seeing not looking | an exercise in observation and restraint
All too often, I draw and don’t pay enough attention to what it is I’m actually drawing. I look, but don’t properly ’see’ what I should be. So, true to form, a good kick up the bum and a stern talking to myself pull me back to sit down with a blank sheet of paper and reference images. No grids, no measuring, no agenda. Just freehand observation. Seeing an eye, not as an eye, but as a series of contours, shapes and tones. Seeing the mouth in shadow and light making a form. Trying to almost remove myself at times from thinking about the whole and concentrating on its sum parts. It’s a tricky switch in the brain to flip to not see that whole and to not make assumptions as to the next mark on the paper; you have to be disciplined as you work. It’s something I’m often bad at doing and, therefore, it’s something I need to keep working at.
Restraint came in the form of starting out with an HB pencil and spending considerable time with just this tool. On many occassions, I’m to eager to start whacking down darker tones with softer grade pencils and end up pushing areas too far. So I restricted myself to just two pencils at complete extremes: the HB and and a 9B.
So, this is the result so far. I’m fairly pleased with it, and it may form a study for something else. Or maybe it’ll just stay as it is.
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impressive, like the look you have captured on her face.
Its lovely, you sound pretty hard on yourself, perhaps it’s not a bad idea when teaching oneself skills (maybe i’ll try that lol). You have a great style. Well done :)
Love it. It has real depth and emotion, which maybe comes from not thinking about the technical stuff so much? Well done. I love seeing how much your work has progressed.
very well done
This is an amazing piece on so many levels! It displays the action thoroughly, it sets a mood and the draftsmenship is lovely. Wonderful and thoughtful illustration. Great job!
Shona, I haven’t commented on your blog for a while but that’s not to say I haven’t been looking.
From a personal view it’s been really interesting to see how you’ve developed over the last few months. Although you are a bit hard on yourself actually this has to be one of your more confident pieces. What is exciting about it is not only your draftmanship but that you’ve also brought some of yourself into the piece as well.
It is wonderful and you should be proud at what you have accomplished. You ARE a great artist :)
Thank you all :) I appreciate the kind words!
It’s also always lovely to have a couple of real-world friends give me such encouraging feedback. Helen and Candice, you are two ladies who I need to catch up with very soon :)