General Drawing: Using charcoal

Throughout this entire project, when I drew the drawings, all I used was a number two pencil. For my last post I decided to experiment with charcoal, to see what it'd be like to use other common tools for drawing. "Charcoal is perhaps the ideal means for studies of figures from life because it is very easy to control when shading and can also help achieve very clear details" (Civardi 193). From drawing just one picture, I noticed many major differences between charcoal and a number two pencil. One thing that bugged me was how charcoal is much less forgiving in the sense that if you don't like how you initially sketched something with it, it's much harder to completely erase it so it's a much harder commitment. One thing it made up for though was how much easier it was to shade and create similar or different tones. The charcoal tends to blend very nicely, but can easily create contrast as well by applying more or less pressure (Civardi 193). When I used a regular pencil, my individual strokes were much easier to spot. This was not the case with the charcoal. Other things I experimented with were drawing facial hair, more detailed ears and an open mouth with teeth showing.




Even though I've only done five drawings, thanks to the book I've come very far. There are noticeable jumps in quality when looking at some of earlier posts, and comparing them to this final one. In the end, this was a very satisfying and interesting experience that gave me a taste of an activity I might have never tried.

My question for all of you is in what ways have you experimented with an activity and what was the result?

Giovanni, Civardi. Drawing, A Completle Guide. N.p.: Search, 2006.

General drawing: Full body drawing

The next step in drawing i decided to take was a full shot of a model. As always, there are many aspects of the drawing a person must pay attention to. One of the main things i tried to pay attention to before that I haven't before was the pose of the person. "...with a slight shift in my observation point and the position of the legs of my subject, I was able to obtain a much more meaningful and better organised composition on this page" (Civardi 185). Instead of having the person stand perfectly straight towards the angle, I drew the person not directly facing the front, his hands in his pocket and his feet pointing away from each other. This was to help give the person a little more character and personality. Sometimes making a carbon copy of the subject will result in a less appealing picture compared to one that is a little more spontaneous in nature (Civardi 184). Overall, I tried to create a casual pose that gave a little more flare to the drawing. Besides that main point, I focused again on the little and shading to help make the picture appear three dimensional.



As usual, I was pretty pleased with the final product, even if it was on the rougher end. There's a certain level of experience and practice I lack, but with the book's advice, I managed to take the picture further compared to most.

My question for you guys is what are some resources that have helped you complete very important tasks?

Giovanni, Civardi. Drawing, A Completle Guide. N.p.: Search, 2006.

General drawing: Scenery

The next thing I decided to draw was a shot of the space needle including the background. Again, I couldn't forget any elements I've learned about with previous posts. The main components of the shot were the space needle, the body of water right next to it, and then the hills and clouds in the background. Lighting and shading was especially important with the clouds, as they were the most three dimensional parts of the shot. Another important part of the drawing was what angle you wanted the viewer to see from. "Composing a scene means evaluating it from different viewpoints in order to understand it in various aspects and represent it in the most appropriate and satisfying way" (Civardi 270). I studied various shots of the space needle before finally deciding what angle to draw the shot from. I chose to shoot an angle where there was more natural background, with the Puget Sound and the hills, compared to must angles which showed a big portion of the city with the skyscrapers, roads and activity. Drawing bodies of water can also be a tricky task. There are many ways to draw water; in the form of waves, flowing down a creek, in a still body reflecting the image of something, etc (Civardi 288). I chose to draw a body of still water, as it was the most fitting for the scene. Paying attention to these elements and more resulted in this picture.



The final result came out looking much simpler. This drawing took one of the shortest times to draw even though I had to draw a full picture and had to account for several parts. The lack of color makes it hard to discern the body of water from the hill, since from a distance both are sketched similarly. Overall, the picture came out looking good.

A question I have for you guys is how do you deal with activities that require multiple components to be done in order to be successful?

Giovanni, Civardi. Drawing, A Completle Guide. N.p.: Search, 2006.

General drawing: Face Portrait

Now that I've experimented with some basic shapes, it's time I got into some more complex drawings. This time, I decided to draw a face portrait using what I've learned previously (lighting and shading) as well as new information that gives tips about portraits, and drawing human features properly. The two definitely work together to get the best result. "Sometimes side lighting with its interesting contrasts, helps characterize the features and shapes the male face." (Civardi 100) If you don't use proper shading techniques to portrait the appearance of light and shadow on the person's face, the drawing will fail to look truly three dimensional. Although the lighting is very important in the drawing, this is actually one of the last steps you want to do when drawing a portrait. What you want to do is first draw the basic shape of the head, then add some detail in the form of simple eyes, the nose, the ears etc. and then focus on the different surfaces and planes on the person's face before even focusing on the lighting. (Civardi 99) Unlike a simple sphere on a surface, there are more complex parts to draw. For me personally, the most difficult parts were the eyes and the mouth. Even the slightest difference in a pencil stroke could create a noticeable irregularity in the drawing. Luckily, the book did break down many of the separate parts of the face and broke down how to approach drawing them in detail. Despite this, my drawing came out a bit rough.
While many parts of the drawing are well done, like the nose and jaw, there were still many parts that did not quite match the original picture I chose of the man. Overall, the picture lacked some polish that my previous picture managed to come closer to. However, it's important to keep in mind that this was my first attempt at a face portrait, and that there should only be only improvement from here on out.

This brings up the question, what are some strategies you have when it comes to improving on accomplishing difficult tasks?

Giovanni, Civardi. Drawing, A Completle Guide. N.p.: Search, 2006.

General drawing: Lighting and shading

I’ve always been at least a little interested in anything artsy or creative. While I’m fairly skilled and familiar with anything musical, having played multiple instruments, and participated in two shows through Northwood and KR’s drama department, I’ve never put much time into drawing. My cousin took art lessons during her elementary school and middle school years. She had a natural talent and a passion for art. I was always impressed by even her doodles, but never took the initiative to improve my skill in this area, until now. I will be using Giovanni Civardi’s “Drawing A Complete Guide” in order to get at least a basic idea for all things drawing.

The first thing that struck me as very important was the light and shading in a drawing. Whether the drawing is color or achromatic tones (meaning tones that have no color), the contrast in light/shading can be incredibly useful. One of the most important things shading is used for is volume and depth. Value is light and shadow portrayed in the drawing, and chiaroscuro is the contrast between the two. These two ideas help create intuitive space. "Intuitive space an illusion created by the artist that tricks any viewer into seeing depth, volume and mass on a two dimensional surface" (Civardi 83). The first thing I decided to do in order to properly use intuitive space was to draw some basic objects, three dimensional objects like spheres, boxes and cones. Two important things to include were the object’s cast shadow and form shadow. A form shadow is the less defined dark side on an object that is not facing the light source. The cast shadow is the shadow created by the object, or the shadow the object casts (Civardi 89).  One also has to account for the small amount of reflected light, adding an unexpected lighter patch where the form shadow is. Minding the shadows and the different tones each part of the object had was very important when it came to finally drawing, since that really helps when you are creating the illusion of a three dimensional object. I started with drawing the lighter part of the circle, and then slowly transitioned into the darker parts. After this, I then increased the level of detail in the object and its shadow. My first attempt at a drawing was a sphere with proper shading and shadows.

 

The final product came out looking pretty good, but it took much longer than I initially thought it would. Even the slightest change in lighting is significant, ( Civardi 81) and getting the gradual change in shading was much more difficult, and often took me multiple tries to get it just right. Ultimately, the most important thing I learned was the level of concentration of focus that goes into drawings like these. Detail was incredibly important, but in the end the final result came out much better than I originally anticipated.

The question I have for you guys is what are some things or activities that require even the smallest amount of detail in order to be successful? How do you reach the level of detail needed?

Giovanni, Civardi. Drawing, A Completle Guide. N.p.: Search, 2006.