FORM Essential Shapes and Elements

Essential Shapes

In many of these poses the model was sitting down, so I found that I the body divided into less units than approximately 7 to 7.5 equal units as on a standing or elongated pose. This was because of foreshortening. I continued to use the head as a unit of measurement, as previously, and held a pencil in my hand with outstretched arm and one eye closed to measure the model. Doing this is a big help as long as I keep my head still and elbow locked in the same position. It was tempting to divide the units by following the bends (or changes of plane) along the length of the body but when I tried this it was much harder to obtain accuracy with foreshortening, so I took the direct route, following a straight line along the body’s length. Where there was foreshortening it was very helpful to make use of negative space and position of the seat, arms or back of the chair in relation to an arm or a knee for instance.  The model’s holding a book, causing a lot of foreshortening in the forearms and thighs on some sketches.  Where I saw it I tried to fight logic and draw exactly what I saw, even though it initially looked unbelievable. Mostly it seemed to work. There was a slight twist in the torso where the shoulders or hips tilted to one side. It helped to align the shoulders and hips by comparisons with a horizontal line made by holding up the drawing tool before me with outstretched arm. I measured the shoulders roughly three heads width. This appeared to agree with the model’s own proportions. 

Marking in the top, middle and bottom points of the figure on the paper was valuable in preventing me from drawing the figure too small or large. My eye was a reasonable judge for estimating roughly where the middle was.  Although, when I tried to find the midpoint more accurately by measuring the model by holding the drawing tool in front of me, I found that it fit a few times into the length of the body. It made this part of the process a little fiddly and time consuming to fit in a 10 minute sketch - I kept wishing I had a much longer pencil or similar, or that my eye could make better estimations.

Essential Elements - shading

 I found the exercise valuable (along with the life classes I attended) in helping to divert my focus away from outlines and towards the model’s form.

Somehow, in certain sketches the model looks rather sinister and mysterious, probably because of the lack of or minimal facial features with the dramatic tonal contrasts. 

Check & Log

Was I able to maintain a focus on proportion at the same time as creating a sense of weight and 3Dform?

The figure was foreshortened in all poses and I felt compelled to first divide the length into portions equal to the length of head– as I have been doing with most drawings up to now, even if only very roughly sometimes. I’ve a long way to go yet, but judging proportions with my eye is slowly starting to become easier, maybe eventually an unconscious thing, if I keep at it. I didn’t want to begin filling in the shaded areas too soon or to leave the sketches unfinished, so the first one took about 15 minutes to do.

As I progressed through the sketches of various poses my confidence grew and I was able to manage finishing both the sketches and the shading in the given time of 10 minutes each. I should have indicated the edges of highlighted areas with a feint line rather than trying accentuate them by shading the adjoining negative area. I think it would have looked better and speeded things up under the circumstances. Proportions suffered, but I can’t expect miracles - they will come later.. I was quite surprised that they weren’t worse considering the time limit and, even more amazing; as good as on the drawing of the hour long drawing of the longer pose in some cases. The biggest faults I noticed are the weedy and thin looking thighs on the L shaped pose and the lying down pose with the legs bent.  The feet look too short on the one done in black art pen. As in the previous exercise, comparative measurements and sighting with the drawing tool were a big help.

Which drawing gives the best sense of pose and why?

I think the second sketch in black medium art pen. The model looks comfortable and relaxed despite holding a book in one hand. His whole body looks naturally seated on the chair. In some sketches the model doesn’t look quite connected with the chair (as in number 6 – soft pastel on coloured paper). It seems to be floating, almost levitating above the chair, which may explain the smug looking expression.

Was there any movement or gesture away from the model’s central axis, if so did you manage to identify this and put it into your drawing?

This was the case to some degree in all sketches. The least extreme being the above sketch done in black medium art pen where I am positioned more centrally in front of the model, which also made it the easiest.

All poses were seated or lying down and I marked in a feint or imaginary plumb line so that I could check alignments to the vertical. The pose positioned the furthest away from the central axis was the seated pose to the side, where the body formed an L shape – legs extended and feet on a stool. I checked the angle of the shoulders and hips against the horizontal on the model but I have drawn it in too extreme on the L shaped pose.

The Longer Pose

The longer Pose 

I found that a mechanical pencil was a good medium for this pose as it is fine enough for detailed areas like the facial features and fingers and dark enough to give a pronounced positive confident line and feint line with lighter pressure. In a pastel drawing of a nude bather by Degas  I noticed that he used many repeating line lines in the contours, but here they don’t appear to detract from the drawing at all. Perhaps also,  because of the way he has handled the medium, the repeating lines are quite soft and used only in places requiring more emphasis.

Edgar Degas - Nude Bather

1. Have you managed to make a complete statement this time? What were your main problems?  I think there is enough detail in the pose to communicate what the model is doing. I could have added more shading but I don’t think it was necessary on this occasion. There are too many repeating lines along many outlines which I think look a bit confusing and clumsy. I should have looked for the edges in light and used a more delicate line. This might have assisted the look of form.

2. How well have you captured the characteristics of pose?    The model appears to be reclining comfortably in the chair rather than perched unnaturally on top of it. Indicating the chair and footrest contribute towards the illusion. The left foot looks a bit wooden and the toe shape of the right foot also looks distorted. I don’t think the model’s socks helped me here. The neck area (rear) looks like a dark jungle. Although area was covered in whiskers and in deep shade it still looks like overkill to me. I later erased a small area between the chair and neck in an attempt to give the illusion of light in the space and some suggestion of the curve of the back of the neck to help it appear to be resting naturally on the headrest. However, the result doesn’t look convincing.

3. Do the proportions look right? If not how will you try to improve this? The feet were initially too short when checked against the length of the head, causing the head to look too large in comparison, so I lengthened them slightly.– another thing I had trouble with was the chin which was moved to in to the left slightly, so I lightly erased the original chin. The top of the head was tricky to position until I aligned it with the top of the knees. I put so much concentration in getting the location and details of the hands correct before the model moved them – they couldn’t keep them still for long, that I soon realized something didn’t look right about their positioning – they appeared too far away from where I had marked in the head. The upper arm looks slightly too long. It was tricky to determine exactly where the shoulder was on this pose, as it was obscured by the model’s clothes, but as far as I could      estimate when measured against the distance from the elbow to the fingertips it should be around the same. Because the forearm is foreshortened on this pose I think comparison with the length of the upper arm would have been pointless, so I tried to estimate if the hand was in the right position by checking that it was in a horizontal line with the chin. I think the whole drawing would have been easier if I had made certain that the head had the right proportions and position by checking its relationship to the chair.

  

Exhibition - Out of Australia

Out of Australia

Prints and Drawings from Sidney Nolan to Rover Thomas – II visited this large exhibition when it was showing at the British Museum in June. It is part of a series of exhibitions and events at the British Museum’s Australian Summer Season of Celebration of Australian Culture.

I find the background to this exhibition so absorbing that I felt compelled to include a few facts about it. The British Museum claims to hold the most significant public collection of modern Australian graphic art outside Australia – more than 880 prints and drawings. It is the largest of its kind to be held outside Australia. The exhibition features 126 works by 60 artists from 1940 to the present day and indigenous Australian printmakers.

An important factor around that time in shaping the careers of many non-indigenous artists was travel to the northern hemisphere – the main centres of attraction after World War 2 were London, Paris and New York. They wanted to retain ties with Australia, yet be recognized by the wider world.

The Angry Penguins were a group of artists, poets and writers becoming increasingly frustrated with entrenched conservatism in official Australian culture. They were associated with an avant garde publication of the same name – a focus for helping them to play a major part in outlining a distinctive Australian modernism in the 1940s.

A major exhibition in 1939 of British and French contemporary paintings from post-impressionism to Surrealism had a profound impact on three artists who later broke new ground – Sidney Nolan, Albert Tucker and Arthur Boyd. As access to the new art movements was so restricted in Australia they had to develop their awareness of the new movements from reproductions in publications. The three artists drew their sources of inspiration from both Surrealism and Expressionism. Contact with the few European refugee painters also helped to add to the strong expressionist influence.

Many of them went to Europe after the war and stayed away for prolonged periods of time as the journey there by ship was so long, some never returning to live in Australia.

Apart from the art scene having transformed in the last two decades, the role of Aboriginal Art over this time has taken on great significance and become far more appreciated by the public - the Australian bicentenary in 1988 being a catalyst. The events surrounding this event sparked much more awareness of the suffering of Indigenous people since the European invasion. Rover Thomas and Trevor Nickolls were the first Aboriginal artists to represent Australia in the Venice Biennale, printmaking being a prominent area.  

Surroundings

The room allowed in no natural light. Although each artwork was well lit by directional lighting. All lighting was composed of artificial uplighters, downlighters and general background lighting was quite low and subdued in comparison. The room was was large and self contained. All drawings, paintings and prints were housed in continuous glass cases running along the length of the room. This promoted a look of continuity to the contents and although enclosed, contributed to a feeling of spaciousness.  Recessed areas created a more intimate relationship with the work on display and of being in a more personal space. Other works displayed in cabinets running parallel to the floor even gave me the sensation of being pulled into the space contained within.

Figure 1948

Forms

Albert Tucker – Antipodean Head

I chose to write about this painting particularly because it didn’t interest me at first glance. Infact I was more drawn to Tucker’s other works, but now I think it is a very apt description, encapsulating so well what he was trying to say. When I viewed it against the background of earlier works (Forms (1957), Man with Flower (1950) and Figure (1948)) it really takes on its own significance and I find myself fascinated by his use of inventive techniques to achieve the effects.

It is a painting of a monochromatic brown head in profile on a white background. It looks craggy, cratered and worn and reflects the colour of baked earth. The edges of the head and the shape look deliberately rough, again to echo the landscape. There is a look of solidity and toughness in the head, yet to me it also appears unhappy, miserable, sunken and tearful. However the media was applied it has produced a very rough, broken texture. Some of the paint looks spattered on, especially noticeable around the edges. Perhaps a resist technique was also used and watery paint applied over, then more concentrated liquid paint added and allowed to run in some areas. Perhaps sand or grit was applied to the surface before any paint or resist media – that's if it was used.

Tucker first started using  acrylic paint as he was thought to have been attracted to its tactile permanence and because it enabled him to emulate a dried out appearance, describing the Australian interior and, in this case, the tough resilience and endurance of the Australian stereotype.

Antipodean Head - acrylic

Man with Flower

It is interesting to see from these drawings/paintings the way Tucker's work developed over time and how clearly other artists such as Picasso and Jean Dubuffet influenced him. Looking back over earlier works (Man with Flower 1950 was identified as its forerunner) certain elements have evolved and are echoed in this painting.

Quick Poses

Previous to doing these, the only sketches of figures I’d recently done  were a few rapid scribbled gestures of the figure. So, to finish an outline sketch in 2 minutes and obtain accurate proportions was for me, a tall order by comparison. By the time I’d finished 5-6 sketches, using only basic outlines, I was beginning to feel more comfortable with this method. The instructions were to draw from the middle of the body out to the feet and the head. So far I’ve found, that I usually have more success with proportions when I begin with the head and work rapidly down to the feet and hands using a few very feint lines, then find the midpoint of the figure, followed by building up detail around the body.

If I do begin in the centre of the body and work outwards, I would find the midpoint of the figure in relation to where I’ve marked the rough position of the head and feet, I would then add the head using basic measuring, followed by the torso, arms, legs and feet. I have to admit I find the concept of beginning in the middle totally alien, without marking in the position of the head and feet first. In this set of sketches I also divided up the length of the body into roughly between 7 or 8 equal parts, using the head as a unit of measurement. It was easier to think in terms of shapes and forms for the various elements, such as the head as a sphere, the arms, legs and torso as cylinders and the hands and feet as ellipses and I think it helped promote a 3D effect. 

2 minutes

2 minutes

I struggled with proportions in the initial couple of sketches – exacerbated by the model sitting down, shortening the lower half of the body. The upper torso appeared too long in relation to other parts, but by trying to ignore logic and record what I saw I soon discovered that it wasn’t as far out as I first thought, when measured using divisions equal to the length of the head. That seems quite incredible considering how ridiculous it looks. In a shortened pose the body is naturally reduced to fewer divisions when measured (as the crow flies) with the usual pencil or similar tool, so I tried a piece of string following the angles and contours along the length of the body and reassured myself that the number of divisions were the same as on an elongated pose. As I expected, the longer 10 minute sketches looked more accurate in relation to proportions. In one of these – a seated sketch, the arms looked too long, but again when checked against the position and length of other areas on the model, I was quite sure they were more accurate than arms in other sketches. To correctly place the level of the top of the knees, because of foreshortening, was tricky until I lined them up with the top of the chair seat. On the lying down figure the arm on view was definitely too long. I made the lower legs look spindly in standing poses a couple of times. These kinds of faults will hopefully start to fade out as I become more experienced at figure drawing – we’ll see..

2 minutes

                                     

Emulating the natural curves of the figure ie. legs and arms, helped to prevent their shapes from looking too flat and two dimensional, I think, but the changes of plane being gradual in most places on a human figure, would look more convincing if the line weight varied. Although the planes of the neck and upper torso, hands and feet would suggest flat sided shapes, this is not to say that all straight edges promote a flat appearance. , Helping to alleviate this are concave and convex curves at chin level and base of neck lines for instance, giving a cylindrical look. Receding and advancing planes would be been more convincing if I’d varied the weight of the outlines more. I would say the human figure is practically all curves, containing flat surfaces as part of its make-up.

Two of the 10 minute sketches – one seated, one standing – their differences are: that the torso, neck, shoulders, arms and hands in the standing pose look more three dimensional than in the other seated pose in black pen. In the latter sketch these areas have mostly straight edges, as is clear in the waist and shoulder line, which to me contribute towards a flatter look.

10 minute seated pose

10 minute standing pose

10 min lying down

Chiaroscuro

Chiaroscuro - used to depict volume, characterized by strong contrasts of light and shade usually affecting a whole composition.
My tutor recommended in his report for my assignment 3, that I include more mainstream artists to augment what is there. As an example he suggested I include some examples of chiaroscuro, particularly those of Rembrandt. The drawings by Claire Spencer are also good examples of this technique, as are those below, by Leonardo and Rembrandt.

Study for the Kneeling Leda

The shading above describes a quite linear form of chiaroscuro.

Leda's lower hand looks to me as though it is back to front - perhaps
she was a contortionist. Her lower right arm also looks thicker than the upper part.

- Just to illustrate that Leonardo was, of course, extremely accomplished at drawing hands and arms (above).

The Philosopher in Meditation 1632 - oil on wood 34x38 cm 

Rembrandt - The Philosopher in Meditation 

Here a dark frame curves around the entire foreground and perimeter of the painting. It branches off towards the seated figure from the left and again from the top right, reaching part way down the winding staircase, creating a mysterious void and producing an s-shaped movement within - echoed by partly lit areas of the staircase. This contrasts sharply with the glowing light from the window to the left of the philosopher, bringing him distinctly but softly  into focus. Another glow from the hearth on the lower right illuminates a woman's face and hands. The staircase gradually brightens and becomes clearer as it winds down and round towards the figure.
I found an interesting theory about the possible meaning behind the painting on the following link: http://dimahne.tripod.com/Articles/meditation.html