As someone who can be a perfectionist in their image making and has always strived for accuracy in the past, I think drawing from life also gives me a more organic approach to drawing. As mentioned, drawing from photographs allows you the time to sit down and over-stress the details and I have always found myself unconsciously copying the image in a passive manner. However when I am sat in front of a physical subject, the near impossibility of copying what my eyes sees onto a page with perfect accuracy allows me to loosen up and focus more on capturing the essence and main elements of my subject, usually resulting in a more human outcome out of necessity.
Composition and the relationship between all the elements in a drawing also differs when drawing from life compared to from reference. Because of the physical nature of these elements, space exists in between them and they sit at difference distances from your viewpoint. In drawing this, the space cannot exist physically, but instead has to be flattened and translated into two dimensions. This again requires you to constantly analyse your subject in order to figure out this space and how to suggest it in your drawing. For example in the studio session on Tuesday, the leaves of the plants all sit around and exist among each other and the challenge was to portray this into a drawing, to suggest the depth of the subject and the relationship all the leaves had with each other.
Drawing from reference is also extremely valuable, even if not personally as much as from observation. Reference allows you to make an image of something correctly, to accurately depict a subject in a recognisable way and avoid guessing from visual memory. As evident from Tuesday's memory studio task, my visual memory is not very good, so sometimes drawing from my head with no reference can prove frustrating and difficult, resulting in an ineffective outcome. Without directly copying a reference image, it allows you to communicate effectively the idea in your head, whilst still having the freedom to play around with the image, exaggerating or reducing parts, for example, to suit the purpose of the work.
Here are my images drawn from memory. It is interesting yet confusing to see how the more I drew the same photo, the worse the outcomes became (the first to last going from left to right on both rows). I think this could have been because on the first one I had an idea of the overall subject, but not so much the details, so I was able to depict an example of what the subject was, that is a side profile of a girl with a head scarf, but not an example of the actual photo. So the more drawings I did the more I focussed on the actual elements of the photograph, but due to my lack of memory these turned out less like what I was depicting overall, but instead misinterpretations of select details. It is also interesting to see how your brain fills in the gaps of what is there. Every outcome is similar in that it portrays the subject, but widely different in the way they do that. The dimensions change dramatically as well as the actual form of her face, sometimes to be further from the photograph, despite having seen it again several times. In comparison to the final, the first images are a lot more flat and less dynamic, even the head scarf looking less true to life. To remember the form and composition and tone and depth of an image to translate onto paper is a very difficult challenge.
I am quite pleased with how my final image turned out. Although not strictly accurate when compared to the photograph, I feel it effectively captures the nature and emotion of the girl. I impressed myself particularly with the tone as the quality of the ink when diluted with water creates a really expressive and textured mark. I chose to leave out the detail of the headscarf and clothing, focussing attention purely on her face and not risking the whole image blending into itself with no real focus. I would have perhaps liked to have captured the form of the subject's face better to create a portrait of that specific person, as opposed to a creating a random face merely referenced from the photograph. The final outcome may have also been more effective had I been more direct and accurate with my lines, although I do like the way that the mistakes still show, making a more human result.
I feel like I learnt a lot about my approach to drawing again with doing these observational drawings of my plant. As usual, I started by creating a very tight, regimented depiction of what I was looking at, staying small in scale and attempting to accurately build up the leaves into a final image (top left). I was trying to essentially copy the subject I was drawing, without much consideration for how else I could capture the plant in a more interesting way. It took me most of the session to break free from this process still, with each one trying to loosen up and let go of the constraints I had set myself, but not really succeeding until near the end. The looser pieces are actually my favourite too and by far the most enjoyable to execute. I feel they have so much more life than the more refined images, they capture the plant as it is, a living, moving, growing being, as opposed to the structure depicted in the earlier drawings. Also the aforementioned space that exists between the leaves is also felt more in these looser drawings, and they seem to fall more in relation to each other creating a more dynamic image with depth.
These are the drawing by some of my peers which stood out to me the most. Something I truly admire is the ability in all three to create an 'accurate' and true depiction of a plant, with detail and thought out lines, but without compromising on looseness or having an organic outcome. Take the blue image on the right for example, not only is the monochrome blue highly appealing, the way the leaves have been suggested with no fixed or regimented outline creates a very delicate but bold drawing. The use of shape is particularly effective, giving the plant a more physical portrayal. Even the left hand drawing despite the solid outline still retains a delicate quality to it, the light weight of the lines and subtle uses of lighter tones giving it more structure than the blue drawing, but still as careful and considered. The bottom drawing, although again very different, still uses line and shape in a powerful way. The lines themselves are heavier, but so expressive and energetic and when paired with the areas of tone create lovely contrast. The best part of this particular image is the variety of marks and techniques used to build up the leaves; some are bold and detailed, others fade and curl away in the background, and others just merely suggested through shade or a gestural line.
Tone is also a really important element of all three, and the layers of tone, shape and line work are what immediately drew me to them as a set. Tone is used to suggest, as in the top left and bottom images, as well as create powerful depth and physicality, as in the top right and bottom images. It makes for a more dynamic image, in that it adds detail effectively but subtly at times, adding a new element and layer to each image. The ink proves amazing at allowing the creation of such a variety of shades, layered beautifully.
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