I can’t get enough of this charcoal and I’m really enjoying drawing. I actually look forward to it and it is broadening my horizons and how I approach my subjects. I’m not sure if there are any laws I’m contravening by taking shots of people in public but I was out shopping and took a couple of photos in the local mall. I wanted to capture the people, the energy of the place as people were busy going about their shopping or other pursuits. I later met with fellow students who said because it was in a mall I shouldn’t have taken photos without permission. Through discussion with them its a very blurry area!
I got home and quickly sketched out my photos. The first image is of a man walking in the foreground and I’ve tried to put in the distant entrance to the mall and the figures walking. On the left there was a man with a huge rucksack on his back and a large rucksack in his hand. I track him and capture him in a closer view. He is more detailed. I’ve tried to capture the movement and his demeanour. I use thick soft and thinner willow charcoal to capture the line and broken line. I smudge where necessary. The first image below is quite light and then the second image shows how I’ve altered by adding more dense line and charcoal which works well. The darkness adds more atmosphere and drama to the work.
The exercise is about motion so I hope I’m capturing the movement reasonably well. The work is very gestural and I’m not going for great detail. I messed up a little with the slab marking on the floor and you can see the previous line. This is how it is!
My next drawing is taken from a National Trust online image. I drew two children running. The figure in the foreground is anatomically better but I think both have some good movement. The more I draw in this way the less wooden my figures are. They are now much more gestural and fluid. As I work there are gaps in the outlines particularly around the feet. The flow of the chalk in my hands creates this now, almost unconsciously. I’m so moved now by what I sometimes see when I step back and look at what I’ve done. I still can’t believe its me who’s drawn it. I didn’t realise I could get such joy from drawing. Just smudging around the lines also creates the form and atmosphere.
Having movement in anything living is quite a challenge. My next attempts is a horse or is it a donkey. This one I draw from memory. Last year I painted a gold cup winner which I didn’t include as part of my course although I think I included him as extra work on my site. I shall include this later as in order to create movement I added a trail of the horse and jockeys colours mistily trailing behind him.
This horse is below. From memory this isn’t to bad but I think his front legs need some more form in the upper body and the legs are too long in comparison with his rear legs.
The horse reminded me of a painting I’ve done during the course so although historical I haven’t used it as any submission. I hope its okay to use it now. I painted the gold cup winner as I know the owner. It’s a horse called native river and its now retired.
I include it as in order to try to capture the movement and speed I blurred the background in the colours of the rider and horse. I include one or two of where he started and then the final image. I think I had the idea at the time, from seeing blurred photos of cars racing.
This one shows how I scaled up and you can see the lines on the canvas. I scaled the photo up as my first drawing below wasn’t accurate. In this drawing you can see how I redrew the shapes. I learned the scaling up from the course. You can see how I blurred the background a little in this one to test this out.
Sadlythis drawing wasn’t accurate and I found it difficult to get the horse in proportion. I do like to draw straight onto the canvas like Carravagio.
I think this is a final image. Not brilliant but I think the blurring at the rear helps create the movement.
I do think that my drawings convey a sense of movement. As I draw with charcoal I feel confident as my safety net is easy… to rub out! As I pick up the charcoal I’m thinking shapes and outlines but more shapes than anything. If successful in my shapes as I pull back from the paper I can then build the lines in gestural overlays. I’m really analysing more how I am drawing and exactly what I do. This follows on from writing my critical review and understanding my practice more fully. I am careful not to overwork and to get the balance right as my previous work on figures has been quite wooden.
My next drawing was inspired by Kentridge and as I’ve stated in my critical review I’m not sure if this is a technique he uses or whether I’ve created it maybe! It was also inspired by Drawing Water, the and considering Turner earlier on. This is in charcoal and the technique is about making marks as if on the top of a river or stream and then gently pulling those marks down with an eraser. I’ve probably explained it better in the review but the drawing is below. Apart from the water technique I also employ the eraser into the bank on the left. One of my fellow students described this drawing as ‘beautiful and ethereal!’ I’ve put it under this section as there is motion in the water.
My last image for this series is a take on Turners steam train. I stick to the charcoal again. I have the image in a book on Turner but the image below is uploaded from the internet.
The image on the internet can be in lighter or darker shades of oranges and yellows. My version will be black and white. Again the work is about depicting the speed and motion.
The composition isn’t too bad and I tried to make it a bit different to Turners work. For example I’ve put in some reflections. I’ve not erased much into it and this is a different paper more fine.
This has been a great exercise and tracking movement isn’t easy if you are watching a car or moving vehicle live. Reference photos are very helpful.
Drawing 2 Interpreting the environment 