Contrasting Sketches

For our assignment this past weekend we continued on our sketching but was assigned to create 2 contrasting sketches. I chose to do the Torgerson Bridge with really fine smooth lines drawn with a Sharpee. I believe this represented the strong academic tone of the overall picture. In comparison, for my other sketch I did a scene from the duck pond in a charcoal to represent a serene calm and airy feel. The roughness of the charcoal contrasted the smoothness of the Sharpee while the strong and sturdy connotation of the Torgerson Bridge contrasted the tranquil feel of the Duck Pond. I had some difficulty with the sketches, for one with the Sharpee the line was so final and strong I found myself faintly drawing the picture then going over it with a stronger mark. While with the charcoal I accidentaly kept smudging some of the lines I already drew with my hands. All in all I definitely expanded my usual pencil sketches.

focus of sketching/ perspective

During high school, I went through a lot of drawing classes. Most of them really focused on mastering value, drawing still life images, etc... and almost everything we did was entirely in graphite. More recently I've been focused on trying out new ways to draw and new media (hence the sharpie!). And I've also come to care less about the drawings being "perfect." I rarely erase when I'm sketching, and I'm less concerned with making neat, exact lines and more with capturing the essence of what I'm looking at and communicating angles and proportions. And speaking of proportions, I added this image of a 2 point perspective drawing because it's really evident how each vertical line connects to each vanishing point. I think in this drawing it's really easy to see how the technique creates depth.

Sketching - a matter of opinion

For one reason or another, I have never been the type of designer or artist who utilizes sketching to its fullest potential. But I guess that really depends on what you define as "sketching". I do quickly lay out my ideas with a paper and pencil, but I really don't use the traditional sketching style. I prefer smooth, single lines as apposed to the rough, layered look of traditional sketching. Some may argue that layering and the use of smaller lines allows us to depict a more precise version of what we want to portray, but I believe the same can be achieved with deliberate, single strokes.

Sketching

When I was in elementary school, I always enjoyed drawing pictures of other people's drawings - not tracing - but just to see if I could do it. It became a hobby and by the time I got to my freshman year of high school, I felt that I should take an art class to make me a more well-rounded artist. I did a lot of sketching but I felt that I had the most trouble with drawing facial features and detailing trees. I decided to go down another path and chose to take an advanced computer graphics class my senior year which turned out to involve more sketching than the art class and I feel like it became one of my strengths. I hope that I will be able to learn how to strengthen my sketching weakenesses this year.

Here is a link to a really cool website with a lot of tips for sketching. It has some tips on perspective drawings if anyone was looking for help in that area.

I'm having trouble coming up with ideas for the two sketches that contrast each other. Any tips or ideas would be appreciated.

Thanks.

http://drawsketch.about.com/

Sketching Tips

I came across this website with what I found to be some helpful sketching tips, especially for the outdoors drawings we have been doing.

Under the "What Shall I Sketch" section I liked the idea of using a view finder to choose your frame. In my art class in high school we used this technique for drawing a still life and I found it very useful. I always find it difficult to focus just on what you want to draw and the view finder can really help.

In the "Drawing Ideas" section, using reference points seems like a good way to make sure that the whole scene fits on your paper and you don't end up leaving parts out or having to squish your drawing. This page also talks about the technique we used in class of holding your paper up and drawing the image the same size on your paper.

I also found the "Tonal Values" part helpful as it emphasizes the importance of using different tones and a wide variation of contrasting tones to enhance your sketches.

Sketching

In class we have been doing a lot of sketching and I mean A LOT of sketching, but in my opinion its good. I love to get lost in my sketches, its like getting lost in a good book, you're entranced and time flies by, 2 hours seems like 20 minutes. Sketching is unique to everyone, although you might be drawing the same scene or picture everyone has a different view point on it, and there is no right or wrong to the final product, because its how you see it through your eyes, and no one can tell you that what you see is wrong. Sketching a scene and trying to get every detail I think is one of the hardest tasks, because nature moves every second so the shadow that was there 10 minutes ago has shifted slightly. Never the less sketching has no rules, it does have techniques though, ways to help you grasp the scene or picture better, but no specific "You cant draw that like that..." sketching is freeing and should be enjoyed not dreaded, because it is what you make it.