Projects with a Drawing Pencil--part 1

DOODLES - FIRST THOUGHTS / IDEAS

DOODLES

Doodles should not be thought of as drawings without meaning or drawings that have no importance or significance. In fact, they do, as many artists find other peoples' doodles fascinating. It's an important way of showing the unconscious process of creativity. Doodles are usually created with pen or pencil. They are usually a secondary part of our thinking process. For example most of us doodle when we are in meetings - it helps us to escape the boredom of the moment - and doodling allows us to descend into our own private world. We also doodle when we are on the telephone when we tend to use the phone pad as a sketchbook, we believe there is a wealth of ideas that come from doodles so treat them as research.

FIRST THOUGHTS FROM OBSERVATION

Just like doodles first thoughts from observations are our initial visual response to what stimulates our thinking processes.

Most artists always carry a sketch book with them. It allows us to record moments that include landscapes, portraits, textures, architecture, nature, light, atmosphere, and so on. This is all visual research that is stimulation and a continuous resource for our ideas. Sketchbooks of artists are fascinating to look at, as in the sketch book notice the origin of ideas, and responses, that the artist is engaged with.

One only needs to look at the sketchbooks of the artist Turner to realize what a wealth of information they hold.

FIRST THOUGHTS AND IDEAS

Many ideas start with a visual brainstorming.

The artist or designer plays with the potential of their ideas in their sketchbooks.

They make thousands of rough sketches continually changing and rethinking their ideas. Stretching the thinking and the dynamics of their designs to the limit.

Designers work first with open minds, which allows for client comment. Before honing in on a final statement, all this starts with visual thoughts translated through sketches. All those ideas, even the redundant ones are left stored in the sketchbooks for later use. It's all visual information and that's what's important and exciting.

Doodles and first thoughts

COMPOSITION: THE BASIC ELEMENTS

Shape can have a very intuitive influence.

Only as we become more experienced do we become formally aware of how to construct a composition. Intuitively, the beginner will invariably place the mass of the subject (still life, portrait, whatever) in the middle of the picture plane. In 90 cases out of 100 this placement is a mistake, creating too much of a focal point and not allowing the eye to be taken on a journey across, and into, the rest of the picture plane. The composition is in effect becalmed, stale and therefore visually uninteresting to the viewer. What we intend to do with shape in these projects is to give you basic experience in using hard pencils to create shapes that, when drawn on a picture surface in relation to each other, will create a good composition.

Sometimes this movement across and through the plane happens intuitively, but more often than not it’s confirmed when you see an artist working and they step back from the picture and gesture towards their piece of work with arm outstretched, head tilted sideways and hand or thumb looking as though they are engaging with the picture in some way. This is when the artist is trying to contrive the composition.

Rhythm is very obvious in other forms of art, such as music, dance and writing. It’s a sort of beat holding the work together. In a drawing or painting we can create a sense of rhythm that enables us to work harmoniously from one point in the composition to another. Rhythm can be evident in the use of tone, colour, mark and scale, but here we deal with it as it presents itself in shape.

ORDER AND BALANCE

In any given picture there are a series of tensions that must play off and counter each other so what we finish up with is a pictorial synthesis or a pictorial order. This is what is meant by a composition having a semblance of order and balance. If you look at most classical works of art, particularly landscapes by Poussin or Claude, you will see this quality in abundance.

MOVEMENT

The importance of movement through the picture plane cannot be over-emphasized.

Shape and other pictorial elements help us to create movement. The artist can engage the eye of the viewer so that it moves across the picture plane, stop the eye at a certain point and then move it back into space, bring the eye forward again, and at the same time across the picture space, and then take the eye right out of the picture to the end of its journey. Most viewers are unaware of this visual encounter, which tends to occur within a few seconds of looking at a picture.

There are, of course, many ways other than the use of movement by which artists can - either consciously or subconsciously - enable us to read and understand their work.

As well as creating these ordered harmonies and movements through and across the picture plane, the opposite effect can be created, especially if we want to achieve an expressive effect.

As beginners we tend to draw objects in isolation and in a void, so they look as though they are floating in space. For an object to have an identity, and speak to us as viewers, it must have a context. The artist does this by drawing the space around objects rather than by trying to capture the shapes of individual objects in isolation.

This very simple composition is made out of a shape that repeats itself, and yet it’s imbued with a sense of time. We can see there is order and balance and that our eye is allowed to move freely through and across the composition. There is no ambiguity interrupting the flow. Movement is created by the illusion of the overlapping shapes moving across, down and back into the picture plane and our sense of the decreasing scale of the shape (perspective). The way the shapes fall injects a feeling of rhythm suggestive of the ticking of the second hand of a clock.

EXERCISES WITH HARD PENCILS

In this section, we are going to introduce you to a series of projects and exercises that will give you a practical introduction to using the range of hard pencils. As we have previously said, the hard pencil makes a fine precise line. What we shall show you is how that line can be employed to demonstrate your ideas, expressions and observations.

First, we must complete a series of exercises to see and experience what we can achieve with the material. In many ways these exercises are like the warm up routines that sportsmen and women go through before they take part in an actual event - by loosening us up they enable us to focus on the work in hand.

The next stage involves experimenting with the concept of shape, space and composition over the picture plane. This will further our understanding of how to build a composition: the type of elements a composition can contain ( For example, harmony, balance, rhythm and movement), how these elements alter the eye's ability to travel over and into the surface of the picture, and how we read the picture in a more representative way. Finally, we explain the nature of diagrammatic and perspective drawings both from theoretical and observational approaches. We will show you how to develop these methods for use in your particular approach to drawing and to expand upon them whenever you feel it’s appropriate.

Medium: 6H, 5H and 4H

As you will see, the types of marks or lines produced with these pencils are quite similar and lie within a close range. The fineness and hardness of the line suits precision drawing, such as architect's plans For example. W e personally would not use them to build up tone, because the contrast you can produce with them is limited.

However, this is a personal opinion. There are no hard and fast rules in art, and if it suits your purposes to work tonally with pencils in this range, then by all means do so.

Medium: 3H, 2H, H and HB

When you start experimenting you will notice that the marks are more intense tonally than was achievable with the previous set of pencils. You can still make very precise lines, but at the same time clearly develop the weight of the mark, and bring more expression and life to what you are doing. These are ideal implements for putting down your first thoughts and making subconscious 'doodles'.

SHAPES AND FORM

In this next section we are going to look at shape and turning shape into form.

The definition of shape is that it has perimeter and lies flat upon the picture plane unless we relate it to other shapes which can then imply space. It’s a very useful exercise to practice drawing shapes - squares, circles, triangles, rectangles and any type of organic shape. It’s also useful to practice turning shapes into illusions of form; For example, making a circle into a sphere, a triangle into a cone, an oblong into a cylinder. These exercises are essential for the beginner.

Medium: 6H, 5H, 4H, 3H, 2H, H and HB

Next we are going to draw shapes - shapes that will imply meaning in a non-representational way and will create tension on the surface of the paper. The shape contains the essence of any composition - a combination of harmony, balance, rhythm, movement and spatial implications. These are the basic components that hold a drawing together and the dynamics that a composition needs to express an idea. The interrelationships between them are key to the making of a successful drawing. In the sketches that follow we will be playing with these interrelationships.

The basic shapes you will encounter in most drawing compositions.

Circle. Ellipse. Square. Oblong. Triangle.

Spheres Cross-sectional analysis.

Square. Cube: parallel lines.

Form of oblong: parallel and perspective lines. Crosshatching. Triangle.

Pyramid shading using vertical lines.

PRACTISING SHAPE INTO FORM

Cone: diagonal line shading.

Now practice turning shapes into the illusion of form, so the circle becomes a sphere, the triangle a cone, and the oblong a cylinder.

We need to understand the properties of shape and form, and how artists use them to create a composition. Without a sense of form you won’t be able to produce a finished piece of work.

Line creates a shape.

Playing with composition:

Shape overlapping shape creates space.

Tone emphasizes space.

POSITIVE COMPOSITION

Shape as an underlying compositional device is extremely important. In this example, after Malevich, shape is used to bring a sense of order, balance, rhythm, harmony, movement and space to the picture plane. We see the bones of the composition that any great picture has as its structure. We can compare this drawing to Gericault's Raft of the Medusa.

Both have an underlying triangle that appears to pull the eye upwards to the top edge of the picture plane. This triangle is the base on which the rest of the picture hangs and the device that holds it together. All activity in the picture revolves around this basic structure and helps to move our eye through the picture plane from bottom to top, and back and forth.

As our eye moves upwards, we get a feeling of hope and lightness, while down at the bottom of the picture plane we are seized by a sense of falling and despair. Note also a sense of space that gives the illusion of movement through the picture plane. This is created by scale and weight of mark. The space is constructed by overlapping shapes to create distance.

This drawing, after Miro, gives us a completely different feeling from the Malevich. The composition is based on the organic flow of shapes. There is more fantasy, almost a dream like quality. The organic shapes and the sense of texture suggest that the picture is growing and expanding before our eyes.

Miro: Shape overlapping shape creates space.

Line creates organic shape.

Textured overlapping shapes creating space.

Shapes creating a transparent overlap.

COMPOSITION: NEGATIVE SHAPE

With the Malevich and Miro copies, we have been looking at examples of positive composition, drawing shapes of objects we have in mind and placing them to create an effect. A different way of understanding shape is to draw the space around the positive. This is called the negative space, and is a very effective way of creating relationships between objects in a drawing.

SUNFLOWERS AFTER VAN GOGH

When analyzing the drawing of sunflowers after Van Gogh we can see quite clearly how important the element of shape is to this piece of work. The negative shape, or the shape around the flowers in this composition is just as important as the flowers or the positive shape, and it’s integral in holding the composition together. The negative shape underpins the composition and helps the sense of harmony, balance, proportion, and rhythm that gives the picture its wholeness.

Through the negative space, the subject becomes locked into its context.

Here we have in these two drawings the first two layers of negative shape, which establish the subject in its environment or context.

Set up a still life of flowers on a table that is put against a wall. Then set up as if to draw, with your pencil, paper and an eraser. Now take a viewfinder or what we know as a window mount and frame the composition of the flowers. We’re going to copy the composition in the window mount and place it on our paper, by mapping the composition using the negative space.

HOW TO START

In the first example you will see that what we have drawn what appears to be a silhouette over the top of the flowers. Do this by starting at the paper's edge on the left hand side, as it’s important to make your first connection with your drawing at this point. Start to progress the line towards the center of the paper following what would be the line that would indicate the back edge of the table where it touches the wall. It’s now important to try to assess how far that line goes into the paper before it encounters the vase that holds the flowers. Do this by looking through your window mount again, remembering to look through it in exactly the same position every time. The window mount should be proportionally marked as showing halves quarters, and eighths as seen in the example on window mounts. One should mark ones drawing off in the same way, as we can use these as guides to indicate where objects are situated in the composition.

One can now begin to make an assessment as to how far that line travels into the picture by using these proportions. Let's say for this instance it’s about a quarter of the way in. We would then translate that observation from our window mount to our drawing allowing the line that we first started with to travel into the drawing a quarter of the way, where it would then engage with the vase. Now the line would start its journey around the vase being monitored for proportion in the same way, firstly observing and making your proportional calculations through the window mount and then transferring these observations to your drawing. Eventually the line will complete its journey to the other side of the paper, splitting the paper in two as notice in example 1.

In example 2 you will restart the drawing in exactly the same place over the top of your

first line. However, when it engages the vase this time the line will detour around the bottom edge of the vase, and it will progress following the outline of the vase until it reaches the other side of the paper. This part of the drawing should be easier to accomplish as the first part of the drawing will help you in your understanding of the second part of the drawing and so on. The drawing as in example 2 will now contain three sections to it rather like a simple jigsaw construction. The first being the top half of the silhouette, the second being the bottom part of the silhouette, and finally the overall shape of the objects that are contained in the composition i.e. the vase and the flowers.

The next stage in the drawing as shown in example 3 is when you begin to draw in the smaller or secondary areas of negative space.

These exist as small holes that appear through the objects that we are drawing. This part of the drawing completes the drawing of the negative space, and at this point we can now see how important this concept is as it holds the whole composition together in a spatial context. In other words the objects appear to be anchored in a real space, rather than floating in the picture plane In the final drawing we have now filled in the rest of the visual story by defining the objects

first, and then adding the tone and the texture (see tone and texture examples for further references). Now we have a complete work that pulls on a number of visual elements to make it work. There is also an example in the charcoal section that illustrates how a negative space drawing can be constructed.

An example of shape using tone after Morandi.

SHAPE INTO FORM

Shape can very easily be transformed into form by the use of shading. We can see in the drawing after Picasso (opposite, below) that regular shapes have been given the illusion of three dimensions by using various well known shading techniques. He has taken these shapes and turned them into representations of human forms. Not only has he given them form, he has given them a character, and a life. He has created the form by using different types of bracelet, crosshatch, and linear lines to build up tone.

All these processes are consistent in that they follow the planes of the form You will see from the examples that some systems of shading suit different types of forms.

Bracelet shading.

Sphere using crosshatch shading.

Diagonal line shading.

Below: After Picasso.

Here we see different shading techniques and how they can bring forms to life. Note that although different methods have been used, all follow the plane or surface of the form.

Form overlapping form, creating space; Tone emphasizing form

PLAYING WITH COMPOSITION: ORGANIC SHAPES

Medium: 2B pencil

In this example (after Joan Miro) the composition is based on a more organic flow of shapes. Part of its impact is created by the inference of textures. All the elements we found in the previous example are evident here, too, although in this instance the nature of the shapes implies other considerations. This drawing seems to have a life, and we have a sense that it’s still growing. There's a mood, an almost dream like quality.

Line creates organic shape.

Shape overlapping shape creates space.

Shapes creating a transparent overlap.

Textured overlapping shapes creating space.

STEP BY STEP DRAWING OF A HEAD

The illusion of volume is central to the success of the following portrait, which we built up in a series of six drawings. W e used a 2B pencil and cartridge paper, but almost any pencil would do, as would any type of paper. You might like to practice drawing ellipses, cylinders, eggs or ovoids before starting.

METHOD

1) Draw the shape of an egg/ovoid. Try to do this with a free, expansive movement, sensing the shape rather than using your eye to gauge it precisely. Repeat the shape several times, drawing over your original lines, as we have done here. Now draw an ellipse, as shown, to give the shape the appearance of form.

2) Create the basic form of the neck by adding a cylinder to the bottom of the egg form.

3) Draw in outline the back of the head.

Now extend the ellipse to meet these lines, giving the form of the skull. The lines of the ellipse are called cross-sectional analysis lines. They enable you to have a full visual understanding of the form and a sense of the back, front and sides of the head you are creating. These lines also provide the illusion of volume.

4) Now we begin to build the face.

Draw two parallel lines at a slight angle from the center plane of the forehead. This appears as a wedge protruding out of the front plane of 4.

the face, and is the basis of the nose. At the bottom of these two parallel lines, draw a line between them and which then extends back in space following the front plane or angle of the face. Now draw a line tilting back in space and following the side plane or angle of the head. Join up this triangle by drawing a straight line down the front of the face. From both corners of the front plane of the forehead draw two downward lines to just below the bottom of the original egg shape.

Make these two lines slightly narrower at the bottom to give a sense of form to the front of the face. Join these two lines at the bottom with a straight line that follows the angle of the front plane of the face and then follows the angle of the side of the head through to the back of the original egg. If you look at the drawing, you'll see that you are repeating the lines used to establish the nose, only on a bigger scale. We now have the underlying form of the chin and jawbone.

5) Add spheres to denote the eye sockets. One sphere lies in front of the nose, the other directly behind it. Now we have the underlying volume of the eyes.

6) In the preceding five stages we have built an overall sense of the volume that makes up the head. Once this is established it’s your base over which you can draw in the characteristics of the particular person who is sitting for you. It's important to allow this under-drawing to remain, because it will reinforce the illusion of form and guide your over-drawing.

Use the same method for other subjects been made up to represent the human

Crosshatching alone has been used to build up tone in this drawing. We get an illusion of volume from this because we sense only one light source is falling upon the figure.

A build up of crosshatching techniques.

Using crosshatching to build form.

CREATING ORGANIC FORM

MEDIUM: HB - 2B

Like the copy of the Picasso, the drawing based on a sculpture by Henry Moore, is directly related to the form of a figure. There the similarity ends. The Picasso copy has character and form, whereas the Moore is based on observations direct from a figure.

CREATING FORM USING TONE Medium: 3B

The tone used here relies on an observed directional light source, which is then exaggerated to create the effect. The shadow cast makes us believe the sphere has form.

Without it the drawing would look flat.

Medium: 4B

This cube has been constructed using three defined tonal variations - white, grey and black - to give the illusion of form. It’s a constructed illusion, of course, and has not come about as a result of observed tonal changes.

Medium: 5B

The lighting appears to be from the front in this example of constructed tonal form. The light cast at this angle is very intense, gradually fading to complete darkness towards the sides of the cone. Lighting was used by early Renaissance artists such as Giotto.

Medium: 6B

The cylinder is like the sphere in observation, tone and how light plays across the surface of the form. But the tone we have used to define the form is an expressive gestural tone. It has less form than the previous tonal gradation and is more emotive and responsive to the observation.