Final Assignment 3 - A Townscape View in black pen and coloured pencil

A third and final attempt at Assignment 3 entailed a return visit to the Townscape in Line exercise, prompting my decision to pursue another (similar) version. At first I placed it  almost at the end of this blog because I completed it between finishing the rest of this course and sending off the work for assessment. But somehow it didn't seem appropriate as, being Assignment 3 it should probably be at the end of Part 3. I guess it's a matter of opinion.  I was well into selecting the drawings to send away for assessment before I finally chose to do this townscape drawing and only after  I’d already made, in preparation for a third version of a view of my garden, several more sketches from various vantage points in the house. I came to the conclusion that it was a little safer to use this piece for assessment, owing to the earlier version having already received (mostly) positive critique from my tutor - that isn't to say that this version has anything more going for it, but at least there's a slightly better chance. 

Some preliminary sketches

Conversely my previous two Assignment pieces for Part 3 had received unfavourable feedback from my tutor. Another important factor in my decision was that the tutor had previously suggested I could use an alternative drawing from one of the exercises in Part 3 as the assignment piece. The idea of attempting a totally different drawing clearly felt to me like taking a step into the unknown.

All the same, it was difficult to decide between the Study of an Individual Tree or the Townscape. However, on studying the brief once more for Assignment 3 the townscape drawing seemed to contain more elements that fit the bill than the Tree study because, being a built environment, the townscape scene offers linear perspective, with some natural foliage in places and a small amount of colour.

The viewpoint for the initial sketches was from a slightly elevated position overlooking rooftops and the backs of buildings. They were done while I was looking out through the window of my car, parked in a car park.

I was also quite keen to try and include  a range of subjects and media, including  architectural, for assessment. The main reason I didn’t submit the first version was because I had spoiled it through getting carried away on the hatching under the eaves of the two most prominent buildings. Although there is an obvious similarity to the first townscape, this drawing is treated in a slightly different way.  The new version looks slightly softer than the first, due to the incorporation of coloured pencil, albeit mostly black, with just a hint of colour, which I think gives the composition a bit of lift and added curiosity. I found using coloured pencil lent itself more easily to adding general tone to this drawing than the first townscape in line. Initially the colours were too vivid and dominant over the rest of the composition, so I erased them a little to lessen their impact. As the weather was quite overcast, there's a small amount of subtle shading. The resulting shortage of light and shade made tonal contrasts relatively difficult to pick out and I had to repeatedly screw up my eyes - all surfaces seemed to be in mid tone. Apart from this, and some artistic licence, the best I could do was to rely on my knowledge of the position of the sun at that time of day - it was slightly behind the main buildings and to the left. 

The media I used here is mostly a combination of the same media I had used in two earlier exercises on the course. The coloured pencil is reminiscent to me of the other (limited palette) streetscape I did in coloured pencil in Part 3, particularly the shading, though the colours aren’t blended in this one. The line and some of the textures remind me of those in my drawing of Still Life Fruit and Vegetables in Line with a hint of colour from Part 2. Using line in this way, to give only a suggestion of the surface texture really appeals to me. The slates on the roof of the nearest building are an exception. Here I initially tried to only partially complete the detail but it didn't appear to look right. It might be due to the fact that the roof was very close. All in all I did find it was enjoyable to try out the techniques once more. However, I do have the feeling that I may have have been a bit  clumsy with the pen when I put in some of the background textures such as the buildings. The impossibility of erasing is the major drawback of pen to me, so I will just have to live with that. 

Eventual final drawing - Pitt artist's pen and coloured pencil

Also see the post A Townscape in Line

A Townscape in Line, a Sketchbook of Streetscapes and a Limited Palette Study

For the drawing of the townscape in line, I searched round for quite a while to find a view that might come somewhere near to what was suggested in the instructions. Finally I found it - some unremarkable looking backs of buildings which fronted on to the main street of a local town - Mitchelstown. Although I hadn't noticed it initially, while in the process of trying some early sketches I began to realise that it had the potential to make an interesting drawing. I was a little intimidated by the idea of interpreting what appeared like a multitude of textures in pen and ink, but after some practice sketches (below) and outlining the main features in pencil beforehand my fear slowly began to diminish. A couple of areas did give me a fright when I thought I had messed them up with a slip of the pen or over zealous shading - the eaves on the two central buildings), but I think I managed to reduce most of the damage with a little first aid.  

A few of the townscape sketches

Townscape in Line

How did you use a limited colour palette to create a sense of depth?

This applied only to the Limited Palette Study in coloured pencil (below). I used a little black conte crayon and dark blue watercolour pencil – a cool receding colour, with a touch of rose red pencil in the shadow areas. Where I used only blue and rose red combined, they merged into a vibrant but cool dark purple like shade. In areas where I thought increased shadow was needed I added a little black. A sense of depth was enhanced by repeated layers of shading and increasing amounts of pressure on the pencils. I applied rose pink alone, to areas where I wanted an advancing effect. I changed the colour, from what it actually was, on the larger building. The actual colours were black and light grey but I wanted to use a palette that would help to unite its appearance with the much smaller deep pink painted building next door. As the light grey paint on the large building had a blue tinge I decided to deepen the blue and mix in some of the pink shade from the adjoining building into the shadows, and vice versa with the blue and a little black.

Above - a sketchbook of streetscapes

As all the check and log questions seem to be geared towards them, I will keep to the sketchbook of townscape drawings and the limited palette study. I found some of the instructions confusing, as I’m not sure whether, for the limited palette study, I was meant to leave some parts unfinished (as stated at the end of the townscape sketches exercise) or to do a complete drawing, while leaving out a small amount of detail present in actuality. If this had been another sketch I would have done so.

It transpired I wasn’t happy that my preliminary sketches were sufficient because:

1. There was no variety light and shade, as the weather was overcast and at that time of day the orientation of the building I wanted to sketch was away from the sun.

2. I concentrated totally on the flat façade containing the shopfront and the ornate doorway next to it, which didn’t appear to have much potential to provide some sense of form.

After some thought I decided to return on a bright evening a couple of days later, when the sun was shining on the front right hand side of the building and was also casting quite long shadows. I did another couple of sketches - one of them of the complete scene. Admittedly, part of it was from photos I took there and then, as I didn’t have enough time to complete them on the spot.

It was quite frustrating trying to get the scale correct, as I had the scale inaccurate in the sketch of the buildings and I initially used the proportions in this for my final drawing. As the drawing progressed I soon noticed that a roof looked too high in one place then too low in another. When I took out a 30cm ruler to check these with the estimated vanishing point off the paper, this confirmed things, along with one or two other mishaps. So trying to judge the scale and perspective purely by sight was something I certainly wasn’t ready for!

Limited palette study

I felt it was really important to capture the architectural details such as the scrollwork and carved details around the nearest door and the left of the shopfront, even the roofs and chimneys, but in an understated way, as I think they are such a crucial part of the atmosphere and character of the buildings in the village and in the surrounding area. Part of the reason I wanted to extend the scene to include the small cottage type building next door was its smaller size and lower roof level. There are also other interesting disparities between this (pink building) and the larger, closer building. The two are both old and full of character. They are very different in style, one is older (probably), more rustic and relatively plain. The other, the larger blue building, is more elaborate in style but still traditional in appearance. Both are typical of local vernacular buildings.