Assignment 5 - Part 7

My daughter preferred the earlier attempts with lots of lines.

and suggested a line of smaller skaters.

These guys on a background of ultramarine and permanent rose wash (the line of the barrier was blocked off with masking tape) I wanted to keep the freshness of unplanned drawing but I'm not happy with the layout of the figures. I added movement lines in plumb coloured ink which I'd like to remove - too late now - so I added a wash of permanent rose to hope you wouldn't notice....
Maybe better cropped?

This second version had too much background paint and again the figures aren't coherent.

I added someone detail and used a rubber to create some highlights

When cropped you get this

Or with a really close crop, this

Assignment 5 - Part 6

More experiments with felt tips. This is has turned into the entry into a spin though it started with drawing random marks.

I made a larger drawing on A3 which I quite liked, but it's a bit static. The paper goes further over to the right (with nothing on it) but I couldn't fit it in my scanner and this gives you a much better view of the drawing than a photo.

Ice rinks aren't beautiful places but one of my challenges which I have yet to face was to think more about the background. I was inspired by Laura Ferguson's prepared backgrounds to get my watercolours out.

I tried splodging ultramarine paint (for the coolness of the ice rink) and permanent rose for warmth and contrast. I also splattered a large sheet of paper and tilted it to get colour runs and lines.

This looks like the arms and body of a skater so I aborted my small figures and did a test drawing in my sketchbook.

 I wasn't initially sure which way her head should be hence the extra lines.

It doesn't show movement and I couldn't fit the legs in. My tutor has previously commented that I should leave more to the viewers imagination. I may have already done too many lines so I'm stopping here. Is that copping out?

Assignment 5 - Part 5

More experiments with felt tip pens.

 Although I admire the work of comic artists I fear there may be a danger here that the images are becoming too "cartoony"

This picture is a bit disappointing, I'm starting to repeat the poses. Its on an A2 sheet because one of the criticisms from my tutor was that my drawings are placed on the middle of the page with nowhere to go.

Assignment 5 - Part 4

To try and build on the energy created by hunting for the right line I did some drawings with a dip pen and coloured ink. I intended to start with a light colour and add a darker colour once I'd sorted out where I wanted the line to be but I got carried away with trying to capture the right pose.

My daughter thought that the small blue figures were my most successful. Dip pens tend to blob occasionally and the ink bled through the cheap paper.....

 As I went on the figures became more static. I was trying to catch a point where the figure is unbalanced to see if this gave more of a feeling of movement.

 This picture is on an A3 sheet. I found it difficult to maintain the energy at this size but I did manage to use more than one colour. I like this paper but it gives off artefact's in my scanner.

 With this picture (also A3 size) I used felt tip pens to add more colour and tone.

and then tried just felt tip, using water to manipulate the extra lines.

Assignment 5 - Part 3

One of the limitations of my drawing practice is that I am too dependent on copying the scene I see in front of me. That's fine if I'm drawing something that stays put, but if I want to capture a fleeting moment I need to use my memory more and that means I need to use my imagination a bit to fill in the bits I either can't remember or couldn't see. With this in mind I changed tack on my moving skaters and tried conjure them out of my memory/imagination in my sketch book.

 I started by doodling with a blue fibre tipped pen

 Then changed to black biro.

 Then pencil and felt tip

 and ended up using a fine liner.

 I think that this sheet contains some of my more successful efforts. The process of hunting for the right line adds energy.

Formula Student - Drawings on location

I feel that I've drawn myself into a corner with the skaters and I'm not quite sure where to go next. I took my sketchbook to Formula Student at Silverstone to follow on with the theme of drawing action from life.

 There were lots of people ranging around working on the cars

 Or just chatting. I added colour to this when I got home - I was attracted to the lady in the coloured shawl who stood out like a peacock in amongst the student crews who were predominantly dressed in black.

There were a lot of people sitting around waiting for their cars  Above is a small sketch of a group where I experimented with a semi continuous line.

Spectators with colour added at home. Not much movement here.

Drawings done at home from reference photos taken on my phone. Again not much movement.

Although I enjoyed drawing and trying to capture the event on the whole I've not managed to place my figures within their environment. Apart from the last drawings I don't think that there is much sense of narrative here either.

Continuing my research I found that Lucas Museum in Chicago is dedicated to narrative art.