In my past assignments I have mainly just done the work told and I haven’t really ventured off to my own accord to experiment and look into different ways I can use materials and express subjects in art not just sketching etc. I think during past exercises there hasn’t been a lot of creativity in my work and I seem to have lost my own spark in my art, I normally always express more creativity in nearly everything I do and in past work I have just done things to complete them so I’m not super behind, this is due to the pandemic and work and all jumbles up. With this exercise I would like to expand out and take more time to think of different ways to express my pieces of art.

In this assignment I would like to do a subject of mixed media leading on portraits, I think in my last assignment I enjoyed looking at the face element and working on the human body, I think it was my strongest work and if I mix that with different materials it should be a good set of art I can produce, as well as enjoy making. I think the material for the back ground I will use will most likely be in my sketch book and other forms of larger paper, I might experiment with a piece on cardboard or with a textured background just to experiment more. I will work with both lines and tone, I will try both and see how they look or maybe mixed the two in one piece, I want to stretch out with my art. I will be working mostly with both traditional and experimental compositions, different angles as well as straight faces. I am going to do both abstract and realistic work but I most like to look into abstract, bold colouring and strong striking art I would like to achieve. A lot of the lighting I will achieve from in this work will be artificial, due to looking into portraits they will be inside.

I have all the materials I should need for this work, I have a lot of different medias to work with and I will be purchasing other items if needed. Due to national lock down I will be using old photo graphs or online photographs of portraits because I can’t attend outside lessons etc.

Beginning of this response I would like to say, I do feel I worked hard on the last assignment, with time management around the pandemic and also working overtime weekly I feel I did the best I possibly could with the time and difficult working at this time. I do understand my exercises may look like I do just tick boxes but I don’t have as much time as I would like with the deadlines to go out and about to do more independent research and exercises. I will try harder to make the time in my next study as it is more of an independent study in my next assignment I feel this will work with me and I’ll be able to show more how I learn and research in my own way. I do believe I learnt a lot throughout this assignment, I worked with a subject I am more used to and have had experience with in the past and felt I was able to show off my use of tone more in this part.

It is said in my feedback that my tutor would like to see more independent studies and to work more in my sketchbook to my own accord and research, to not just tick the boxes but to go and explore on my own accord to really get into the subjects and show my learning for techniques, I will take this on board in my next assignment and I will make a strong effort to do so. It is noted that I do well written self assessments throughout my exercises and also detailed artist research which has always been an interest to get inspiration through artist research, I do think I will further this into my next assignment. I do need to be explaining more between my research and artists though and mention this in my write-ups.

On my pointers for my next assignment I need to experiment more with materials which is why I am going to do an experimental loads of mixed medias and look into different types of art not just sketches, I do believe this will help with my marks as well as give me a broader understanding of different art works. All in all I am looking forward to a more independent learning for this next assignment, I think it will really work in my favour and I should be able to manage my exercises and also independent studies more.

For this exercise we were asked to draw two interesting images of our out head, to think about the pose, measuring the face, tones and lines. Look at ourself and make lines, don’t concentrate too much on being completely accurate, keep moving the pencil and just slowly build up tone. Consider how to pose for the drawing and how to angle your head swell as not do such a bold line to create a cartoon effect just look a the lighting and don’t be bold on the outline.

Below are the two pictures of my results, I chose to do one drawing in charcoal and another in a soft pencil:

For this exercise I decided to use a soft pencil as that is what I am used to using and I felt like I would have been able to achieve the tones throughout the face to make a more realistic portrait. I thought using this media would suit me best as I could blend in the different tones and create the more accurate portrait of myself. I thought this media went well as it blended well and I got the right shadows and tones throughout the piece. I also used a rubber to create lighter tones and I thought this created a good effect in the face. In self critic , I feel like I should use a slightly thinner pencil because I think the pencil was too soft to get the right amount of detail to create that really realistic piece. The proportions do look fairly accurate, the only thing I feel like needs a lot of look into is the hair, I wasn’t quite sure how to represent my hair as it is very curly, I want to practice on this type of style because I feel like the hair lets the piece down on the realism. I do believe I got the proportions correct and the distancing from each feature looks accurate from what I see in the mirror.

On the second piece I wanted to use a different type of media to experiment with portraits in a different material therefore I could get a different effect and look on the picture. I felt charcoal would be a good idea to start looking into doing portraits in a different media. I think the different techniques you can use to create a good looking tonal piece. On this portrait I decided to take a different angle therefore I could be more adventures with trying to get the proportions right because I do believe it is more difficult to match up the proportions and features when the face was on a different angle.

All in all, I do feel like the first portrait has a little more of a realism because of the tones throughout. Yet I do like the effect I achieved using the charcoal, I feel it created a more interesting piece and the hair looks better in this piece. I do feel like these pictures do look like me, if I saw this drawing I would feel like I knew it was me. I do believe I have a lot of practice to do to create a more realistic look on my portraits yet I am making progress. It wasn’t too difficult to switch from individual features to full yet it is difficult to make them all not look alien together.

For this exercise we were asked to draw three drawings in three different poses for the model. The aim of this study was to practise making interesting studies of the figure to show that we understand the basic structural principles. Before we went on to large studies we should spend time looking at the poses we wanted the models to do and try to observe the body and how we will draw that.

For this I decided to do both, A4 and A2 therefore I could experiment with both. I found this task good and I felt it was a bit more challenging working on a larger scale but it was good practise to get proportions and basic shapes right. Below are all of my results:

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These are my smaller scale drawings in the three positions, personally I found the lounging position more effective and I think I captured the proportions better on this piece than the rest, I still believe I need to spend more time on the finer details such as hands and feet. I chose to just use a soft pencil for all three as it was just a rough exercise for the work on the larger scale.

For these sketches on A2 I decided to do all three of the sketches in different materials therefore I would be experimenting on all three and trying something different. The stance picture I used charcoal, I feel like it’s hard to show tone yet it created an interesting piece. The lounging piece I used graphite, I enjoy using this material as it’s easy to make fast lines and glides well across paper. The sitting piece I used ball pen, I found this more difficult to create tone but again it creates an interesting piece of work. Below are my results:

I found it interesting doing these pieces because it was so much different trying to way up the proportions on a larger scale drawing, I found it was harder to not make the body look alien and to make sure the proportions were all okay, I do think my proportions are a bit off with the top two but it was my first time doing this on such a large scale. I do think I need to practice more on larger scale to get better at match the proportions right with the scale. It did help me a bit imagining the sifters skeleton and mucsles to get the right structure yet I do feel like I need to work on my larger scale drawings as it isn’t my normal choice to work that anyway.

All in all, I feel like I need to improve on my proportions and look into working on a larger scale as I find it a lot more difficult getting the right shapes for larger drawings and making sure the body doesn’t look abnormal. I think this was a good effort for a first drawing on this large of a scale. I will practise more with this and try to get used to working on this big of a scale.

For this exercise we were asked to look for the line of balance and the centre of gravity in the standing figure. We were told it starts at the top of the skull and passes through the middle of the nose , straight down the middle of the chest cavity. We were told to move around the model in different poses and do quick sketches then identify the gravity and gesture then to mark it on our sketches. For this I decided to do four sketches each in different poses and then mark out my lines afterwards. Below are the pictures of my results:

For this exercise I decided to use a soft pencil therefore I could get the right softness and be able to draw quick lines to get the posture right and decide on the shaping easier. I thought it was interesting trying to identify how I was going to sketch these out and then finding the right place to draw the gravity line. I found that it was interesting to see how the body changes shapes when going into different poses and it was interesting to capture these sketches. I didn’t want to do too much toning to the sketches because the main focus is on the different poses and how the line changes throughout each pose. It was interesting to see how the line changed throughout and I think it will help me in my future sketches.

All in all I think this exercise was a success it was eyeopening to see the line change position when drawing the pose and I think it will help me get the angles right in my future sketches. I think in the sketch I did well on the proportions my critic on myself is I need to focus on drawing hands and feet to get a more realistic sketch rather than doing simple representations, I will focus on this on my further work and independent studies.

For this task we were asked to get a model and take quick sketches paying attention to the proportions of the body using quick lines to show it. We were told to draw from the middle outwards and don’t let the fear of bold lines put you off being confident with the drawing. For this exercise I decided to draw four sketches of the same model in different poses. I wanted to draw quick lines and be confident with the lines I draw like we were suggested to do. Below is the pictures of my results:

I wanted to use the method of roughly marking the joints therefore I could get a rough idea of the figure. I then worked on sketching the rest of the body and focusing on the proportion of the model and making sure everything matched up correctly. I think I did well on the proportions and got an accurate representation of the model. I chose to do the drawing with sketching pencils, I did this because I felt it was the best to do quick sketching and to be confident with the drawing. I do think I was accurate with the different angles and positions I have shown by the model, I enjoyed doing this exercise as it really made me look at the different proportions of the body and helped me realise how to measure and get a more accurate representation of the model.

All in all I do think my sketches are fairly accurate and I am happy with how they turned out. I liked doing the drawings and looking in detail at how to draw the body. I liked being able to draw different poses and concentrating on the the body has changed its look in another pose. I found it helpful drawing the different joints just to get a good idea on how the shapes will then develop. It is more different doing quick drawings with a model yet it gives you more information to do sketches on, all together I am happy with these drawings. If I was to critic I would like to attempt to re-do these poses with a different media such as charcoal, or with a brush. I will do this as an independent study.

For this exercise we were asked to place a piece of fabric over a chair and take quick 15 minute sketches in 8-12cm boxes of what we see, we were told to pick interesting spots of the fabric we were drawn to to recreate. We were told to look at the different shading throughout and try to recreate that in these sketches.

I did find this exercise quite interesting to get the different tones of material and show the creases throughout the material. I do like the outcome of this exercise and I tried my best to get the creases right in the sketches. 

I think with this exercise I have shown the different creases well throughout the different sketches and got the layers correct. In my work I do think I need to improve further on my tones and getting the right amount of shading throughout my sketches, I think I will do more independent studies to really build up my skill with that.

I liked looked into the different angles of the fabric and figuring out how I can show the different creases in my sketches, all in all I do like how my work turned out. I think there is more room for improvement as far as showing different tones and the shadows in my work, maybe try to improve my darker areas to make it all flow together better. I found it quite challenging to show the volume but I tried to show my lines in my sketching to show the amount of volume in the fabric, the direction of my pencil markings to give it more of a detailed look.

To begin this response I would like to say I am happy with how my overall assignment 3  turned out, with all the chaos going on in the world and the amount of over time I had to do at work due to staff going off I was happy I completed this assignment to the best I could at the time, it took me a while but I do think I am proud of what I did achieve.

A majority of my feedback was based around  the fact my compositions to look at the buildings were quite complex and I do think this is due to me doing my studies off taken photographs I had from past holidays due to not being able to leave the house. I will take this feedback and try my best to not use photographs to base my art off but to look at the study for real and get the lighting as correct as I can and look at the angle that suits myself best. I had feedback that I tend to make big plans for my work and then they don’t turn out as I had originally planned, I do think this is true and I am beginning to learn I have to give myself more time to focus on the art I want to achieve and let myself reach that level instead of talking about it and not giving myself room to do it.

I also gathered from this feedback I need to look into my tones and not exaggerate the shading in the wrong places and to really see where the light hits, it is harder to do this with looking through a taken image but I will improve and take this onboard. It was also spoken in my feedback I should look into gathering more artist research and take inspiration off them and look into how other artists show detail and tones throughout their work. It was also mentioned that my work is more of an illustrative style than observational and this might be my own style coming out, I do sometimes wonder if that is my style before this feedback so it was nice to hear someone think that. I do think I also try to do observational but I like to do things my own way too. I think there is always room for improvement and I will take all these different points. I also agree that if I don’t think something did work I should try again and not just take my first result, I do think this was more of a time issue than a it’ll do attitude.

I do also want to take more time to do independent studies and sketch in my free time to really get up that skill. I do draw in my spare time but it’s different subjects to what I’m focusing on at the minute but I perhaps will include these in my research or skill building type thing.

All in all I am happy with the feedback I received I do always think there is room for improvement and I will continue to spend time correcting things I can do better. I enjoyed doing this assignment and I will take positivity and TIME into this next part!

Here is my final assignment for this part of Drawing 1, it has taken me a long time to get to this but finally I have come to do it! We were asked to do planning for this ‘final piece’ , I decided to experiment with mixed media as I wanted to include this in my final work. I thought that throughout my research of this section of Drawing One there was different styles of artists using mixed medias in their work therefore I thought I should incorporate this in my assignment.

Below is the first piece I did working up to the last one, I wanted to start off with a sketch and look into the tones and detail I can include, I then followed with a mixed media piece using a textured background as well as then adding pen to them to bring out the shading.

Here is a picture of my results for the first part of this assignment, I thought they turned out well. I picked to use the images of a house I had from an earlier holiday I went on. Due to COVID-19 I wasn’t able to get out and get local buildings therefore this was the next best thing. I wanted to try some mixed media into this piece therefore I decided to create a detailed background for my next practice piece and add the pen to show the different shading and detail in the piece. I do like the outcome and I used the same inspiration to create my final piece for this assignment.

Below are the different shots of my final piece, I went for a mixed media piece on an A2 piece which was one of the requirements in this assignment. I do think this piece is well and I wanted to include a building I had done work on in previous exercise’s as I liked sketching that building.

In this piece I wanted to show the colours I felt when I was there and taking the picture of the building I did the art on. I felt these colours were a good match and create a textured background for my piece, I then wanted to use a pen effect to do this scruffy type look to my image and create tones and detail throughout the piece. I like how the piece turned out and I think I did well in showing the shades and tone in the piece. The shading does show the different details throughout the work and I think I got the angles correct in the building.

All in all, I am happy with the outcome of this piece I think the tones I have done throughout the piece are good and give off a realistic look for it, I love the background and it gave off the look that I wanted exactly, I really am impressed with how the mixed media went and I’m looking forward to developing my skill on pieces like this in the future, if was to do this piece again I would pick to do several different piece and do a big piece of different buildings, I feel I work better on a smaller scale therefore feel that would be a better option for me. Futher more I am happy with this piece and I’m glad I took the time to do this, I am so happy I have managed to do good quality and took the time to do these pieces at such an unsure time!