final drawing week

As well as encouraging us to continue drawing from our collections to inspire our technical block work, the drawing weeks have all had something else in common: they challenge conventional ideas about drawing in a fun, and sometimes simply silly way! A breath of fresh air between the intensity of the 2 week assessments, it seems almost a bit sad that this week was our last one. 

On the first day, our first exercise was to 'draw' someone else's shoe from newspaper. I actually really enjoyed modelling this. Thinking about the object in 3 dimensions to be able to recreate it was a good reminder that when you draw with pen and paper the concept is still the same- objects aren't (normally!) just FLAT, they have textures and surfaces and insides....

my paper version of Jess' shoe

Then, in an 'art-attack'-esque fashion (I used to LOVE that show when I was younger), we had to quickly create an image of an animal out of random items of clothing we had with us. It's a good challenge just working with whatever materials you have to hand. Although you are constrained by their physical properties, you are equally liberated, in that you can use them however you want to! This translates to materials for textiles work too. At some point soon I can't wait to get into the wood and metal workshops and create a textile piece that doesn't just involve fabric and thread!

Our lion!

Then we had to combine paper and clothing, using the garment as a landscape for some kind of scene. I turned this hat into a jacuzzi. Everybody made pretty wacky, imaginative things....

some very 'serious' work...!

my jacuzzi hat

John's drawing day was also based around boundaries intended to give freedom. We had to draw our partner next to us using only cube shapes, then circles. It was quite hard to draw them whilst they were simultaneously trying to draw you...let alone the fact that we were drawing by layering up shapes! I found it really enjoyable though, and like exercise from the day before, it pushed me to think more in terms of 3D

My 'cube' drawing of Zehra

Zehra made from circles!

 We then had a truly bizarre task. Writing a list of 10 things we'd change about ourself/super powers we'd like to have, our partner had to translate the information into a medieval-style portrait of us. I told Zehera that I wanted parrot wings, hands that could grow flowers, pogo sticks in my feet and boom-box knees amongst several other crazy things, so she had quite a laugh making my portrait!

Zehra's interpretation of me

On the final day we were working from our Box Clever collection. Claire was continually timing each drawing we did of our objects- mostly we were working between 10 and 30 to 50 seconds...so not all that long at all really! It meant there was no time to consider what we were doing- you just had to work instinctively and keep up with the clock!

series of speedy 30 second sketches 

Towards the end, we drew one of our objects, then left paper ontop of our work, hid the object, and went round as a group writing down what each person's drawing reminded us of. My yo-yo drawing got some fairly interesting comments...

yo yo

...or is it jelly...or a bottle top?!

It made me realise though how beneficial it can be to ask people their opinions about your work. Everyone sees things differently, and a fresh perspective can highlight ideas you might not have ever thought of yourself...or can make you realise that what you thought you were conveying isn't coming across! 

These drawing weeks have been great- a chance to loosen up, have time to reflect and be re-inspired for each new block. And also to just have a good giggle- which we all need, don't we?! 

Hands on Drawing

The 'drawing week' just gone wasn't made up of sitting around quietly sketching- oh no, it was the complete opposite: collaborative, large-scale and hands on! I felt like I was in one of those Art-Attack challenges that I used to love watching on kids TV.

For our first task, we were each given a 1cm section of a cut-up picture. Without being told what the image was, we then had to enlarge and draw out our section onto an A1 sheet. It was actually quite freeing not having a clue what I was drawing, or how it fitted in with the rest of the picture as a whole. Seeing everyone's different drawing styles in our group, it was interesting to imagine how our drawings would fit together as one. When our individual sheets were all taped together in sequence, then dramatically unveiled from the balcony at the end of the day at college, it was quite a surprise…we'd drawn the Queen! I think she turned out looking quite fine...

my tiny section to enlarge- I had no idea at the time it was part of the Queen's crown!

Taping and rolling the drawing together face down: still in suspense- what was it?

The unveiling- it's the Queen!

Continuing with a royal theme, the next day we were instructed to create a portrait of Henry the 8th from Lidl plastic bags. This specific (and perhaps slightly random!) constraint on our media use, lead to quite an amusing result. I like experimental processes, and it was good to be reminded how just following through an idea to see the results, can allow you to play around and have fun- the constraints we were given stopped us having to make choices about what we were doing, freeing us up to just get creative with the materials at hand. 

Bags, scissors and glue. A truly regal King Henry-sponsered by Lidl?!

We also used the bags as a way of exploring colour, creating gradients and mixing colours using just shades of red, yellow and blue. I love working in the studio and getting to tape all our work on the walls as we go. Just seeing all that colour is instantly inspiring!

I tried to keep my creative process loose, fun and free in our collaging workshop the next day, where I was working from my Box Clever project objects again. 

Finally, a bit of life drawing. I decided to join the UAL life drawing society after getting to do a few sessions on foundation, and finding it really useful and challenging. Hopefully this will give me a chance to to practise, and improve my drawing skills and style. here's a few from when I went the other evening. It really has been a full on week of drawing!

expressive drawing

It was fun to really loosen up this drawing week and create more artwork inspired by my objects to inform ideas for the rest of the technical blocks. 

my homemade paintbrushes

using my paintbrushes to explore the shape of the squishy ball from my box!

progressively looser studies of whistle

drawing from imagination from each others drawings 

 I enjoyed working on a big sheet of lining paper on thursday- we had to make a series of studies of one object, but had progressively less time for each one, and had to make it twice the size of the previous drawing. I found that mine became very big with loose brush stokes and a real feeling of movement. We also started work on colour studies: really looking at each object and trying to figure out the proportions of colours and the exact shades. This should be useful for making yarn choices in my upcoming 'Weave' block! 

playing with colour/pattern/texture

Part of drawing and analysing my objects has been to look at the colours, textures and patterns, which I'll be able to derive inspiration for my work in the technical blocks from. 

Creating windings with yarn and material scraps helped me start to think about colour combinations. Lots of my objects have a plasticy shine to them, which prompted me to look for some shiny threads, and to incorporate rubber bands, wire, shredded carrier bags and other alternative materials into my initial test pieces. 

I now have a swatch book full of lots of mark-making inspiration too. It was interesting to look at little details and textures on my objects, then record them experimenting with scale, repetition, rotation and then colour. The only restriction was the dimension of the squares I could do my mark-making on! Once I got going, I really enjoyed this- it'll be a great starting point for print designs. 

Playing around drawing

Our first drawing week was really helpful to start analysing my Box Clever objects.

One tutor asked: what's the point of drawing when it's so easy now to just take photos? Well, drawing requires you to look at things and notice detail. Sitting infront of my objects made me pay attention to the shapes, colours, textures, and work out what attracted me to my collection in the first place. 

Looking at silhouette

Imagining cross sections

Slicing and silhouetting 

I enjoyed the loose approach of tuesday afternoon's workshop. It was all about playing around, which perfectly suits my collection of 'things to play with'. Having fun with my drawings emphasised the fun elements of my objects to me, with their bright colours and interactive, moving parts. One exercise was to think of an alternative use for an object, and create a drawing to show how it would work. I re-imagined the bubble-blowing wand from my box as a device to draw rainbows with. 

A new use for bubble-blowers 

Drawing an object from memory was interesting. I realised that most of my objects are quite graphic, with bold shapes and colours, so it was easier to try and recall them than I thought it would be.

Memory drawing

Imagining the objects in motion across the page helped me think about the quality of movement associated with the actions of playing- I wanted to capture a joyful, impulsive feeling. My drawing turned out quite smudgy, but I think it has a sense of energy and freedom.

Thinking about movement

Taking components from the drawings I was producing and combining them together helped to generate further ideas. I like the effect of layering up silhouettes and line drawings in varying scales- they'll be useful to refer back to when it comes to my Print design block.

basic pattern development