Week 3 - Landscape (The Atrium)

Exterior of the Atrium, One

The idea for this session was to use different media use to get you out of your comfort zone. For this drawing I used the graphite pens to create the tonal values within the image and a biro to create the outline of the drawing.

A build up of lines were used in this image to create depth to the outline of the buildings. Building up layers of lines rather than just one single line adds to the shading in this drawing and also helps get the lines in the correct places.

The darker shaded marker pens have to been used to create the shadows upon the building, which has then been blended into the lighter shaded marker pens to create a shadowing effect.

These marker pens work well with architectural drawings because creating big bolds blocks of colour is a lot easier and quicker than if you were to use a pencil that has a very tiny nib on the end.

Exterior of the Atrium, Two

This is another drawing using the graphite pens from a different perspective view. Using the darkest graphite pen I was able to pick out the darkest shadowing which then blend in very nicely to the lighter tonal shades.

The graphite pens work really well for this architectural drawing because the markers stand out really well with the bold outlines and blocks of shapes and blending the different shades together like in this image makes a really good 3 dimensional picture.

Adding more detail and adding in the surrounding buildings would have really finished this drawing of. However, with this simple drawing it makes the building really stand out from the white background.

Exterior of the Atrium, Three

This is a drawing using a variety of soft pastel colours on a yellow sugar paper background. This drawing has a lot of colour especially with the use of the coloured background it leaves no empty spaces.

This is a very lose drawing and is a quick interpretation of what was seen. The shading of these pastels work really well upon the atrium roof where white pastel has been used to pick out the highlighted areas created by the sun. A very dark grey has also been used to pick out the darker shaded areas. This creates a great contract from the white to the grey and has a great tonal value.

This drawing could be greatly improved with greater detail to make this drawing really stand out. This drawing doesn’t look totally accurate as some of the buildings look like they are leaning where the outline of the building isn’t straight.  Improving on these and adding in more detail would really finish of this drawing.

Week 2 - Landscape (Excursion to Bradford Cathedral)

Interior of Bradford Cathedral

These three sketches are studies that I drew from the interior of Bradford Cathedral. Using a black conte crayon I drew these quick 10-minute sketches to show the cathedral in all angles.

Sketch 1:

Focusing on the roof of the cathedral I was able to pick out the colour of the wooden beams using dark tonal shading as these beams were black and the darkest object in the drawing. The natural sunlight from the windows brightens up the roof and the surrounding walls making the beams stand out even more with the light to dark contrast.

This scene is framed by an archway with gives a foreshortening view down to the bottom end of the cathedral and the orthogonal lines from the bottom part of the roof where the beams start and the top peak of the roof where the beams join together lead your eyes right down the cathedral roof where the vanishing point ends.

Sketch 2:

This whole drawing is framed by the archways and giant pillars that decorate the cathedral interior. Focusing on what these frame I drew what was in the centre isle of the cathedral. There is a lot in this drawing with a front layer, middle layer and background.

The front layer is what frames this whole image and leads your eye into the detail of the centre part of this drawing. In the middle layer of this sketch I have drawn the left hand side of the cathedral wall, which shows the roof beams, windows and archways. The archways on the left hand side of the wall and the archways that frame this drawing are the same size however; from the foreshortening angle these archways appear to be increasingly smaller setting a realistic tone to this drawing.

There is an implied line in this drawing which starts from the bottom right hand side of the left pillar and leads your eye straight onto the middle beam and across to the other side of the right pillar. There is also another implied line as your eye is taken from the left pillar right over the arch and to the right pillar.

The background of this drawing is what is behind the middle layers archways. Like the front layers archways these archways also frame the back layer and is like a mirror as the archways continue to frame another image but continuously getting smaller

Sketch 3:

This was a much darker area of the cathedral with no windows around to let in the natural light, which makes very little contrast from shaded areas to lighter areas.

The main focal point in this drawing is the very dark roof as there was very little natural light. Making the wooden beams look even darker against the very dark roof.  Your eye is also led through the centre archway where half of the area within it is covered by a very dark curtain. With this very dark focal point it makes this drawing look very gothic and gives the feeling of a cathedral as you expect them to be usually quite dark. Your eye is also led to the right hand corner where the two walls and roof join together. With the dark beam centralising this point it makes for a very focal point as the eye is drawn to this area.

These drawing where quick sketches I drew to pick out the shape and form of the cathedrals interior. Without going into great detail it is still clear to see what these drawings are as I have used a contrast of shading tones to pick out the main details with these drawings.

Week 1 - Basic Still Life Set-Up

A Basic Still Life Set-Up, One

This is a 3-minute sketch using a graphite stick of a piece of drapery balanced on a wooden stool and a blown up beach ball.  This sketch shows the lines and the shapes that the drapery creates as it falls over the top of the beach ball. The light from the lamp creates an up lighting effect, which makes the lines of the ball visible through the drappered cloth. This gives the illusion of a floating ball, as the stool is not visible because of the light direction. This area becomes very darkly shaded as the light doesn’t project to this area but instead travels through the transparent ball creating a crystal ball effect from underneath the cloth.

The transparency of the upper part of the cloth is shown with the detail of the ball shining through. Even with little shading it is clear to see that the bottom part of the cloth is shown to be much darker because there is no detail shining through apart from the folds on the outside of the cloth.

A Basic Still Life Set-Up, Two

This is a 15-minute sketch using a graphite stick of the same still life set up but from a different perspective view.  From this angle the upper lighting creates an aluminous effect on the top of the beach ball showing the stripes come through in very great detail. With this upper lighting and the stool from this perspective being visible it creates an almost hot air balloon illusion.

The lighting casts very hard shadows upon the already dark wooden bench, which makes it; really stand out from the material that is draped over it. The effect of this lighting creates an almost waterfall effect as the cloth gently falls from the top of the beach ball to the floor which the gradient of shading gradually getting darker the further away from the top it is.

To make this drawing better I would add in a background to make it look like a complete drawing rather than an object that could just be floating in mid air.

A Basic Still Life Set-Up, Three

This is a 30-minute drawing using charcoal using the same still life set up but with a different perspective view.  From this angle the bottom of the ball is visible, as the drapery does not fall over this part. This shows the transparency of the ball illuminated by the upward facing light. The drapery around the light appears to be highlighted by the brightness of the light compared to the cloth that is on the opposite side of the light. The light does not hit this area of the cloth creating very hard shadows.

The folds in the drapery create even darker shadows which makes it impossible to see through in comparison to the looser material where it is highly visible to see through as the stripes in the beach ball shines through dramatically.

The charcoal shows great gradient of shading from the lightest to the darkest which creates the illusion of some form of bright light. The charcoal is used in its darkest form with no smudging to create the dark shadows which are cast upon the cloth where as the putty rubber has been used to pick out the highlighted areas. These two contrast greatly to show the drastic change in lighting.

To improve upon this drawing I would like to have added in greatly detail  to the shading upon the cloth and with an added background I think this would have drastically improved upon this whole drawing.