Observational
Drawing & Mark-Making Project Evaluation
During this project, I have learnt of
different and interesting techniques, each giving the end project a different
and unique look. Examples of these techniques; cross hatching, dotting and
creating an image without removing the pen/pencil from the paper. (The last,
being the technique that I found the most difficult due to attempting to make
sure the end product resembled the original object closely enough was not something
that I found to be easy.)
However, I did enjoy using cross hatching
and even developed my own almost abstract method of crosshatching.
I also found that this method of
mark-making makes good results. If done well, the individual lines are hard to
make out and it makes it easier to control the gradient of the shading that I
use, giving my pieces the end look that I want.
Whilst learning how to execute these
methods correctly and effectively, I took inspiration from other artists I
found online, although mostly amateur I was able to get an idea of where to use
cross hatching to shade on certain objects from cups to faces, and where to end
the cross hatching (where the shadow fades to light on said object.) I also
used the help I gained from online examples in my homework piece:
I find that my 4 studies using brusho inks,
colour pencil, white acrylic and parcel and newspaper have been an effective
practice.
I’ve never had the chance to use brusho
inks before, so these pieces of work were necessary in my progress in creating
art on different surfaces, using different tools/ styles. However, in my
opinion I think that my piece drawn onto newspaper and parcel paper was my favorite
because it was so different to the other 3, texture and quality wise. Each
surface of the materials used were unique, making the pencil strokes and
colours used stand out more vibrantly against each material on the piece.
When I finished my sgraffito ‘scratch’
drawing, I found that the most effective part of the method followed to create
it was the oil pastel background underneath the black paint. Without the
vibrant mix of coloured patterns showing through the contrasting black paint,
there would be something obviously lacking. The colour adds a unique quality to
each piece, meaning that even if two people scratched the same design into the
paint, both pictures would be different to each other, depending on the choice
of colours and patterns.
I feel that I could have produced better
quality homework studies, now that I can manage my time better and have had practice
familiarizing myself with the different methods of mark-making. I know that if
I were to have the opportunity to re create the pieces, they would be of a
better quality and with a more professional feel, as it would be more evident
that I have had more time to practice the techniques required to successfully
create these images.
As I have become more familiar with how to
execute these methods, I do feel that I have improved in my observational drawing
skills, especially compared to when I created my first piece at college. Using
cross hatching and dotting was barely familiar to me, as I knew what these
techniques were, I just had not frequently used them in any of my previous
work, making me unsure of how much confidence I had in using these methods to
create a piece of art.
Time wise, as mentioned before, I feel that
since the beginning of the project I have improved in managing my time. During
earlier pieces of work, I rushed to finish them during class time because if I
had to complete them at home, I was not confident that I would be able to
produce work at the standard that I wanted without some form of help from a
teacher, or know what to do/ how to correct and error without having to
completely re start. Whereas now, I am far more confident in myself and happy
to complete any incomplete assignments at home by myself.
I would not say that I have produced the
best drawing and mark- making outcomes possible during the time frame because I
can always see room for improvement within my own work. What I created last
week could easily be upstaged by what I can create this week due to what I
learn throughout the college week and multiple workshop/ regular fine art
classes.
The one mark-making technique that I would
like to explore is the method of creating a piece without the pen/pencil
leaving the paper because I think that it is the most unique technique of the
ones I have learnt an also because I find myself struggling to use this method
easily. I would prefer to push myself my using this method more frequently in
order to make it easier for myself to use in the future as well as to say/ be
confident that I could, if asked, create more pieces using this method with
less difficulty.
My overall thoughts on this project would
be that I have enjoyed it, I particularly liked my lessons in the fine art
workshop, re creating artists’ works in their own style; e.g. using thick brush
strokes like Monet.
It was refreshing to be able to change
around our usual style of painting from using the paint brush like a pencil and
finely and carefully filling each detail in, to being able to use larger
brushes, creating messier lines, using abstract colours and mixing them
together whilst still wet on the paper, also creating works straight from paint
without starting off with a pencil outline to work from, which although
challenging was fun and surprisingly easy.
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