Our final skill set was drawing. Same as before, we would have a short six-week course hoping to improve on our drawing skills. Drawing isn’t one of my strengths so I was hoping the sessions would help improve this. Our first session was blind contour drawing. We would be using charcoal as our chosen material. I had never heard of this previously, so I was looking forward to trying something new which could possibly go towards my current ideas for my final poster. This was a tough exercise as it required to focus on your object the whole time and we weren’t allowed to look our boards. I thought I would get the technique right eventually as we swap people every few minutes, but it got harder as I lost my positioning a few times. My final results, look poor, but I enjoy the session. Blind contour drawing in my view should be practiced multiple times to really get the hang of the technique required. Even though my final drawings were poor in terms of quality, I enjoy experiencing a new version of drawing, something I haven’t experienced before. The first session was enjoyable and I could see the benefits of the drawing sessions.
A selection of my Blind Contour drawings.
In the next session our task was to create a ‘storyscape’. Before the task, we was shown a presentation which showed us a collection of drawings which showed us another side of drawing which I haven’t seen before. I had known of charcoal drawing, but not with this detail and quality. As the slide show had some amazing drawings, I wanted to give myself a challenge by trying to replicate some of the drawings that were shown. I knew I wouldn’t be able to match the drawings in terms of detail and quality but if I could produce similar drawings, it could possibly give me more ideas for my final poster. The task was all about perspective, horizon lines, tone and composition, which all featured heavily in the presentation.
I started off slowly, gradually added detail to my drawing. I used the inspiration from the presentation images to create my image. It slowly took shape, the theme for my drawing was a lonely house in the middle of nowhere surrounded by dark shadow clouds. After adding more detail to the shadows I tried adding some depth to my work which didn’t work out. Eventually I had lost my lines and composition as I focused too much on the detail. It was a good learning experience as I learned how to take my time in drawing and by not rushing I could achieve a lot. The lesson was a successful one, but it finished a lot earlier than I thought the original duration was meant to be. I was happy with the process I made within the drawing sessions.
Storyscape Drawings
Josh Finche 