniques- both hands at same time

Drawing with both hands at the same time is a very challenging technique.  You are to have each hand at opposite points in the drawing; the tendency is to be close together in the drawing so try not to. 

I drew in pencil with one hand and pen in the other.  I started at the head with the pen ending at the hand and the feet with the pencil ending in the torso area. It really makes you slow down and focus. 

Drawing Techniques-Class or group setting

A fun activity in a group setting is to have  large banner paper, split up in several groups of 2-3 people who will draw on each sheet.  After a few minutes have 1 person from each group move to another group and continue drawing for the same amount of time and keep rotating until everyone has drawn at each group.  This teaches people to tie things together and is very fascinating to see different styles on a sheet. 

Drawing Techniques- Blind contour

One technique that I use most often in drawing is blind contour or even gesture drawing "blind".  What I mean by "blind" is not looking at the paper 90% of the time when drawing.  The idea is to keep your eyes on the object to study it and observe it.  The hand will go with what you are seeing. Examples of drawing this way can be seen on the opposite hand posting.   

Drawing Techniques- gesture

Gesture drawing is basically very quick drawing to capture the movement, placement of something or even the composition. 

Drawing Techniques- opposite hand

A great way to warm up is to spend 20 minutes drawing with your opposite hand.  It gets you to not think so much and just allow the drawing to come.  A lot of times the composition or capturing the moment comes easier drawing this way. 

Both drawings were done with my opposite hand. 

Drawing Techniques- drawing from the cube

One thing I have found very helpful to get more dimension on a 2 dimensional surface is drawing from the cube.

 Start by drawing a cube-square or rectangle to create the illusion of 3 dimensions.  Then it is a matter of drawing a figure or object within this cube, pushing and pulling the object to create more dimension.
When I was first learning to draw everything seemed flat and did not seem to come forward.  This helped me tremendously to think about pulling forward the areas that are closest to me and pushing back the areas furthest from me.