Fruit and Veg Check and Log

My tutor had picked up on my lack of skill and confidence with coloured media when I submitted assignment 1.  My depiction of tone and form were ok but, when introducing colour, their strong outlines and form were lost.  I was also weak depicting texture.  She suggested I improve my use of colour by doing smaller exercises and practise more with texture. This part of the course was ideal for concentrating on these aspects of drawing and I was determined to improve.

Hatching to create tone:

The above pencil hatching exercise was a good introduction and gave an opportunity to practice texture, tone and form.  I feel the fruit looks three dimensional due to the strong shadows and careful overlapping of them when setting up. I have managed to capture the texture of the shiny skin of the apples but not the dimpled waxy look of the lemon.  The colour of the apple on the left is successful but the rest of the fruit much less so.  This is due to my poor hatching technique and unfamiliarity with the media, which I am sure I can improve with practice.  There is a lot of negative space in this drawing and with hindsight I could have chosen a much tighter crop as indeed the exercise briefing had suggested.

Using Markers

The markers further explored colour and were unexpectedly and inexplicably successful for me.  I had preconceived ideas that using marker pens would be restrictive with a limited pallette so I didn’t expect much.  I approached the drawings with a much more relaxed attitude, expecting failure to be honest.  The drawings were completed much more quickly than the others, and with abandon.  I found them a pleasure to use and could get a complex range of colours with limited pens by layering.  The shiny skins of the fruit worked well by leaving bare paper highlights.  I was able to depict the dimpled orange and lemon with a stippling technique.  The fruit look three dimensional due to the shadows alone as I haven’t overlapped any of them.  It is an unusual composition but personally I think it works well due to the bold colours.

Oil Pastels

Like most things on this course Oil Pastels are new to me so I need to work on technique.  This exercise worked out ok as a composition.  There isn’t much negative space as I decided to go for a much tighter composition.  There is a variety of colour here and I feel the two onions worked well.  I think I captured the shiny texture of the onion skins.  The cucumber and mushroom much less so.  This again highlights my inexperience in capturing texture.  The tomatoes have good colour and highlights, slightly let down my the clumsy stalk.  Overall the drawing has a three dimensional feel and the background works ok due to the nice texture of the paper.

Drawing fruit and vegetables in colour was an enjoyable, if slightly frustrating experience.  I feel I have progressed and improved with my use of colour.  Texture is proving more difficult for me.  This is possibly due to lack of practice and inexperience with all of the new media.  However, I am still struggling to loosen up and I think this restricts everything.  I want my drawings to be precise and this is not necessarily the aim.  As I quoted earlier the finished drawing is all anyone else has to refer to and is all that really matters.  As my tutor said in her feedback.  “Do not be too distracted by making everything you see realistic. Try and interpret how you see the world and depict this with drawing media. Abstract drawings are just as valid once you understand the reason behind them.”

One of the course, and tutors recommended books is: Vitamin D: New Perspectives in Drawing (Phaidon 2005) .  I have finally managed to secure it at a reasonable price and will  read through it for inspiration.