Positive, Negative, Plane, and Volume

Some warm up gesture drawings...

Charcoal contour drawing focusing on positive space

Negative space

Contour drawing of still life objects using graphite

Graphite still life objects with values

Conte crayon still life with values

Ambiguous, Flat, and Illusionistic Space

These first four are examples of ambiguous space.
The first is by Mark Slade.
The second is "Blue Black" by Susan Prior. Third is "The Image Disappears" by Salvador Dali. This one  took me a minute to see why this was ambiguous...but that is the point!
The last of the ambiguous space examples is Dali's "Galatea of the Spheres."

 The next four are examples of the use of flat space.
First is Picasso's"Don Quixote."
Second is an Egyptian tomb wall painting. In looking at Egyptian paintings, it seems that they were more interested in the symbolic rather than true to life representations. Apparently many tombs had painting that depicted agriculture because it symbolized the changing seasons, a process they felt was eternal.
Third is another by Picasso titled, "Seated Woman with Wrist Watch."
The last is by Rob Steel title unknown.

The next four pieces are examples of illusionistic space.
The first is called "Blue Camel" by David Cobb
Next is another Picasso titled "The Old Guitarist."
The third is Narcissus by Caravaggio.
The artist and title of the last example are not known.

Still-life Objects

These are my painted objects for upcoming still life assignments. I had the hardest time finding a cone and finally settled on the suggested party hat. All others but the sphere are various types of cardboard containers.

Gesture and Contour

For my gesture drawing I used my dog, guitar, and camera as subjects. I turned the music up and had a lot of fun with these.

I gave blind contour drawing a shot too (above), following the lines of my camera and coffee mug. I found the exercise a bit awkward but very interesting. I was really surprised that the drawings resembled anything at all when I was done.

 

Line contour, continuous and organizational

Unified Field Drawings

The first of these was done using different Conte crayons. I have never worked with these before and I really enjoyed how easily they glide over the surface of the paper. I experimented with pressure and found that light pressure produced neat, thin, and more controllable hatch lines while more pressure resulted in less control but dramatic dark lines. I used the greatest pressure on the rust which added a  nice bit of color.

The second drawing was not intended to resemble anything however it evolved into a fairly obvious form by th e end. I was standing infront of a vase of hydrangeas and started the drawing just using a quick motion inspired by the shape of the individual leaf petals. As I worked on this it seemed to make sense to include representations of what else I was seeing, a porch railing and a deck floor. While not really a unified field drawing, I am still including it here since the evolution of this was an interesting experience.

The third drawing was done with ink and then finished with water color to seperate the main components of the picture. I have only worked with ink one other time but enjoyed it very much. After I was done with the lines I splattered my brush over different areas and was pleased with the overall effect it had and how it tied everything together.

This last drawing was done with ink as well and was fun to create but I do not like the end result. I actually drew it with the page horizontal but thought it was more interesting when I turned it vertical.

Graphite drawings by Paul Lung

This is an example of artist Paul Lung’s work. I did a great deal of research trying to determine if his work was fake because I had a difficult time believing anyone could be so technically perfect. Here is a link to an L.A. Times article about Lung with more of his work: http://chronizt.info/animal-pencil-drawing-art-by-paul-lung.html I am still a bit skeptical about his methods but do believe his works are in fact hand drawn.

This graphite pencil drawing of an owl is a great example of photographic realism and could be categorized as completely objective if it were not for the fact that the artist has chosen to leave out any natural background detail. This added subjective element makes it appear as if the subject is in a studio and works to intensify the illusion that this drawing is a photograph. Aside from the artist’s choice of background, I think the drawing also falls into the informational drawing category because of the incredible precision, attention to detail, and information it conveys.

Self Portrait