Continued today with Day 3 of Week 6 of The Art & Science of Drawing. This was more on the same theme as yesterday, but with more accent on adding the inner contours and showing the inner form.

Reality is infinitely complex and it is impossible to capture all the details in a subject.

–Brent Eviston

  • we must decide what to include and what to ignore from a subject
  • because we draw on a flat surface, we usually try to pick the details that communicate volume
  • use overlaps to show which part is in front and which is behind
  • the dog and dog walker metaphor:
    • the dog walker has a straight path
    • the dog zig-zags in all directions, but doesn’t stray from it’s walker
    • when drawing, on the initial pass, when laying the foundation (structure) of your drawing, you want to be the dog walker and have a simple and correct foundation
    • on the second path, you want to be the dog and add all the details you can muster, without straying from the structural foundation layed down in the initial phase

Contour demo summary

  • laying the structural foundation

    • this foundation is not intended for the user, but to help you draw the final details with confidence
    • start by simplifying the subject and represent it with some simple forms and shapes
    • use the block-in technique to draw straight lines and connect the simple forms
    • use ellipses to represent inner form

  • adding detail

    • vary line quality
    • you can use a technique similar with the blind drawing one:
      • move your eyes back and forth between the subject and the drawing
      • take every opportunity to dive inside the form and produce overlaps to help create volume
      • you can use darker lines for the overlaps, to add them extra emphasize
        • a darker line draws viewer’s attention and lets him know something important happens there
    • the calligraphic line:
      • going from hard and dark to soft and light
      • very hard and dark on the edge, where it starts diving inside, on the overlap itself
      • light and soft on the inside

  • work from general to specific:

    • start with the outside contour
    • continue with overlaps and dive to inner contours
    • finish with texture and smaller details

The assignment

  • select 3 subjects
  • for each, block-in a light foundation before drawing the details of the inner and outer contours

Potato
Potato
Onion
Onion
Cauliflower
Cauliflower
The assignment
The assignment