Drawings: OCA Part 3: Assignment 3

Assignment Three - Drawing Outdoors Final Piece

Graphite and Chalk on Coloured Paper

 

First off I have to say that this assignment was hard, or more specifically finding the right view to work from was the hard part. I needed a view from a window or doorway that included natural objects (i.e. plants, trees etc) had a sense of depth to demonstrate some perspective as well as some straight-lined objects. I found looking out of any window covered a couple of these criteria but they all seemed a bit, well, bland. So when I finally found this view I knew that this was the one I was going to work from, it had a linear perspective in the buildings and some trees in the foreground and the church gave an interesting background.

 

So, having found my chosen view I set about playing around with the composition and decided on a portrait format that I felt showed the depth of the drawing well. I then experimented with the perspective of the buildings to ensure that I had it all right. After this I decided to eliminate one of the background buildings and I am glad I did this as it helps the church to be more dominant in the background.

I experimented with a watercolour and pen drawing that I decided not to pursue, it did not feel like the right media for the piece; I wanted to work with something that showed off the setting better. After a bit more exploration I decided I really liked the way chalk and graphite worked against each other, especially on the coloured paper as a mid-tone. The media manages to capture something of the feel of the place quite well.

I ended up spending a couple of hours creating the final piece and I am really satisfied with the result. My only concerns are that I may have lost some of the depth in the final drawing and that I should have explored some more choices of media that may have showed certain elements off better.

Experimenting with Composition

Biro on Paper

 

Pencil Sketch (left) and Working out Perspective (right)

Watercolour and Pen Piece (left) and Charcoal Sketch of the Same Tree (right)

 

First try with Chalk and Graphite on Coloured Paper

Back Catalogue: Colourful Crumbling Church

Acrylic on Board 24"x20"

This was a piece that I created a while ago as part of a project at college, I decided to experiment and not hold back with the colour. As a result I ended up going slightly mad with it and this eventually culminated with the piece above.

The Subject is taken from a quick sketch I had done of a ruined church situated on the side of a hill, though to look at you would hardly recognise it as such if it were not for the tower still somewhat identifiable. The whole place is locked in a fierce battle against the elements that it unfortunately seems to be losing; however it is definitely going out with a bit of a bang, in the form of this dramatic ruin that staunchly refuses to go quietly.

As I said before, I didn’t hold back with the colour on this piece and just went for it, smearing it on in various hues with your bog standard brushes and few different palette knives for the larger areas. I think this has added a slightly eerie quality to the overall appearance, which I have decided that I quite enjoy, although I’m not a hundred percent sure why.