Drawings: OCA Part 2: Assignment 2

Final Piece

Watercolour and Pencil - A3 

For this assignment I knew I wanted to produce something full of colour, so I started playing around with drawing and sketching different pieces of fruit like onions and chillies, trying out different media as I went.

I initially really liked the idea of the chillies and went ahead with the idea, adding in some green herbs to enhance the colour and using the same view point (from above) that I thought worked well in the fish on plate piece from earlier in the project. I like these pieces but having reviewed the criteria for this assignment again, I was not confident that I had really completed it as well as I could with the composition or colour, probably because I rushed into doing it.

I was not particularly enthusiastic about doing another ink piece at this point so I went back and tried using a combination of pencil and watercolour on some small drawings of fruit. I really liked the way these turned out so I continued with this idea. I also thought a lot longer about the composition I would use, sketching out different ideas first. I added a simple jug that had quite a natural curve like the fruit and eventually a pot plant at the back that gave the arrangement some height and presence. Once I had finalised the composition I produced a couple of studies to make sure I was happy with the lighting and positioning of the all the items and then started on the final piece.

I first sketched the whole thing out in pencil, ensuring that the scale and shading was right. I used the cross-hatching method because I knew it would help to define the shapes well. With the watercolour, I built up layers of separate tones, building it up most where the darker tones were present and leaving the highlighted parts almost bare. It took quite a while to do it this way but I am fairly pleased with the result.

 Study of Red Onions

Watercolour and Biro - A4

 

Initial Studies and Sketches

 

 

First result that I was not happy with

 

 

Starting Over with some Watercolour Studies

 

Playing around with Composition

 

Practice before Final Piece

Watercolour and Pencil

 Pros:

-          My favourite thing about this piece is definitely the colours; I specifically choose the lemons, limes and satsumas because I thought the colours contrasted well, giving each piece of fruit its own separate form.

-          The cross-hatching works well to define the shapes.

Cons:

-          Despite all the planning for it, I’m still not entirely happy with the composition; I think I preferred it in some of the study pieces as opposed to the final drawing.

-          Looking at it now I think I should have thought more about filling in the background to give the piece a better setting.

Drawings OCA Part 2 V: Project - Drawing Animals - Grabbing the Chance

Deer Resting in Richmond Park

Charcoal - A3

 Deer in the Grass, Richmond Park

Charcoal - A4

 

Definitely an easier said than done task, animals don’t tend to want to stay still, especially with me sitting next to them scratching away with a pencil.

Like the last exercise, this is another subject that I am not overly experienced in working with, but after doing a bit of research into artists like Mark Adlington and how they have responded to the subject I at least felt a bit more enthusiastic about tackling it.

My favourite part of this exercise was visiting Richmond Park where the fallow deer were surprisingly accommodating to having me sit and sketch quite close to them. I also quickly learnt that they were more likely to stay still for a longer period if I drew them from behind or while they were dozing in the sun.

There also some more sketches below that I completed for this exercise of a donkey and a puppy.

I really like the loose feeling in the ink and charcoal drawings of the Richmond Park deer, I think this was unintentionally achieved by me adapting to drawing outside with limited tools and the need to capture something quickly before my models ran away.

 Deer Resting, Richmond Park

Blue Ink - A4

Deer Standing, Richmond Park
Blue Ink - A4


Deer in Richmond Park Sketches
Pencil - A4

Sleeping Puppy Sketch

Biro Pen - A4

 

Donkeys Grazing

Pencil - A4

Donkey Resting

Charcoal - A4

Drawings: OCA Part 2 III: Project - Drawing Fruit and Vegetables in Colour - Part II

Exercise: Using Markers or Dip Pens

 

 Orange, Pear and Lemons

Marker Pens - A4

Apple, Pear, Orange and Lemon

Marker Pens - A4

 

 Apple, Oranges and Lemons

Marker Pens - A4

 

I really enjoyed this exercise, both the process and the results captured my interest. Using coloured marker pens to draw with was a fairly new thing for me, I have never tried sketching anything out with them properly, so it was with a bit of trepidation that I began this exercise. It all turned out fine though and I became engrossed in building up the hatching, using the bold lines that are inevitable with marker pens. I had quite a good range of markers to utilise in these drawings and after some experimentation i dicovered that layering the dark blue and red close to each other formed a great dark tone for the shadowy parts.

 

I also produced a couple of drawings with the use of ink and dip pens. I have used dip pens before in my first assignment, but I stuck to black and sepia then, unlike in this exercise. I approached each drawing differently intentionally. With the first one I washed some rather bold strokes onto the paper with a brush, layering the red over the green where it was darkest and sketching the details in afterwards with a dip pen and black ink. The second drawing I did completely with a dip pen similar to my marker pen pieces, building up the hatching on different planes.

 

 

 Two Apples

Washed Ink and Dip Pens - A4

 

Apple and Lemons

Pen and Ink - A4

 

 

Drawings: OCA Part 2 III: Project - Drawing Fruit and Vegetables in Colour

Exercise: Using Hatching to Create Tone

 

 Studies of an Apple and Oranges

Watercolour Pencil - A4

 

 Studies of a Banana and an Apple

Highlighter - A4

Two Oranges and Lime in Wooden Bowl

Colour Pencil - A4

 

Redrawn Close-up of Previous Drawing 

I started this exercise using watercolour pencils in the first piece, beginning with the lighter ones and building the lines with darker ones like the purple and royal blues. I also experimented with highlighters though I can’t say I’m particularly pleased with the result but it was interesting to do.

 

I then positioned two oranges and a lime in a bowl and used colour pencil to draw this arrangement. I placed the bowl near a lamp to cause some strong tonal contrast and I think the highlight with the white pencil show this particularly well.

 

Just for curiosity as to whether this technique would also work well on a larger scale I used a viewfinder on the drawing and produced another one that increases the size of part of the original.