Assignment 3 first attempt

Please click on this link to go to the Assignment 3 piece I eventually chose to submit for assessment

The project for this assignment piece contains preliminary sketches and a final drawing of a view of a rather overgrown driveway at home.

From my position just inside the window of the front porch in the house, I began with a few small sketches, moving some objects around a little to position them more to my liking (see sketches). I went on to check out the perspective in the gate and the driveway by first establishing my eye level and a vanishing point . From this it was easier to place the angles. I tried to encourage a look of aerial perspective by using overlapping forms in the trees and shrubs and a very pale area behind the gate.

Preliminary and perspective sketches

In the colour sketches I tried out watercolour pencil washes under dry shading, also wet tipped pencils. In another, I used felt tips brushed over with water to smudge in places. I didn’t feel happy pursuing any of these avenues and was becoming weary by this stage. Then almost as an afterthought I very casually had a go with oil pastel, chiseling out the shapes with the side in different directions and was surprised by how liberating it felt. So now there was no contest for what media to use for the final drawing - oil pastel, although in some areas I did use some felt tips a little and coloured pencil, but they aren't very visible.

Perspective sketches - pencil and watercolour pencil

Felt tip pen and wash

Oil pastel

In the final drawing I found it took a long time to build up depth in the trees and shrubs and I used lots of layers. At one point I thought it wasn’t working and becoming muddy in places, especially on the left, but I persevered with varied tones of colours and techniques, using lighter flecks to help bring out where the sunlight was catching some lighter areas. I remember using my non dominant hand occasionally – particularly on the corresponding side of the paper – the right hand side and noticed the resulting lines were freer in appearance. A trick some Impressionists used for shadows was to use purples and blues in the shadows, so I followed their example and it seemed to work well. I also erased certain places, which I thought needed lightening, such as the pink flowers on the left and a thin sliver of light to the right of the gate, with thinners on a cotton bud. If I was doing another landscape in oil pastel I would consider doing an underpainting with diluted thinners on a brush or rag to give more intensity to the colours. I stumbled across this tip in a book after the drawing was completed. I would also try tinted paper, perhaps in another drawing. Using oil pastel for a finished drawing was to me a challenge I’m now glad I took on and will try to continue using more often.

Assignment 3 Final Drawing

I found it difficult to find a view incorporating many of the elements suggested in the instructions from what seemed a limited choice available to me; I found that this view came closest to fitting the bill. At least it has depth being a driveway and contains a straight lined object - a gate. It also has plenty of trees and shrubs around the sides - giving a layered look, with a gate at the end together with a glimpse of a view beyond.

It came as a surprise to me that as the drawing progressed I began to see more interesting things in the view than I ever did beforehand. It's a pity the result didn't reflect this new found enthusiasm, turning out to be so disappointing and artificial looking considering the amount of time I put into it.
It was not put together in the same spirit as the sketches and as such is not successful. Unfortunately I was blind to this until my tutor pointed it out. I will make another attempt, so watch this space!....


After yet another attempt things still didn't prove successful - another 'overdone' drawing. Image as follows:

To describe it further, this is an excerpt from the tutor's report after the second attempt:
Both finished versions look over finished and somewhat sentimental and fussy. You are trying to make a picture here instead of investigating your subject/view through interpretive drawing; these are the same issues as when you first sent me assignment 3.
I think that says it all really, needless to say it has become a real thorn in my side as I think I'm starting to develop a complex about this assignment piece and I will be happy when I've got the third one over with. That will be the final drawing no matter what..

Above - a few preliminary sketches for the second attempt. I dare say these turned out better than the final drawing.



I did further sketches for a third try at a view of the garden, but after some deliberation I decided to make another version of a townscape drawing from this assignment (Part 3).

Check & Log 2 Perspective

I decided to draw a view from a corridor into a kitchen for the parallel perspective drawing. The floor being tiled, I think, was an advantage, although the horizontal spaces between tiles on the inside of the door were too close together. The space is too narrow to fit what is there in the available space. The architraves around the doors on the left are too narrow. Once I’d chosen the vanishing point and drawn in the first parallel line along the dado rail on the right I discovered that many angles were completely wrong, apart from the area below eye level, which isn’t too bad. Before I drew in the receding lines to the vanishing point I knew that some angles were wrong, but I didn’t realize they were so inaccurate! I should have noticed the top of the frames and the bookshelves on the right hand side as these are so obvious to me now.

Parallel perspective drawing

In the second drawing of the building positioned corner on (two point perspective), with the help of a pencil, I gauged the angles, shapes and proportions of features in relation to other points and angles – particularly the horizontal line at my eye level.  I didn’t use a ruler, but a pencil helped with the angle and measurements. Amazingly for me, I think most of it is accurate, apart from the roof line on the left of the high building on the corner, where the receding lines are at too low an angle. The vanishing point is way off the paper, so again I was guessing the angles, but I think they generally look correct.

Two point perspective drawing

Using rulers as a guide really helped me to check the accuracy of the angles.  Even with the two point perspective where the vanishing points were off the paper, I was able to estimate with a ruler where they were, and to draw in the eye level (horizon line). This is something I doubt I could have managed otherwise, even with a pencil as a substitute.

Although, I wouldn’t want to be tempted to use a ruler to draw straight lines - I’m sure they would appear far too technical looking. By not using a ruler for this purpose the lines may often be wobbly and uneven looking but at least they have far more chance of looking expressive. It is more difficult to judge the correct angles of the horizontal building, window and door lines etc. without a ruler and I found myself having to resort to using a pencil as a substitute to help with this.

Part 1, Assignment 1, Man Made Objects

Made Objects 
To some extent I was influenced as to what I wanted to use for this part of the assignment, by previous experiments with textures and frottage. There were certain  textural techniques I felt inspired to use again more than others. Among them were: bristles of a decorating brush, dull metal finish and plaster board tape. I considered objects that I could connect to various themes but when I looked around my surroundings, DIY related objects were literally crying out to be drawn! I considered pencil to be the most suitable medium for the same reason (it was used in the texture experiments)  and I have to admit, because it's such a familiar medium to me, I felt relatively safe with it. So with the inclusion of some uncertain type of slim decorating/dusting brush with long rough bristles, a piece of zinc plate (a boiler part), a roll of plasterboard tape and a wood plane (amongst others), I began with a short lived attempt at sketching my first choice of objects. I say short lived, because I began to sketch the wood plane and after just a few lines I gave up in frustration and removed it from the line up altogether - slightly  too overwhelming a prospect  for me to continue with at that stage, particularly along with several other objects.  I continued with the rest of the objects (above) in combination with a long narrow wood file, then a chisel, sandpaper and measuring tape until by the third small sketch I had settled on the objects I was reasonably happy to use for the remainder of the assignment. By then I had also cut down the number of objects in the arrangement, as it was rapidly becoming too crowded.

 At this stage I was ready to move onto a larger scale sketch in pencil, followed by a colour sketch in coloured pencil. I did consider using neopastel crayons, but decided I might have problems gaining sufficient detail with these and as it turned out, I was glad I opted for coloured pencils instead. The resulting relative scarcity of colour reflected what was there in reality.

I’m glad I cut down on the number of objects and in places replaced one or two with something elso, as I think I finally ended up on the whole with a composition I was happy with. The relationships between the various parts are helped I think, by directional shapes leading the eye around from one object to another and there are interesting textural contrasts, which I tend to notice more than the actual identity of the objects themselves. There is a tendency also for my eye to be led outside the picture, by the drill bit and the sandpaper being cut off at the side edges, which for some reason,  I also quite like. (see also end paragraph).

On reflection, after completing the two parts of the assignment I was quite surprised and pleased with this one in comparison the other part.
Natural objects would always have been my first choice of subject material in the past, yet on the whole, I consider that I did better with made objects on this occasion. Perhaps the practice from previous exercises has paid off.

However, it was a struggle for me at times with certain objects, such as the brush and the plasterboard tape and when trying to obtain accurate proportions between these and the tape measure, so I took great care with this in the final drawing. Up until this stage I hadn’t had any success with the correct shape for the brush so I measured the width of the handle and roughly doubled it for the ferrule and brush part, making sure the lines along the length were parallel. However, before later adjustment (as my tutor confirmed) the perspective was still out. I was uncertain of the best way to render the mesh tape as it is actually white, so I drew it in the negative (with darker mesh) as I couldn’t think of any other way to obtain a convincing interpretation. I did consider using pen and ink for this drawing, yet once again, confidence was lacking - so this is another thing I need to persevere with...

Both Drawings: For the two parts of the assignment, by the time I had done three small sketches with notes, a large sketch, and a large colour sketch, being certain enough of the general layout, I was ready to go onto the final drawing;  the only alterations necessary were to move the odd object around slightly. It was a case of going along with what I had built up by then, or at the other extreme, starting again from scratch and I certainly wasn’t going to do that! Then again, I can see how important it was to try out several different arrangements, utilizing various elements and their positions from certain earlier stages and incorporating them into the final drawing.

The size of the paper for both drawings is A2 and all parts seemed to fit on this quite well. Although the layout of the natural forms may have benefited from an A1 size, as this probably would have helped to give more impact to the whole drawing and it may have looked less crowded.

Large sketch A2

Colour Drawing A3

Final Drawing A2 before adjustments

Final drawing (adjusted) - man made forms

Additional Note:

After reading my tutor’s comments in relation to the drawing (before adjustments) and on re-examination, I  spotted some inaccuracies, particularly in the perspective of the paint brush handle. Suddenly  it became glaringly obvious and I wonder how failed to spot it!

Perspective Distortions

-         These are something I’ve seen used occasionally  in certain pieces of art, but I never looked into the process used to obtain them. I found some information in the book Drawing, Seeing and Observation by Ian Simpson, and this helped to clear up the mystery for me:

-         First of all to obtain accuracy in perspective he suggests, as in most information available on perspective, to put in the vanishing point/s at eye level as a straight horizontal line across across the drawing, so that angles going into the distance can be related to this. Otherwise it is easy to end up with inconsistencies in perspective, ending up with more than one eye level. The vanishing points (with connecting angles and shapes) must be constantly checked so that they relate to the subject. Although this only works if the viewer has a fixed viewpoint and is looking straight ahead.

-         But when making a drawing, what you see infront of you is much more than the 60° of vision which perspective allows – the angle of vision. This is when objects at the edges become distorted and what materializes is a series of separate viewpoints. It becomes evident when comparing photographs and drawings of the same place. Several photographs would need to be joined together to encompass the amount of information taken in by the drawing. Faults should become obvious in a perspective drawing if there is more than one viewpoint. So, drawing what you see in front of you is really a series of different viewpoints and this translates into something quite different.

-         It became clearer to me when it was pointed out that when you look at a drawing your eyes do not travel over it in the way they do over a subject. I guess it is like looking at a photograph in that sense, unless the drawing is so large that it cannot all be absorbed at once. I would imagine that this happens with landscape more than other subjects, as there is usually such a vast expanse on view,  it would be more difficult to reduce the size of the space - the head would need to move so as to take in the view. Using a viewfinder would reduce this vast expanse but it is still very hard to keep it in a fixed position and things can again become distorted. Therefore the wider the angle taken in, the flatter things towards the edges become, like a plan view. My tutor remarked about the faulty perspective in the brush handle in my drawing prior to alteration and I think this is the mistake I made - it looks to me as though the handle could be at the upper edge of vision, giving it a flatter appearance. Certainly there  appears to be a delicate balance between the laws of perspective and relying on observation alone. One may want a drawing to look convincing, while not sticking rigidly to geometric formula.
      I later made some adjustments to the same drawing  - see above. The perspective at the top of the brush handle has been altered and now appears much more convincing. The cast shadows have been softened around the edges and darkened in certain places under or beside the shaded side of an object, such as between the brush handle and rear tape and to the left of the tape. This has been darkened in the foreground seeming to create the illusion of shadows underneath. I softened the curve of the ellipse slightly on the roll of tape and added extra variety of marks such as on the measuring tape to the right.  I think (hope) these changes combined have the effect of improved cohesiveness and interest to the arrangement as a whole. Faulty perspective is now also very evident in my attempt at the boxes and books exercise.