Week 12 - Life Drawing - Facial Expression

5 minute sketch, Fine Liner and Graphite Stick

 

These set of sketches are focused on capturing the facial expression in the face and also the subtle movements of the facial features, it is important to capture how the facial muscles tense and relax to form different expressions. You can see some this theory applied in the sketch and is a follows:

 

Positives:

•  Good amount of expression captured in this sketch as seen in the clenching of the cheeks and the wrinkles at the side of the eyes and on the forehead.
• Solid proportion to the face and positioning of the facial features show off the slight tilt of the face.
• The creases of the cheeks being pushed together emphasise the round fatty deposits being pushed together and the wrinkles around the eyes  and mouth empathise the eye sockets and  muscles around the mouth.

Negatives:

• It still looks fairly two dimensional could used shading on the face to make the facial features really pop out and look more three dimensional.
• More detail and tidying up the hand and adding to the head would complete this quick sketch.
• The angle of the nose appears to be wrong and does need to be corrected as the perspective makes it look flat.

10 minute sketch, Fine Liner and Graphite Stick

 

This is a slightly longer sketch on facial expression, it is still important to focus on the subtlites of the facial feature which make an expression clear and readable. The following theory is visable in this sketch:

 

Positives:

• Increaased amount of detail to the face showing clear wrinkles areound the eyes as they are closed  tightly, the brow showing stress lines, on the forehead and around around the mouth showing wrinkles where the lips are being pressed together.
• Solid perspective of the nose and face showing it from a downwards angle giving it more expression to the face.
• Some good tonal values showing the clear, bold shadows down the right side of the face as seen in the sketch and under the eyes and chin,
• Clear protrayl of the facial expression giving a sense of a sort of deep think expression with the eyes close, face tilted down, and tensing of the forehead.

Negatives:

• The nose is too long and is not proportionally correct to the rest of the face it need to be shortened.
• A greater suggestion of the dynomism in the head tilt and face would give this sketch more prespective on the shadows cast on the face and emphisise on the facial expression.

 



 



5 minute sketch, Fine Liner and Graphite Stick

 



This quick sketch is still focused on facail expression but it was more a foucus on getting the proportion and perspective right as well as capturing the expression of the face. The theory is shown as follows:

 

Positives:

• Good, clear representation of the frown lines on the face where the muscles under the eyes, around the mouth and on the brow are tensed to create wrinkles where the skin is bunching together.
• The tilt of the face and head gives the a more interesting perspective allowing you to see under the nose almosr looking up at the closed eyes.
• Solid proportion as seen by the even spacing of the facial features and compasisment to the rest of the face.
• The added information on the wrinkles around the eyes, mouth and forehead helps to give this sketch more expression and creates a mood of almost frustration or anger.

Negatives:

• Greater tonal value is needed to express where the light is hitting the face in this sketch to add more drama and perspective.
• A more completed drawing would offer more indication to how the head is positioned and where the light is coming from.
• The width of the eyes seem too big and the gap between them seems too small.





Week 11 - Life Drawing - Anatomy of the face

10 minute sketch, Graphite Stick

 



 The focus of these set of life drawing sketches is the anatomy of the face and this focuses on the proportion of the face and all the features on it, capturing the anatomy of the face and head and also the perspective. A number of important theories are applied in this sketch as follows:

 

Positives:

• Good proportion of the face and facial features as you can see the face is split into three sections from brow to end of nose, from nose to chin and from brow to end of forehead they measure the same distance.
• Nice amount of detail on the face seen in the wrinkles around the eyes, around the mouth and on the forehead.
• Dark, bold and  curved line emphasise the contour of the face and also the structure of the face and nose.
• Offers a good amount of facial anatomy seen,  in the mouth as the wrinkles and lip muscles form an oval shape around the mouth, structure of the cheek bone and nose and also the eyes and forehead.

Negatives:

• I feel that the perspective of the nose in this pose isn't correct and should be more side on.
• More tonal value around the features on the face would give a better impression on how the light hits the face and how the shadows are cast.
• Increased detail and shape around the ears and hair is needed to put the side of the head into perspective.
  



20 minute sketch, Graphite Stick

 

This sketch is a longer sketch still focused on facial anatomy and getting the proportions of the face correct and showing the anatomy, the theory shown in this sketch is as follows:

 

Positives:

• Use of dark lines to emphasise the deeper wrinkles on the face and and lighter lines to show lighter wrinkles.
• The proportion of the face and the positioning of the facial features are good as the measurements of the eyes to nose is the same as the nose to chin and brow to forehead.
•  The perspective of both the head and the face are solid and show off the slight angle of the head and positioning of the eyes.
•  Light shading and mark making shows off the shadows cast on the face and the darker shadows under the eyes and nose.
• A good show of anatomy seen in the nose, mouth,cheek and eyes.

Negatives:

• More shadow and perspective lines would help to make the face and head look more three dimensional.
• The hands are not drawn as well as I would have liked they are not in proportion in the fingers.
• Capturing more likeness by adding subtle skin tone and features would make this sketch look more life like.

Week 10 - Life Drawing - Tone and Colour in Skin

30 minute sketch, Hard Chalk Pastels

 

These set of life drawing sketches are focused on the tone and colour of the human skin, capturing light, skin tone and tonal value helps to recreate skin in a realistic way. Understanding the structure of skin helps to recreate it effectively. The following theory is present in this sketch:

 

Positives:

• The use of dark shadows helps to define where the skin crumples and bends in  the joints of the hand and also hangs and stretches around the tendons and bones.
• Interesting perspective and it allows you to see the foreshortening of the fingers under the hand and how they rest.
• The white and black chalk shading gives the hand tone allowing you to see where the natural light hits on the hand and the shadows cast on finger joints, knuckles and folds of the hand.
• Long, hard, black lines define the shape and form of the hand well.

Negatives:

• The first finger length seem slightly off from the perspective it is at.
•  More colour tonal values is needed to emphasise the skin on the hand and where it bends and stretches.
• Subtle detail on the skin in terms of tone changes on the knuckles and wrinkles on the joints.



 



30 minute sketch, Soft Chalk Pastels

 

This is another sketch focused on the tone and colour in the human skin,  focusing on the skin tone and how it varies throughout the body and also how natural light effects the colour of the skin is important. The theory that can bee seen in this sketch is as follows:

 

Positives:

• A variety of subtle colour values and shades has helped to create a good amount of realistic skin tone and also shows how it changes throughout the body.
• The use of darker more saturated skin colour and lighter more desaturated skin colour shows how the natural lights hits the body.
• Dark opposing colours help to create the darker creases of the body as seen in the arm pits and under the breasts.
• Soft smudged chalk lines help to create the sense of soft flowing curves on the body.

Negatives:

• The limbs could use more detail and shape to emphasise the hands and feet instead of being sausage limbs.
• The pose and posture could be more emphasised to show weight and how the models rests of the cloth.
• A backdrop is needed to ground the sketch and to add a source from where the light is coming from and how it hits the model.
   

Week 9 - Life Drawing - Gravity and Drapery on the Human Form

 

10 minute sketch, Charcoal

 

In these life drawing sketches the main focus was drawing drapery on the human form and how gravity causes material to hang and cling to the body giving it weight. This sketch shows the following theory:

 

Positives:

•  Good use of planing lines for the shoulders, spine and hips has helped to map out the   positioning of the body, how they angle and  twist, it has also helped to map the correct proportions of the body and limbs.
• The use of crinkled lines and shading helps to create a impression of creases and wrinkles where the fabric bends by the legs and hangs off the shoulders.
• Good amount of pose and posture giving the impression of resting on the table.

Negatives:

• Lacking in detail in the limbs like the hands, feet and face where they need more shape and picking out detail in the finger, toes and facial features. 
• More emphasise on how the cloth drapes off the body and how it bends at joints would improve the sketch.
• Shading and tonal value is needed to show of where light is hitting the fabric and highlights would help give an indication of what it is made of. 
   

5 minute sketch, Charcoal

 



 This sketch was a quick 5 minute study of how drapery interacts with the human form, this sketch is to show how fabric is affected by gravity and how it hangs off of the body. The theory shown in the sketch is as follows: 

 

Positives:

•  Nice, curved and flowing lings which help to show of how the fabric drapes of of the shoulders, down the back and off of the fore-arms and elbows.
• Good posture and pose seen in the model as the arms cross to grasp the coat stand and how the body is positioned standing back straightened.
•  Nice amount of proportion in terms of the size of the cloth and the limbs, head and torso.

Negatives:

• Needs more tonal values to show the type of material the cloth is made of and also where light hits the it and where the shadows are cast.
• More detail is needed in the hands to show how the model grasps the coat stand with her fingers and detail in the face to show express.
•  Background shading is needed to plant both the stand and the model on to the floor and where the light is coming from.



Week 8 - Life Drawing - Basic Anatomy

10 minute sketch, Charcoal

 





These set of sketch are the start of life drawing they are a focus on getting the basic anatomy correct, an understanding of the anatomy of the human body is important in these drawings. Measuring is an important factor to getting the anatomy right. This theory is visible in this sketch and is as follows:

 

Positives:

• The proportions of the body are good and the arms and legs are well proportioned to the rest of the body and the body follows the rule of about six heads long.
• There is nice posture and pose to this sketch and it is clear to see how weight is applied to the fist and arm of the right arm and how the left arm rests on both the legs.
• Fair bit of tonal value on the skin giving it a sense of light and shadow as well as skin tone.

Negatives:

• The limbs are still not detailed enough and need to be made less sausage shaped and more shaped to show off the anatomy.
• The sketch looks flat and needs more shading and better perspective to make it look three dimensional.
• The overall use of the medium is messy and needs to be cleaned up and the lines should be more curved and smoother instead of being scrubby.
•  More background information is needed to ground the sketch and offer more scenery. 
• More shading and specular highlights on the skin would give life to the skin and also give light and shade.

 



5 minute sketch, Charcoal

 

This is a quicker sketch still focused on the basic anatomy of the human body, it offers the same as the other sketch but with slight improvement. The theory applied in this sketch is as follows:

 

Positives:

• The proportions of the body, arms and legs are good and are in the correct proportion to the to head.
• Nice shape to the back, chest, bum and legs showing better anatomy and better understanding of the models figure.
• Good amount of posture and pose see in this sketch seen by how the arms cross and how the feet are positioned differently and also how the spin twists. 

Negatives:

• Still not enough detail to the hands, feet and the rest of the body, more detail is needed to show how the limbs interact with the restof the body and how the muscles are working.
• More toanl values is needed to show how light is casted upon the body and where the shadows are being cast upon the body.
• The use of the medium is still messy and scrubby and the use of clean fowing lines would help to show anatomy in the body.
• More background information is needed to ground the sketch and offer some enviromental effects on the body.

Week 7 - Still Life - Detail in Natural Form

30 minute sketch, Graphite Stick

In this sketch the main focus was the detail seen in natural form and the recreation of different detailed materials as you can see in this still life set up. The following theory is visible in this sketch: 

 

Positives:

• Lots of tonal value seen in this sketch which creates a good sense of where the light hits the still life set up and where the shadows are cast upon the different materials and fabrics creating texture.
• A range of different mark making techniques used on the scarf to create a wool texture, the bed sheet as it folds over itself and creates shadow and also the wool hat and cushion with strong indentations.
• There is a nice pleasing composition as the objects are arranged in a way which shows how each object interacts with each other, it shows how they overlap and hang over each other also the shadows they cast on each other.
• The strong, crisp, dark lines and the mixture of dark and light shadows helps to lead the eye around this sketch to all areas focusing on the detail.

Negatives:

• The perspective of the still life set up seems a bit simple as its face on and it could have been either higher up looking down or down looking up to create a more interesting perspective.
• The sketch could use more background information to ground the arrangement to the floor instead of floating.
• More subtly and contrast in the shading and highlights would have emphasised the difference in textures seen in this sketch.

Week 6 - Still Life - Detail in Man-Made Forms

50 minute sketch, Graphic Markers

 

The sketch was drawn at the Industrial Museum in Bradford this was a focus of the detail seen in man-made objects, this sketch shows the following theory:

 

Positives:

• This sketch offer some nice implied lines that can be seen from the corner of the bonnet and stretching down under the rear windows towards the back and from top of the front light stretching above the wheel aches and to the back.
• Offers some nice detail and mark making techniques seen in the front hood grill,bumper, lights and wheels which shows good use of the material.
• Nice areas of interest seen at the front of the car because of its increased detail different tonal values.
• Good amount of foreshortening of the rear of the car it appears to stretch into the distance and look further away.

Negatives:

• Perspective is slightly off as the rear of the car seems to bend at the back instead of being straight.
•  Some confusing lines at the rear which needs to be cleaned up and straightened to create a solid perspective.
• Needs more specular highlights to create more glossy metallic looking texture.  
      

30 minute sketch, Graphic Markers

 

This sketch was drawn at home and was a focus of the detail seen in man-made objects this sketch was drawn from a high vantage point looking down, this sketch shows the following theory:

 

Positives:

• The sketch offers some nice foreshortening that can be seen in the box the machine sits on and also body of the sowing machine as it stretches  away creating a sense of distance.
• The use of different mark making techniques give the sketch some nice tonal value and texture to both wooden box and the rusted sowing machine.
• Good amount of detail can be seen in areas like the wheel at the back, the  panels on the box and in the body of the machine.
• Use of contour lines give the sowing machine better perspective, shape and definition to the body and leads the eye to points of interest.

Negatives:

• The perspective seems too high and is slightly off the sowing machine needs to be shown from a lower angle instead of looking down upon it.
• The ellipse of the wheel to the rear of the sowing machine is slightly off which makes the angle of the wheel look odd.
• This sketch needs to be grounded and shown to be resting on a table or surface instead of floating in the air.

Week 5 - Landscape - Skyscapes, Weather and Colour

50 minutes, Soft Chalk Pastels

 

This sketch was focus on skyscapes and more importantly capturing the emotion, colour and weather in the drawing, a number of landscape theories are shown and are as follows:

 

Positives:

• The sky offers a good impressionistic style with good use of tonal and colour values seen in the darker contrasting clouds and sky.
• Interpretive use of colour gives both the sky and city scape texture and tone, adding to the overall style of the sketch.
• Lowered horizon line creates a stretching sky scape which give this sketch a interesting perspective.
•  Non literal interpretation of information allows handling of complex information in this sketch.

Negatives:

• The plain compistion could be more interesting if taken from a different angle.
•  This sketch could be made more interesting with clearer layers of detail to create a sense of stretching cityscape.
• A more literal use of colour woul give this sketch a more realistic interpritation of the colour of the sky and buildings.

Week 4 - Landscape - Impressionist Speed-Sketching of High Detail images

5 minute sketch, Graphite stick

 

This sketch was on on top of the Chesham building roof, this was done as a quick perspective sketch to practise conveying lots of detail in a impressionistic way. This sketch shows the following:

 

Positives:

• The perspective is interesting because the horizon line and the placement of the buildings lead the eye down through the buildings and focus on the darker silhouette in the distance.
• It has a very impressionistic style and has a wide amount of quick mark making techniques to create an impression of detail in the buildings and in the sky.
• The wide arrays of tonal value give the sketch more dynamism and help to distinguish between layers of detail from the buildings and horizon line and also light and tones of grey in the sky.

 

Negatives:

• Lack of detail in the landscape in need of more impressionistic marks to create the sense of more buildings and city scape.
• Greater implied lines would help to draw the eye easier around this sketch and also direct the eye to the tower in the distance as a focal point.

 

30 minute sketch, Charcoal

 

This sketch was done from a window on the top floor of the Chesham building, this is a much longer and complete impressionistic landscape sketch. I used charcoal in a number of different ways to create this sketch. This sketch shows the following:

 

Positives:

•  A combination of quick, hard, bold lines and soft shading and smudging helps to create a very impressionistic sketch with lots of tonal values and implied detail.
•  High placed horizon line creates the sense of cityscape stretching into the distance and creating an interesting perspective.
•  The change in tonal values from lighter at the foreground and darker in the background, and also the focal point of the dark chimneys leads the eye through the sketch and to the horizon.
• Layers of detail can be seen in the foreground with larger, lighter lines, midground darker closer lines and background sketchy impression lines.

Negatives:

• Perspective of some buildings are off and lines need to be straightened and corrected.
• A different impressionistic style for the sky would be more effctive in bringing out the tonal values and shape of cloud.
• A use of neater more controled lines would be more effective.

Week 3 - Landscape - Tonal value and Mixing Media

30 minute sketch, Graphic Marker

 

This is a sketch of the Atrium on Bradford University campus this was a study of perspective and finesse with one type of media, in this case graphic markers, the drawing shows the following:

Positives:

• The perspective is good and you can see how it has been planned to show the different perspectives and angles offered from the atrium roof and the buildings that interact with it.
• Different tonal values help to pick out where the light hits the buildings and where the shadows are being cast. It also adds surface detail with the lighter parts acting as reflections from the sun.
• Points of interest are determined by the darkness of shadow and also the increase in surface detail, this helps the eye to move more pleasingly around the sketch.
• Follows good rule of thirds with equal amounts of detail conveyed throughout to keep interest.

Negatives:

• The orthogonal lines stretch far off the page and the drawing could a further back perspective to draw the orthogonal lines closer together.
• The composition could be made more interesting by including more in the frame.
• Conveying stronger layers from foreground, background and mid ground would make the composition more interesting.

Week 2 - Landscape - Architectural Rendering in Different Media

10 minute sketch, Graphic Marker

 

This is a quick drawing I did from a church in Leeds, this sketch acted as a quick perspective drawing in which I developed later it shows the following:

 

Positives:

•  Offers some good composition as the eye is drawn down the corridor by the shading and detail seen in the door way which adds as a focal point in this drawing.
• There is a good amount of layers in this drawing with the column and barrier in the foreground, stairs and box in the mid ground area and the doors acts as background.
• Varied areas by the use of tonal values and amount of detail, more detail at the front foreground and less detail and more impressions in the background.

Negatives:

• The perspective is simple and could be more challenging in terms of it only being a single point perspective.
• I find better finesse with this material would have made this drawing look better and more accurate.
• I think more impressionistic marks would have been better.



50 minute sketch, Graphic Marker

This is a detailed drawing of the outside of a church in Leeds this acted as a way to experiment with graphic markers and show off some finesse with this medium, it shows the following:

Positives:

• High levels of detail help to pick out strong appealing features in this drawing like the windows of the church and the door.
• The variety of tonal values give a very good sense of the light and darkness, the light also adds dynamism to this composition and gives it a more 3D effect.
• The layers can be clearly seen and picked out from the car in the foreground, wall in the mid ground and the church in the background.
• Displays a good vantage point.

Negitives:

• The perspective is a bit simple and could be more challenging by having more than one point perspective.
• More varied marks would have made this drawing more interesting.

Week 1 - Introduction to Advanced Observational Drawing

                                                           40 minute sketch , Graphite

This is a sketch of a still life set up created at home, it acts as a refresher to the module and displays the following:

Positives:

• The strong contour lines and texturing of the cloth help to give it weight and form, as it appears to hang over the chair and droop down at the sides.
• The amount of shading seen on the cloth and chair gives this sketch a lot of depth which helps to create a sense of a third dimension.
• Different tonal values give the effect of light and shadow, this also helps to pick out the dark shadows on the cloth and where the light hits both the cloth and chair.

Negatives:

• The composition of the chair seems to be off as one of the legs seems to be misplaced and doesn't give an accurate portrayal of its true structure.
• The shading doesn't give the sense of luminosityof the lamp that was actually seen in the set up.
• I find the focal point of this sketch is muddled and that the eye moves around.