drawing 1 drawing skills · drawing at first hand through visits to museums and galleries. course...

Drawing 1

Drawing Skills

2 Drawing 1: Drawing Skills

Open College of the ArtsMichael Young Arts Centre

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Contents

Before you start 5

Introduction 12

Part one Form and GestureProject 1 Feeling and expression 18Project 2 Basic shapes and fundamental form 21Assignment one 27

Part two IntimacyProject 1 Detailed observation of natural objects 38Project 2 Still life 41Project 3 At home 47Assignment two 53

Part three ExpanseProject 1 Trees 58Project 2 Landscape 62Project 3 Composition 67Project 4 Perspective 71Project 5 Townscapes 78Assignment three 84

Part four The figure and the headProject 1 Fabric and form 88Project 2 Proportion 92Project 3 Form 97Project 4 Structure 101Project 5 The moving figure 103Project 6 The Head 105Assignment four 111

Part five Personal project and written elementAssignment five The personal project 115


Before you start

Drawing 1: Drawing Skills provides a structured introduction to drawing using a wide range of media and methods. You’ll learn to observe and look selectively and translate what you see into your drawings. Topics include drawing outdoors and from nature, perspective and drawing the human face and figure.

Alongside your practical work, you’ll be encouraged to research the work of other artists, especially contemporary artists, both in books and online, and to make the effort to experience drawing at first hand through visits to museums and galleries.

Course aims and outcomesThis course aims to give you the opportunity to:• develop your drawing skills • draw using a wide range of media and methods• develop your visual and artistic awareness and ability to observe selectively• develop self-reflective and critical skills.

On successful completion of the course, you’ll be able to:• demonstrate drawing skills using a wide range of drawing media• use drawing, tone and colour to represent three dimensions• explain the rudiments of linear perspective and other drawing systems• reflect perceptively upon your own learning experience.

Even if you don’t intend to submit your work for formal assessment, it’s useful to take on board these outcomes to support your learning and use as a means of self-assessment. You can check your progress against the learning outcomes in your learning log when you review your progress against each assignment.

An Introduction to Studying in HEIt’s advisable to take this course before you study any of OCA’s Higher Education (HE) courses. It’s designed to introduce you to some important concepts and practical techniques that will help you as you prepare to study in HE, possibly for the first time. www.oca-student.com/study-guides/introduction-studying-he

Before you start


Your tutorYour tutor is your main point of contact with OCA. Before you start work make sure that you’re clear about your tuition arrangements. The OCA tuition system is explained in some detail in your Student Handbook.

If you haven’t already done so, please write a paragraph or two about your experience to date. Add background information about anything that you think may be relevant for your tutor to know about you (your profile) – for example, your own practice, your reasons for exploring this subject, what you expect to achieve from taking the course.

Email or post your profile to your tutor as soon as possible. This will help them understand how best to support you during the course.

Your tutor will make arrangements with you for dealing with queries, reviewing progress and submitting assignments. You’ll also need to arrange with your tutor how you’ll deal with any queries that arise between assignments. This will usually be by email or phone. Please note that tutors can only deal with occasional emails between assignments.

Course SupportCourse support are able to assist with things that you may find unclear in the exercises, projects and assignments and technical issues such as locating course resources etc. They can act as a point of contact in between tutor communications. Please email [email protected].

Formal assessmentRead the section on assessment in your Student Handbook at an early stage in the course. The Assessment and how to get qualified study guide gives more detailed information about assessment and accreditation. You’ll find this on the OCA student website. For assessment you’ll need to submit a cross-section of the work you’ve done on the course:• all five practical course assignments plus any amendments made in the light of tutor

comments• your tutor reports• your learning log or blog url.

Only work done during the course should be submitted to your tutor or for formal assessment.


Assessment criteria

The assessment criteria listed below are central to the assessment process for this course, so if you’re going to have your work assessed to gain formal credits, please make sure you take note of these criteria and consider how each of the assignments you complete demonstrates evidence of each criterion. On completion of each assignment, and before you send your assignment to your tutor, test yourself against the criteria; in other words, do a self-assessment and see how you think you would do. Note down your findings for each assignment you’ve completed in your learning log, noting all your perceived strengths and weaknesses, taking into account the criteria every step of the way. This will be helpful for your tutor to see, as well as helping you prepare for assessment.

Assessment criteria points• Demonstration of technical and visual skills – materials, techniques, observational skills,

visual awareness, design and compositional skills (35%).• Quality of outcome – content, application of knowledge, presentation of work in a coherent

manner, discernment, conceptualisation of thoughts, communication of ideas (20%).• Demonstration of creativity – imagination, experimentation, invention, development of a

personal voice (25%).• Context reflection – research, critical thinking (learning logs and, at second and third level,

critical reviews and essays) (20%).


Your learning logYour learning log is an integral part of this and every other OCA course. If you’re new to OCA courses, read the Introducing learning logs study guide. You’ll find this on the OCA student website.

Use your learning log to record your progress through the course. It should contain:• your thoughts on the work you produce for each project• your ideas and observations as you work through the course• your reflections on the reading you do and any research you carry out• your tutor’s reports on assignments and your reactions to these.

You’re strongly recommended to set up your learning log as an online blog. This blog could document your work for the projects and assignments and provide links to research material. Setting up a blog is free and can be done through websites such as Blogger, Tumblr or Wordpress. Alternatively you can set up a blog within the OCA student website.

Planning aheadThis Level 1 course represents 400 hours of learning time (although some students may need to spend more than this). Allow around 20% of this time for reflection and learning log development. The course should take about a year to complete if you spend around 8 hours each week on it.

As with all OCA courses, these course materials are intended to be used flexibly but keep your tutor fully informed about your progress. You’ll need to allow extra time if you decide to have your work formally assessed.

Drawing 1 is divided into five parts corresponding to the five practical course assignments. Each part of the course addresses a different aspect of drawing and is separated into a series of projects designed to tackle the topic in bite-sized chunks. As well as information and advice, each project offers exercises to encourage drawing and research ideas for you to follow up independently. The exercises slowly build up into the assignments that you’ll send to your tutor.

The first assignment is diagnostic and is designed to give your tutor a feel for your work at an early stage in the course. Your work on this assignment won’t count towards your final grade although the assessors may wish to look at it to assess your progress.


Getting feedbackAt the end of each part of the course you’ll need to submit your work so that your tutor can give you some feedback on your progress. This submission should be a cross-section of the work you’ve done, including:• your assignment work, including finished pieces, preliminary work and your reflections• a selection of work from the exercises in the relevant part of the course• your learning log or blog url. Show this work to your tutor by gathering it together and either posting or emailing it (you can use a free file-sharing service if there’s a lot of material) or you can add it to your blog as you work through each part of the course.

Make sure that you label any work that you send to your tutor with your name, student number and the assignment number. Remember to email your tutor to tell them when you’re ready to submit so that they know to look at your blog or expect a parcel. Your tutor will get back to you as soon as possible after receiving your assignment but this may take a little time. Continue with the course while you’re waiting.

It will be helpful for your tutor to see the work that you produce in between assignments. You may agree, for instance, that you’ll send your tutor samples of your work or make your work available on your blog, if you need your tutor to comment on something in particular or if you have a problem that you need help with.

Do note that you’re encouraged to reflect carefully on all tutor feedback and, if appropriate, to go back to the assignment you submitted and make adjustments to it based on your tutor’s comments. If you decide to submit your work for formal assessment, making such adjustments demonstrates responsiveness and learning and will help improve your mark.


What you’ll need:Each assignment or project has its own set of materials and tools, but make sure you’ve got the following basic toolkit:

• loose sheets of paper in varying sizes and colours (from A4 to A1 including found papers, cartridge/sugar paper, etc.)

• sketchbooks in different sizes – a small pocket-sized one for carrying around and bigger ones for larger experiments

• A4 and/or A3 ring binder• a selection of B grade graphite pencils and graphite sticks• willow charcoal sticks and compressed charcoal sticks• oily and chalky pastels and conté sticks in a range of colours• black water-soluble ink• black acrylic paint (System 3, Cryla or similar)• a selection of drawing materials and tools for experimentation (carpenter’s pencils,

calligraphy pen, oriental brush pen, etc.)• PVA glue• a range of soft and stiff brushes for acrylic paint, glue and ink• masking tape and drawing pins• craft knife, small and large scissors• large smooth board (A1 size or larger)• lightweight plastic portfolio (A1) to send assignments to your tutor.

Using your sketchbookDrawing hones our visual sense and teaches us to see the world around us in a unique way. You’re expected to build and maintain those skills of looking and recording alongside your project work. Be curious, collect images, record ideas. This will stand you in good stead when a project gives you the opportunity to develop your own subject matter.

There’s no right way to keep a sketchbook, but make it your constant companion. Try to draw every day, even if only for a few seconds. If all else fails, do ‘drawing in your head’. Spend time actively looking, trying to judge the angle of a chair or the shape of someone’s nostril.Your sketchbook and learning log aren’t simply a way for you to display to your tutor how hard you’re working – they are learning tools for you, so make sure they work for you. You’ll find it useful to read the Keeping sketchbooks study guide, available on the OCA student website.


Reading and resourcesThe reading list at the end of this course guide will be the starting point for your research into the work of contemporary artists so turn to this now and plan how you’ll access the texts you’ll need. You’ll also find a list of useful websites to use as the basis for your online research.

Referencing your readingWhenever you read something that you might want to refer to in your projects and assignments, get into the habit of taking down the full reference to the book, article or website straight away. You must fully reference any other work that you draw on if you plan to go for formal assessment. To do this you should use the Harvard system of referencing – there is a guide to referencing using the Harvard system on the OCA student website. Getting down the full reference at the time will save you the frustration of having to hunt for the details of a half-remembered reference long after the event – and ensure that you don’t inadvertently plagiarise someone else’s work.

OCA website and forumsThere are lots of other OCA students currently studying drawing. Use the OCA website forums as a place to meet them, share experiences and to learn from one another. The forums are a great place to ask questions of other students, perhaps from those who have already done the course. The OCA student website also contains resource material and links to online archives you’ll need to use. You may want to start by logging onto the forums and introducing yourself. Find out who else is on the course and say hello.


Introduction

Only by drawing often, drawing everything, drawing incessantly, that one fine day you discern to your surprise, that you are rendering something in its true character.

Camille Pissarro

Paper, and other more exploratory surfaces, hold drawing on their flat planes and the fibre of the support ‘bites’ into the medium that the artist uses. This demonstrates that even the very substances used to create drawings aren’t passive, any more than the artist is passive in the making. The activity of drawing is an immediate conduit between us and something else; it produces a state of mental absorption, a place where we can become lost in our thoughts, where time is measured in marks, rubbings, crumbs of charcoal, smuts on our fingers, drips and spills of inks and washes, watercolour stains, oily streaks and smears of sticks and bars.

The activity of making a drawing is an extraordinary fusion of many factors and choices: What shall I draw? How big? What paper? What to draw with? How long shall I draw for? In what physical way shall I draw? Shall I stand? Shall I sit? Shall I draw outside in direct sunlight? Or shall I draw inside? Shall I light my subject? Or shall I use the ambient changing light? Shall I draw slowly? Shall I draw fast? Shall I observe carefully? Or shall I try to capture the essence of the subject?

Practice helps us edit these choices, but in the beginning it seems complex and very challenging. Practice also helps us engage in a meaningful way with the act of drawing and helps us re-learn how to really see the world. It changes our view and, importantly, it begins to undo pre-conceived notions of what ‘good drawing’ is. A good drawing is not only measured by accuracy or attractiveness; it is also elusive, fascinating, even disturbing, with an energy that reaches out towards the viewer, raising questions beyond those on the surface.

Old Vacuum Cleaner, line drawing by OCA tutor (hard graphite pencil on A1 paper)

Introduction


A drawing may be functional, as in an exploded diagram of a commercial product, or it may be exploratory as a means of bringing thought to paper. It may be a witness account of what we see, recording a time spent sketching a view, a place, a person or a thing. Traditionally, the sketch was regarded as something provisional, a stepping stone on the way to making a more formalised image. Nowadays the sketch and the drawing have become more interchangeable and the professional artist is left to present their own visual language in a way they feel communicates best what they want to say.

The world around us has height, width, depth, angles, textures and tones. These are all words associated with the practice of drawing. Drawing, like playing the piano or singing, is learned through exercise. We must teach our eyes to see the world as an artist; our work is to observe, sense, and translate our observations into visual form. To do this accurately, we must learn the art of illusion – mastering perspective drawing, dealing with tone and form, etc. But direct observation forms the greater part of our learning, whether it’s an object, view or person, or observing the work of others past and present. Without direct observation we can’t hope to master the language of drawing – and it is a language, a visual language, the basis of all art practice. Whether it’s drawing a storyboard for a film, simply copying a photograph or trying to articulate an imaginary form, drawing is the springboard that we use to bring us into direct contact with seeing, thinking, sensing and emotions.

You can get an idea of what’s meant by a personal visual language by looking at some images by the following artists from different art historic moments, each working in a very different style, but each very firmly absorbed in the activity of drawing: Leonardo da Vinci, Käthe Kollwitz, Cy Twombly and Jenny Saville.

There is drawing everywhere in our world. Mark-making is an essential aid to thinking, writing and drawing as they cross over, become conjoined, one in the other. Drawing as a subject is cavernous, huge. The deeper you explore into its crevices and hidden corners, the more exiting, diverse, and thrilling it becomes.

We hope you enjoy your own drawing journey …


Drawing 1

Part oneForm and Gesture

OCA student, Wendy Ormerod, Line drawing

Part one Form and Gesture


Drawing out, drawing from, drawing attention to, absorption ...

Drawing is essentially about leaving your mark, usually on a surface, where a tool deposits some kind of material trace on or into a flat plane. But drawing might also involve a collection of virtual or temporary stains, smudges and trails within an everyday spatial environment. Think of the soft lines a plane leaves in the sky, or a snail trail or spider’s web. If we think about these in terms of ‘found’ drawings, we can more readily accept that drawing isn’t only done by artists.Drawing from their environment, artists observe and reveal parts of their world in different and interesting ways. Drawing in this sense is perhaps more about curiosity, noticing and pointing out what already exists rather than creating something new, and so might be thought of as drawing attention to...

At the other end of the scale, drawing sometimes involves deep solitude, the concentrated act producing a state of absorption where we lose ourselves in intense thought, where time is measured later in the marks we leave behind and the realisation that hours have passed.The expressive potential of drawing is vast, and at first may seem complex and challenging, but if we take it in its simplest form – leaving a trace of a thoughtful and performative activity – we accept the slightest mark as important.

Part One will encourage you to draw with feeling and expression. Think of the first exercise as a warm-up session to help you stretch your drawing muscle, with some temporary drawings.


Exercise 1 Warm-up – temporary drawingsTry some of these unusual drawing activities. If you can, ask someone to photograph or film you working. You can then look back, see yourself drawing and jot down your thoughts after the temporary drawing has gone.• Squeeze and drip washing up liquid into the sink.• Drag a stick in the sand.• Pull a bicycle through a puddle and create marks with the wet tyres.• Go outside at night with a small torch or sparkler and wave it around.

These are just a few ideas to get you used to the idea of drawing as something fleeting, expressive and playful. You may want to find other ways. Remember to document your activities and reflect on what you’ve done in your learning log.

Student, Abi Latham


Project 1 Feeling and expression

Drawing can be a way of tapping into and showing your inner feelings, making marks via physical, sensual, emotional (and other) responses to external and internal stimuli. Someone experiencing an emotion like joy might leave a very different mark to that of someone who feels timid. The former may be packed with energy while the latter might be delicate and halting.

Looking at our sketchbooks and finding expressive images means we retrace our steps as sentient beings, returning to times of contemplation, remembering emotions and physical states experienced in the act of doing. In this sense drawing is a record of our emotional and embodied selves, a primary act quite unlike any other. Here the act of drawing is intense, a conduit between body and mind:

“…being completely involved in an activity for its own sake. The ego falls away: time flies. Every action, movement, and thought follows inevitably from the previous one ... your whole being is involved and you are using your skills to the utmost.”

(Marr, 2013, p 34)

Emma Hunt

Project 1 Feeling and expression


Beatrice Haines, Crucifix from the Sanitorium, 2012

Research pointLook for contemporary works where you sense some of the artist’s feeling – where the marks, lines, etc., offer something of the artist’s state of mind. Look for speed, pressure, angles, curves, jabbing marks, disjointed and rough marks, etc. For example, see Julie Brixey-Williams’ drawing loctationotation at http://www.saatchiart.com/art/- loctationotation/91093/396898/view Make notes in your learning log and consider whether art really is capable of expressing emotions. After all, a drawing is not (usually) a human being so how might it act as an emotional conduit between artist and viewer? Is it the image, the medium or the act that brought the art work into being that makes it ‘expressive’ or ‘expressionist’? Or is it all of these and more?

Sarah Spackman, Studio Table, 2012 (charcoal, pencil and ink) (Jerwood Drawing Prize 2012 catalogue, p.73)

If you’ve already completed Pre-degree drawing: An introductory course, you’ll have experienced similar exercises intended to help you undo rigid ideas about ‘right and wrong’ ways to draw. Physical and material approaches to mark-making will make you more aware of what drawing can be and how you can embrace it as a way to express your own ideas with confidence. Above all, though, drawing should be pleasurable. So please don’t be intimidated by any of the activities – simply try them, take risks and enjoy the process. Even the most accomplished artist experiences disasters from time to time, so don’t be put off if this happens. It’s all part of the process of learning and of being an artist.

Exercise 1 Experimenting with expressive lines and marksThis exercise will help you begin to understand how to make your marks express a feeling, using single words as a starting point.

You’ll need:• four A1 sheets of paper• a range of materials including charcoal, ink and a stick (a sharpened twig, wooden

chopstick or similar)• greasy conté sticks, oil sticks or any other tool that will leave a varied mark depending

on the speed and pressure that you exert – use one colour only, either black, dark blue, or dark brown.

Fold each A1 sheet in half (A2) and then in half again (A3). Unfold the sheet and tape it to the board or table top by the corners using masking tape. You’ll have four (A3) panels on each sheet.

In the corner of one of the sheets write ‘calm’, on another write ‘anger’, on the third write ‘joy’, then decide on another feeling for the fourth sheet.

Create non-objective images, so no words and no figures, only lines, marks and abstract shapes within each rectangle. Bear in mind that the edges created by the folds are all that separate one image from the next. This will help you to become more aware of composition and negative space.

Spend a little time trying to inhabit one of the emotions (memories associated with the feeling may help) and when you feel sufficiently calm, angry, etc., take one of your drawing tools and try to translate the feeling into one of the panels. When you’re confident that the image works, change your medium and work on the next panel, still using the same word/feeling as your driving force. Keep working on the same sheet, changing the medium as you move to the next panel. When you’ve completed your first sheet, put it to one side and reflect on how you felt when working. Simply jot down a free flow of thoughts and words, similar to the way you engaged in a free flow of marks and lines.

Allow sufficient time between sheets to allow you to engage fully with the feeling required. The feelings that prompt the drawing shouldn’t be forced or faked, so if you don’t feel ready leave the next feeling sheet until another time.


Exercise 2 Experimenting with TextureCollect a range of objects with different surface textures. These can be simple domestic items such as pottery, clothing or other textiles with interesting surfaces and skins, a bathroom sponge, fruit peel, woven material, tree bark, velvet, silk, etc.

In your sketchbook, divide a page into four squares and experiment with depicting the textures. Make curved, straight and wiggly lines. Try streaking, smudging and dropping ink onto wet and dry surfaces and try to describe what the texture feels and looks like. Be as free as you can and experiment with materials and tools to create interesting effects. Make notes in your learning log; these will help later when you come to look back at your work.

Experiment with frottage. This involves placing paper over a rough surface (e.g. grained wood) and rubbing the back with a pencil to create an impression of the surface quality of the object. This can then be incorporated into your image to create an interesting effect but it usually works best when confined to a small area.

The image below is a direct rubbing (or frottage) from a dinner tray used for many years in the sick bay of a school. The shadow of a crucifix, embedded in the layers of scratched words and images, adds a sense of time passing.

Michael Coombes


Project 2 Basic shapes and fundamental form

In the warm-up and the first project you learned how lines and marks might flow across a ground in different ways, depending on medium, speed, intensity, etc., reflecting the mood and actions of the artist which in turn affects the mood and meaning of the final viewed image. You should now be able to work with clearer intention and try to apply the same sense of expression or flow to basic shapes and fundamental forms, and in so doing begin to assert aspects of your own voice as an artist.

Your flat piece of paper with its two-dimensional surface is known as the picture plane. When you put a line on this plane you’re making a mark without any sense of solidity or three-dimensional space. But with a few more lines you can create an apparently three- dimensional object. Drawn lines on paper are an artistic convention used to delineate the boundary of an object in relation to other objects. Such lines don’t exist in reality and often give a cartoon-like effect to the image.

An important stage in the process of learning how to draw is the ability to recognise that the basic shapes – square, rectangle, circle, ellipse and triangle – are flat, two- dimensional and bound by a perimeter. When structured they make up the three- dimensional fundamental forms of cube, sphere, cylinder and cone. It’s important not to confuse the idea of form with shape. Almost any object, no matter how complex it may seem, consists basically of box-like or cylindrical forms.

Jan Hardisty, White Still Life, Bridgeman Education

Project 2 Basic shapes and fundamental form


Exercise 1 Groups of objectsChoose at least six objects of different sizes and shapes. Some of these should be three-dimensional forms made from rectangles and cylinders – a paperback book, a cereal box, jar of coffee, tin of beans, etc. – and others should be less regular in their form, for example a net or loose plastic container

For the first image, work on a surface (A2 or A1) that seems appropriate for the image you want to make. Be imaginative and don’t assume you have to use a bright white sheet of paper. You might want to use a sheet of brown paper or an unfolded newspaper as your support, for example.

Using just one colour (charcoal, conté, oil stick, ink and stick, etc.) and bearing in mind the previous exercises, loosely describe the group of objects. Don’t forget their weight, transparency, shine, etc., and don’t forget the spaces between them and the things they are resting on or against. Remember that writing on labels will curve around cylindrical objects and elements half hidden inside bags will jostle for space. Fill the sheet with drawing.

Imagine you can see through the forms to the spaces inside. Try to evoke some kind of expression in the marks you make and in the relationships you create inside and around the edges of the forms and the picture plane.

Student, Michael Coombes


Exercise 2 Observing shadow using blocks of toneThere are many ways to evoke the impression of ‘real’ space and the use of tone is a basic drawing skill that will help you do this. Essentially it’s the depiction of light and dark on a surface that offers the impression of three dimensionality – and sometimes mood.

To start, place two pale simple-shaped objects together and position a lamp so that they are lit from just one side. (You can use natural light if it’s a bright day.) Observe the main areas of light and dark. Make some quick sketches in a large (A2 or A1) sketchbook, mapping out the broad areas of light and shade. Use a conté or charcoal stick on its side to achieve thick bold strokes; break these into shorter pieces unless you’re working on a very large surface (A1 or larger). Also make sure your surface has sufficient ‘tooth’ to capture the pigment – smooth and shiny paper won’t work.

Next, block in all the gradations of tone. Look for variations of tonal value. Essentially this means the degree of lightness or darkness. Begin with mid tones, then work in lighter and darker tones, lifting and pressing down across the surface as you work.

Pause and take a long view to fully observe the pattern of shadows over the whole surface of the picture plane, then look for the smaller details, the interlocking shadows and the negative shapes between the objects.

You may find that light is reflected from one surface to another and interferes with and complicates the shadow cast from the primary light source. Try to find the tonal gradations that the reflected light causes. Try to get all areas of tone to work together in a series of tonal shifts. Fill the entire sheet.

Student, Mark Graham


Exercise 3 Creating shadow using lines and marksChoose a simple single object to start with. Work in your sketchbook using four drawing tools such as pencil, ballpoint pen, dip pen and black ink and drawing pen. Divide a page into four and try to make four distinct grades of tone using criss- crossing lines – hatching – and spots. Try marks close together or further apart, short and long lines, curved and straight, large and small spots and stipples, etc. Don’t worry about neatness or accuracy.

Once you’ve practised a range of small lines and marks, arrange three or four objects and make a very quick and loose line drawing. Don’t draw obvious outlines; use just enough line to indicate the objects’ three-dimensionality, then work fast, using the hatching and/or spotting techniques to create tonal shadows that will make the sketches more believable as objects.

Tips1. Half closing your eyes will help you eliminate most of the detail and see the range of

tones.2. Use slightly longer lines, cross-hatching, different amounts of pressure, etc. to create

the impression of shadow. Unless the object is suspended in the air, its cast shadow will always be joined to it and emerge from it.

3. Avoid outlining shadows – either before or after drawing them. If you look at shadows closely you’ll see they have a sharp or soft edge, but no outline.


As you’ve probably realised by now, a flat area will never be evenly lit: the part closest to the light will always have the lightest tones and there will be some gradations of middle tones, however minimal. Look carefully at a flat surface such as a table top and see if you can identify the gradations of tone. Some light sources provide a more even tone, for example a fluorescent strip light or sunlight on a surface outside.

Review your work for the previous two exercises. How difficult did you find it to distinguish between light from the primary light source and secondary reflected light? How has awareness of tone affected your depiction of form? Make some notes in your learning log.

Research pointLook carefully at the image below. Note the artist’s expressive use of tone – blocks of dark charcoal in sharp contrast to expanses of light, and then the smaller details, lines and spots that pull the image together as an ambient scene. Try to find further work by the artist and discuss the atmospheric potential of tone in your log.

Odilon Redon, Two Trees, c.1875 (charcoal on paper)


Exercise 4 Shadows and reflected lightFor this composition, use two objects with reflective surfaces, such as a stainless steel coffee pot and ceramic sugar bowl. The different reflective surfaces will provide an interesting interplay of light and shadow.

Use charcoal, a putty rubber and decide on the size of the composition. Use A1 or A2 paper with a tooth so that you can do bold strokes using the side of your charcoal or conté stick.Try to fill the paper with your objects. Show the reflected light and shade of one object falling on another and leave as little background space (‘negative’ space) as you can. Look carefully at the shapes, shadows and light before you start drawing. You might find the annotated example below helpful.

Draw the basic pattern of shadow first with sweeps of charcoal and/or hatching marks and spots. The white paper will represent your lightest tonal value, so start with the mid tones and then build to the darkest tonal value, as in previous exercises. Observe the reflected pattern of light and shade and work it into the surface of the object. Lift out the smallest lightest tones with the point of a putty rubber, and use the sharpest edge of the charcoal or conté stick to add the smaller finer marks.

Negative spaceReflected light

Shadows

Reflected light


Assignment one

You spent a little time at the beginning of this course considering how artists convey feelings through their art work, and also practice in creating believable shapes through the use of tone, using light and shadow. In this assignment, you are asked to find a few objects that trigger a response for you. These objects can be ordinary, funny, practical or ornamental or a mixture of all these. They can be natural objects, made objects, big or small. Place these objects together to form a still life. Set them up in a space so that they create interesting shapes and angles. Make sure you set the objects up in a place where you have some good light hitting the objects at an angle, in such a way that they make the tones on the object obvious and the light and darks clear. A window with natural light is probably best but you could use a lamp to throw light onto the objects instead. Look at the spaces between the objects as well as the objects themselves.

Take the two experimental mark making sheets that you did exploring texture and gesture and pin them up nearby. Working on a sheet of A3 or A2 paper, and using a range drawing tools, create a drawing using your still life that utilizes some of the experimental mark making that you have discovered. Use a focus on the original impetus for the selection of the source objects to help you make decisions about the drawing as you proceed .

Write a paragraph about why you picked the objects you picked as well as reflecting on the drawing that you have done and what you think went well and what did not, and why. Use this as an opportunity to introduce yourself to your tutor as well as to show your tutor what level your drawing skills are at this point in the course. These notes can go into your learning log (or online blog).

Reflection on your progressBefore you send this assignment to your tutor, take a look at the assessment criteria for this course, which will be used to mark your other assignments when your work is formally assessed. The assessment criteria are listed in the introduction to this course guide.

Review your work using the criteria and make notes in your learning log. Send these reflections to your tutor, along with your drawings, sketchbook, supporting studies and your learning log or blog url.

Your tutor may take a while to get back to you so continue with the course while you’re waiting.

Reworking your assignmentFollowing feedback from your tutor, you may wish to rework some of your assignment, especially if you are ultimately submitting your work for formal assessment. If you do this, make sure you reflect on what you have done and why in your learning log.

Assignment one


Drawing 1

Part two Intimacy


Part two Intimacy


This part of the course focuses on close observation and interpretation, the use of colour, and choice of media such as pen and ink, crayons, oil pastel, wax crayons, pencils and ballpoint pens. The broad subject is your own environment and the range of textures, shapes, tones and lines to be found within it.

You’ll be encouraged to look closely, be selective, and explore different ways of capturing detail through drawing. Sometimes you’ll work in a tight controlled style, at other times in a more expressive loose style.

Materials and toolsYou’ll need to equip yourself with as wide a range of drawing tools as possible: pencils, pens, inks, charcoal, oil sticks, conté sticks and more. Look back to Part One where you experimented with different media to create atmospheric, expressive and, above all, interesting images.

Thick sticks of charcoal, pastel, oil, etc., can give solid areas of colour and tone using the sides as well as the points. Likewise, softer pencils, pens and markers with wide tips will give broader areas of colour, whereas harder, sharper pencils will give finer lines.

Many artists enjoy the less predictable quality of line that is achieved with a dip pen, stick and ink or crumbly charcoal. Try as many tools and methods as possible to help you achieve the image you want – one that fits the subject.

Soft pastelYou can mix coloured pastels on a paper surface by working with light colours first and layering over them with darker marks. You can blend colours simply with soft gradations of colour rather than a series of lines and you can combine colours (sparingly) using a ‘torchon’ – a rolled paper stump.

Coloured pencilsIt’s worth investing in good quality coloured pencils. You’ll find they blend better than cheaper brands and the colour will be more vibrant; you can also achieve good transparency and create optical colour mixes. One way to mix coloured pencils is by hatching the colours you wish to blend. Watercolour pencils are blended with water.


Oil pastelsOil pastels are cheaper than the standard pastel and very versatile. They have the flexibility and ease of use of ordinary pastels while retaining the vibrancy of oil paints. They can be used to create a wax-resist surface, combine interestingly with water- based paints, can be scratched into (graffito), come in a rich range of colours and blend beautifully with low odour thinners. They don’t need fixing, and you can build up layers without the top layer coming off.

Mark Graham (oil pastel and wax crayon)


Coloured inksThere are many ways to draw with coloured inks – using a pen or brush or even a rough twig or stick. The traditional way is to use a pen with interchangeable nibs. The nib gives a variable and sensitive line but you need to re-charge it frequently as the ink is used quite quickly; this makes progress slower. You can also create washes with coloured inks.

MarkersNon-permanent marker pens contain a transparent water-based ink which allows you to mix colours on a paper surface. They have fibre tip ends that release the ink at a controlled rate so you can draw quickly, but create quite a mechanical line that can sometimes lack life. The colours are often overly intense, so unless your intention is to produce an image with unnatural effects you may not find these useful.

PaperOrdinary paper in sketchbooks gives an adequate surface for pencils, but if you want to work with more fugitive media like charcoal and ink, you’ll need thicker paper. For charcoal and pastels you’ll also need paper with a ‘tooth’; this prevents the material deposited by the tool from clogging the grain of the surface too quickly. Experiment with different types, colours and textures of paper in the same way as you do with other media.

Robert Sarll (water colour and ink)


Composition

Working on a grouping of objects offers scope for experimentation in composition, colour, texture and light and helps build your observational skills. Still life (or ‘nature morte’) compositions are usually made up of small or large groups of inanimate objects and can be simple or complex. Some still lives focus on just one object, like a portrait, giving it iconic reverence. There are no real rules about how to set up a still life, but you’ll usually find it comprises one of these, or a combination of both:• crafted and manufactured objects (ceramic, metal, glass and other material)• natural but inanimate objects (things that were once alive). Start by doing some research.

Research pointUse the reading list and other resources like Bridgeman Education and Oxford Art Online (see below) to do some research into the still life genre. You might want to start by looking at some ‘traditional’ approaches, for example by sixteenth - and seventeenth- century Dutch painters, then think about how the genre was interpreted by nineteenth- century artists like Paul Cézanne and modernist artists like the Cubists (Picasso, Braque). Finally, look at how young contemporary artists are working with still life today. How does their approach differ from traditional practice in terms of subject matter, materials and composition?www.bridgemaneducation.com www.oxfordartonline.com

Andy Warhol, Still Life with Book and Camera, 1975 (pencil on paper)

Project 1 Composition


Anything can be used in a still life, so be experimental. Think about objects that mean something to you, and possibly to others. Go to charity shops and car boot sales and look for items that might offer up some kind of story or question, or select them for their interesting texture or shape. You may prefer to appropriate a still life from your surroundings. Don’t feel you have to pose the objects if they already exist in an interesting situation. For example, tools on a rack, dishes in a sink, washing in a basket, a discarded plastic bag, a broken toy in the gutter, and so on, can all be used as ‘found’ images.

Consider how you want to portray the subject. Atmosphere, viewpoint, technique, medium and lighting will all affect your experience of making the drawing and how the final image might be read by others. If you’re creating a scene from scratch, think about how this will look on paper. Consider whether to place the objects off centre, towards the edges, scattered or closely linked. Also think about whether to crop the paper to an unusual format beforehand, one that fits the subject. Will you avoid symmetrical arrangements or embrace them (working like the collector mentioned in Project 2)?

Making a drawing is a process of getting to know your subject so be open to revising your opinion and continue to make decisions as your drawing progresses – the point of the drawing may reveal itself mid way.


Positive and negative spaceYour drawing will be composed both of the objects you have collected, and the spaces around and between those objects. It is entirely possible that the drama of your drawing will rest in the parts where the objects aren’t.

Throughout your studies – whether photography, drawing, painting, printmaking or sculpture – you need to be aware of, and use, negative and positive spaces and shapes.

The main shapes within a composition occupy ‘positive space(s)’. The remaining shapes around and between these are described as ‘negative space(s)’. Negative space doesn’t contain any positive identifiable or‘real’form but neither is it empty. It plays an important role, like pauses in music, or gaps between words. Positive and negative spaces are of equal importance for creating a sense of balance across the whole.

Focusing on the negative space in your drawing can help you to identify what you see, as well as what you know; it can also help you reveal spatial relationships more creatively.

Patrick Caulfield (1936–2005) was inspired by the Cubists and Matisse. His work often uses flat blocks of colour, sharp edges and precise graphic lines to draw attention to the main areas of a composition. In the image above he plays with the idea of positive and negative space, breaking up the picture plane by flattening the three-dimensional form of the table into a flat white shape – almost a hole in the picture plane.

Patrick Caulfield, Reserved Table, 2000 (acrylic on canvas) Bridgeman Education


Some composition guidelinesUse thumbnail sketches to work out a composition before you begin work on a larger piece. This will allow you to try things out, plan your composition and work out the basic design with the freedom to incorporate new ideas as they present themselves. Remember that you do not need to include all the objects and you can allow some parts of the still life to extend out of the drawing. Some people use a viewfinder ( a frame of card with an aperture cut to the same proportions as their paper) to ‘crop’ the view and help see unusual selections. Others prefer to edge themselves into a drawing with the possibility later of cutting the paper, or taping extra sheets on, if it transpires the composition is better served by a different format.

If there’s no obvious starting point to a composition. Is there an element that draws your attention? The eye is naturally drawn towards repetition, directional flow or a break in flow, a particularly dark or light spot or anything unexpected or that contrasts boldly with its surroundings. You can achieve contrast through colour, tone or shape – for example, an angular shape against a rounder softer shape. Other artistic devices such as strong verticals or uprights will arrest the eye and direct the viewer’s gaze.

Repetition of shape, colour or theme helps to bind the composition together – for example, repetition of a circle in different sizes or position. Deliberately restricting colour is another way of uniting the whole image; it can even become the main idea and focus.

You don’t need to confine your composition to a rectangular format or to a standard paper size. If your composition suggests an alternative, try it – a square or uneven format, for instance. Sometimes it’s a good idea to join two pieces of paper together to create an extra long or tall composition. Think about the material, shape, size, texture and imagery of your support as well as the objects themselves. You could use found materials as your support if they work well with your chosen theme, for example; they may even offer up new ideas for your composition.

Research pointLook at a range of artists working today and see how they incorporate positive and negative spaces in their work. One example is Gary Hume; try to find some others and annotate some examples of their work in your learning log.


OCA student, Stephen Powell, Sketchbook studies


Project 1 Detailed observation of natural objects

Now that our lives are conducted through all the paraphernalia of contemporary technology, when our hands and eyes are most often in contact with the man-made, it can be especially meaningful and valuable to focus in on natural forms. For the pieces of work you’ll produce for this project you have free rein to find and draw natural objects. Choose things with a range of textures and patterns and take time finding interesting combinations of objects to draw. As in Part One, try to think beyond the obvious – look for things that interest you visually and / or conceptually. Once again, you’ll start by drawing a single object that inspires you to spend time looking closely at it, then gradually create more complex groups.

Here are some ideas:• When walking in town or the country, in parks or woods, collect leaves, twigs, wild fruit,

weeds, stones, fir cones and anything else that catches your eye.• The seaside is also a great place for collecting natural objects. Driftwood is fascinating to

draw, as are shells, worn pieces of string, seaweed, crab shells and pebbles. If you can, draw and photograph the objects in situ, as you find them, as well as collecting items for a still life study later.

• Another way to look closely at nature is to slice through a vegetable, fruit or other three-dimensional object to find interesting combinations of positive and negative shapes. Look for vegetables with interesting textures inside and out – cabbage, broccoli or cauliflower, perhaps. Cut through them for a contrast between flat shapes and three-dimensional forms. All of the textures and patterns in these vegetables are interesting and throw up particular challenges.

Project 2 Detailed observation of natural objects


Exercise 1 Detail and toneIn this exercise you’ll practise building up dark, medium and light tones, principally using pencils and hatching and cross-hatching techniques. Select another single object such as a shell or a piece of driftwood. Get a varied effect by combining soft and medium grade pencils and altering the direction of the strokes you make. This is time-consuming but can produce great results.

Use smooth A3 paper and a variety of soft pencils. Use a putty rubber to lift out the smallest highlights at the end (but don’t over-use this tool). Lightly sketch in the outlines of the objects. Then screw up your eyes and identify the darkest areas. Begin to hatch in the dark areas in different parts of the drawing. Make sure you work all around the drawing so that you can compare the tones of different areas of the drawing. Seek out the patterns and really focus on making them key aspects of the drawing.

Introduce contrast into your drawing. Make sure you have areas of strong darks with deep cross-hatching, and other areas that are very light in tone, as well as variety in types of mark, direction of mark, continuous line and broken line.

Constantly review your drawing by stepping back from it. Ask yourself if you have sufficient contrasts and variation in mark, and whether you’re filling the paper in an interesting and effective way.

Leyla Bilsborough, Peppers (showing a range of tones in cross hatching)


Before you move on, review your work for this project and make some notes in your learning log.• Which drawing media did you find most effective to use for which effects?• What sort of marks work well to create tone, pattern and texture? Make notes in your

sketchbook beside some sample marks. This will prove useful as you continue your journey as an artist.

• Look at the composition of the drawings you’ve done in this project. Make some sketches and notes about how you might create more interesting compositions.


Project 2 Still life

The process of selecting objects and arranging them is just the beginning. Your eventual outcome will be composed of elements you have taken from those objects, alongside elements of the nature of your materials and something of the unique archaeology of your process. This project develops your earlier work by looking at some different techniques for approaching still life using a variety of media. For this project, you are free to select any objects that intrigue you.

Sonia Boening

Project 3 Still life


Before you start work on the exercises, here are some general points to consider:• Choice of objects. You’ll already have accumulated a range of textured objects that you can

use for this project. As in Part One, try to use objects that interest you. When you set up a group to draw, think carefully about what you want to achieve and be selective.

• Composition. Overlapping objects helps to capture a feeling of depth. Grouping objects together in the centre is conventional but it can be more interesting to challenge that convention by putting objects in surprising places – on the edge of the composition, or spread out in an unusual way. Think about the relationship between the objects, the type of shape the objects create together as a whole and the negative space around them.

• Background. A drawing cannot be truly ‘complete’ without some reference to the background. The background can be busy, fussy, plain, neutral or just very simple, but a drawing is usually more interesting if you get a sense of where the objects are in space, whether it’s a wall, a window, the table edge, a cloth or a pattern created by something else such as wallpaper.

• Point of view. Sit above or to the side of the still life group. In the example below, Cézanne sits at the same level as the table.

• Light. Use strong directional light. This helps define forms and highlight textures and details of objects.

• Using a viewfinder. You may find it helpful to use a viewfinder; there’s more on this in the introduction to Part Three.

Look carefully at the image below. Note how the shape of the fruit is lightly delineated in pencil. Some colour has been applied to the fruit to show tone and the fall of light. The table’s sturdiness is shown by a thicker wash of brown watercolour at the front. The background wall frames the still life.

Paul Cezanne, Pot of Ginger and Fruits on a Table, 1890 (pencil and watercolour on paper)


Exercise 1 Still life using lineSet up a still life group and select objects that either seem to connect naturally (i.e. are similar in one way or another – shape, height, pattern, texture, function, story, etc.) or deliberately contrast or clash.

Once you’ve decided on an interesting placement or composition, think about how you’ll tackle this exercise practically as well as conceptually. How will you treat the objects? How will you make their connections apparent? How will you capture the differences between the objects? How do the objects relate to the background? What is your viewpoint? Will you look straight ahead, to the side, from below? Think about and test all these elements before you commit yourself to a ‘finished’ piece

With these questions in mind, use an A3 sheet of paper and a medium suitable for drawing line (a dipping pen and ink, an oriental brush pen or a fine black pen) to make a drawn study that shows your understanding of the forms, and the connections and spaces between the forms. Concentrate on patterns, textures and shapes. You can indicate tone but this is principally an exercise about line.

OCA student, Carol Smith, Driftwood (white ink on black paper)


Exercise 2 Still life in tone using colourYou’ll work very differently in this second still life exercise. Set up another still life group. Before you begin, screw up your eyes and identify the darkest areas. (You may need to adjust the light using a lamp or strong sunlight.) Use a coloured pencil or pastel to sketch them in roughly, using the side of the medium to create broad strokes. Then, use a different colour to sketch in the mid tones, and yet another colour to sketch in the light tones. Work your way around the composition, adding layers of colour on colour, varying the type and pressure of mark, building up tone, shadow and contrasts.

Think carefully about using a variety of effects, pattern, sweeps of colour, etc. Work quite fast to keep the activity and the image spontaneous and energetic. Don’t be surprised if this image becomes slightly messy and don’t be tempted to fiddle or overwork the image.

Step back from your studies often, and review how it’s going. When you’ve finished, consider whether you’ve made good use of line, tone and colour –if not, start again. You may end up doing several versions but at some stage you’ll know that the image is good enough. When this happens, stop working and reflect on your progress in your learning log.

Michael Coombes


Review your work on the previous two exercises and make some notes in your learning log in response to the following:• What aspects of each drawing were successful, and what did you have problems with?• Did you manage to get a sense of depth in your drawings? What elements of the drawings

and still life groupings helped to create that sense?• What difficulties were created by being restricted to line or tone?• How did using colour affect your working method?

Exercise 3 Experiment with mixed mediaThis time, experiment with using both traditional art tools and ‘non-art’ media. Use wax crayons, ballpoints, highlighters and fat marker pens together with pencils, dipping pens and oriental brush pens (and so on). Think again about your support; perhaps use a coloured wash and/or collaged, textured surface. Whichever media you choose, make notes on how the drawing style, visual effect and conceptual possibilities change or emerge with your use of the different media.

Stephen Powell


Exercise 4 MonochromeFor this exercise you’ll work towards creating an image in a single colour – combining natural and man-made objects and contrasting materials. In the image below the student has used mackerel and a blue patterned plate. The mackerel shimmer with their fine, almost metallic surface; the ceramic plate shines in a different way that’s harder and colder. The forms that make up the composition are also interesting: three similar forms overlap onto the ‘frame’ of the plate below. The plate in turn sits on a plain band of pale blue that echoes the lighter tones of the fish, contrasting with a darker, more patterned background in the top third of the image. The main oval of the plate is very slightly off centre with a glimpse of another object coming in from the right margin. Think about this carefully and be adventurous in your choice of subject.

Select a medium that suits your subject. Are you aiming for detailed complexity of line or an expressive looseness of mark, for example? Ensure you’re able to create a range of tones for your chosen colour by practising in your sketchbook first. Work on approximately A3 size paper.

Lightly sketch the composition. Consider your viewpoint. If you were working on the subject below, for example, you’d probably need to sit in a slightly elevated position to get the best view of the fish. When drawing the plate you’d need to consider whether you wanted to draw the whole plate or allow the paper edge to cut into the plate.

As you work, begin to build the colour up, looking at the way the light catches on the subject. Look at the tones that make up the surface of the objects. Look at the different kinds of texture and pattern. Consider how to capture detail, which tool to use and whether to work with a light or dark line or mark. Look at contrasts – for example the decoration on the plate as a contrast to the pattern on the fish’s body. Drawing a fish is very different from drawing a plate. The surface texture feels and looks very different.

When you’ve finished your drawing, be critical. Look at the subject again. See what you’ve managed to capture effectively and what hasn’t worked so well.


Project 3 At home

Our homes and their contents are invaluable source material. We may not consider objects of great familiarity to us as potential subjects for drawing but these form the backdrop to our lives. Interior scenes are an ideal subject for both objective study and more expressive exploration.

Finding a subjectExplore the place that you live in and search around for areas of your interior space to draw. In this project you’re not composing a still life or arranging a view, you’re simply finding one.Many artists have made studies of their own studio or work area. You could choose to study the clutter of a child’s bedroom or a corner that houses boots and shoes. A tool shed, potting shed or utility room might be interesting for this exercise.

Look at how forms relate to other objects in the room – how furniture, furnishings, house plants, lamps, rugs and pictures create mini-environments with their own particular formal and tonal interest. Corners are useful as they will help you isolate an area that has space within it defined by the planes of walls and floor or ceiling. Look for structural lines such as doors, windows frames and ledges or the anterior corner of a wall. These elements will provide definition and help you to achieve an illusion of space through perspective.

Your choice of subject may have more subjective and emotional aspects in which case your task is to find the best means to convey your response. In any case, you may find that your aims and priorities shift in the course of the following exercises. Furniture has been a subject for many artists: think of van Gogh’s chair and bed or Whistler’s Still Life with Umbrella. Tables, especially round tables with objects placed on them, have figured in many interior studies; chairs speak of the absence of their user.

Here, as in many of Paula Rego’s scenes, we become observers of domestic violence; her stories and style of drawing are a strange mixture of comedy and drama. This is in contrast to Leonard McComb’s, Portrait of Sylvia Pasella delicate

Paula Rego, The Mother in Law, 1987 (Godfrey, 1990, p.76)

Leonard McComb, Portrait of Sylvia Pasella, 1981 (Godfrey, 1990, p.70)

Project 4 At home


portrayal where the still figure is almost consumed by the pattern and colour across the rest of the image.

Choosing your light sourceNotice how the light falls at different times of the day. If you wish to work in daylight this is critically important, especially in winter when the sun’s trajectory is very short. You could make some rough sketches or take digital photographs and make a note of times of the day when the light falls best for you. You might even decide to actively develop the theme of changing light in this project.

In summer you have longer hours of continuous light, especially from a south facing window, but you can’t guarantee continuity even in the same session of drawing. Be vigilant in noticing the effects of available light. Even if you use artificial light in daylight you must still observe all of the light sources carefully.

Look at how the vertical lines of walls, doors and window frames not only divide the composition but define tonal areas in shadow and light. Be aware of the interest and effects of reflected light. You could use reflected images from mirrors or glass cabinets (look at Manet’s A Bar at the Folies-Bergere, right) for interesting effects.

Eduard Manet, A Bar at the Folies-Bergere, 1881-82 (oil on canvas)


Exercise 1 Quick sketches around the houseTake your sketchbook or larger sheets of paper fastened to a drawing board together with a selection of drawing media. Aim to work your way around most rooms in your house over several sessions and maybe also rooms outside the house such as the garden shed. In each room make four quick sketches, turning 45 degrees after each one to face another area of the room. You’ll find that looking into corners works best.

Make fast visual notes without getting involved in detail. This exercise may take several days to complete depending on how long you have available for each session. Try to work without preconceptions. Observe, note and reflect. Your drawing approach is up to you. Some drawings may contain few marks, some will be simple line drawings, some may have elements of tonal analysis. Don’t worry if some of your drawings appear childish or scribbled or wrong in some way. Keep moving on but notice and note down any errors in observation or execution.

You’ll probably find some areas very difficult and frustrating to work on while others will attract your interest and stimulate your imagination. Think about why that is and record your thoughts in your learning log.

When you’ve completed this exercise, look at all your drawings carefully. Which are the strongest and why? Which drawings did you enjoy the most? Which area in which room do you want to study further? Use this exercise both as practice in fast observational drawing and to locate the area that you’ll study in greater detail in the following exercises.

A Flat in Mud Mansions, The Parade, France: a British officer’s dug-out from a sketch by himself, from The Illustrated War News, c.1914


Exercise 2 Composition – an interiorLook carefully at the angles and areas of your chosen interior view and note where objects are placed. Keep shifting your viewpoint until you find one that pleases you. Look for strong tonal contrasts, textures, linear qualities and strong positive and negative shapes.

Establish your observational position – standing, sitting on a chair or on the floor. Ensure you can work comfortably and see clearly. If you’ve chosen to work in an area that requires daylight make sure that you can set aside two to three hours at the right time of day to return to your drawing project.

Make four quick sketches to outline basic shapes and map out tonal areas using a soft pencil, conté or charcoal. In each sketch shift your viewpoint or eye level. You’ll notice the apparent distortion of certain forms due to foreshortening. (Look this term up if you’re not sure what it means. You’ll return to this in Part Three.) Vary your studies by shifting the viewpoint up or down, or moving in and out.

FormatDo studies in both portrait and landscape format. You may find that the portrait format can be more dynamic in terms of perspective while the landscape format can offer a sense of intimacy. Play with these ideas and think about looking up, down, to the side, straight ahead. Also look at the objects and forms that will make up the composition and consider whether a strong vertical or horizontal plane will work best. You may find that you can’t fit all of your subject into the picture space. Don’t be afraid to cut off part of the subject, as happens with photography. Consider how this might add dynamism and interest to your composition.

Choose your viewCompare your preliminary sketches to help you decide on your composition. Half close your eyes in order to ‘read’ the tonal values better. Note which tonal and linear arrangements work best, and decide on the basic structure, outlines and format for your interior study. You can change your mind at any stage as you progress through the next exercise. Keep looking, evaluating and experimenting.


Research pointLook at the image to the right and consider how you might work with unusual or multiple viewpoints. Find contemporary artists who focus on domestic interiors and analyse their choice of content, medium, format, etc. Consider how their work reflects its context in terms of era, fashion, mood, current issues, and so on.

In this image by Anthony Green, the viewer looks down on the scene and is able to look at the room from many angles. In the second image by Philip Pearlstein, there is a diagonal emphasis to the composition, with the legs of both models reaching from corner to corner. The mirror also adds a more distanced frontal view of the woman.

Anthony Green, Study for Mrs Madeleine Jocelyne with her Son,1987, Bridgeman Education

Philip Pearlstein, Male Model with Kimono, Female Model with Mirror, 1985 (Godfrey, 1990, p.71)


Exercise 3 Material DifferencesBy now you should have a clear idea of the basic elements of your drawing. For this exercise, work on a large scale (A2 to A1):

• Use light marks to map out the composition. Be sure to use all of the picture space.• Look carefully at how the light falls across your subject. Half close your eyes to help you

see the broad tonal areas and map them onto your drawing. • Thinking back to the exercises you did in project 4 using different materials select an

appropriate material or set of materials to take this drawing through to resolution. • Keep looking from your subject to your drawing while squinting to check on tonal

values.

Vincent van Gogh, Cradle, (pencil on paper)


Assignment two

This assignment is designed to pull together the fine observation and practice that you’ve done on this part of the course. You’re free to choose your own source material and media, provided that you take account of the factors listed below. You can either work on a still life, or interior scene – or a combination of these. Whatever you choose to draw, be selective and remember that your subject matter might be quite different to your source material. Much can be expressed through sensitive composition and creative use of materials.

In the work you produce now you must demonstrate a growing understanding of:• the use of colour in drawing• the most appropriate medium for the subject• composition and context• mark-making and contrasts of line and tone• accurate and expressive depiction of form• experimentation with idea, material and method.

Use this as a checklist for the final pieces, continually asking yourself: Is this a creative composition? Is my subject interesting? Am I using the most appropriate medium, colour, method, etc.?

Look back at the projects in Part Two and decide which might be most appropriate for your chosen subject. Experiment in your sketchbook and make notes until you’re confident and then begin on a sheet of paper at least A3 size. Spend time gradually building the drawing, bearing in mind that this should show some of the skills and knowledge gained throughout Part Two as well as earlier in the course.

ReflectionJust a reminder to revisit the assessment criteria. Think about how well you have done against the criteria and make notes in your learning log.

As well as the assignment pieces and preliminary studies, you should also submit some of the exercises and other test pieces as evidence of your development.

Put your name, student number and the project/exercise number on the back of the drawings and send to your tutor together with relevant pages from your sketchbooks and learning log. It may be more convenient to photograph some or all of the relevant material and email it to them or send on a USB but discuss this with your tutor beforehand. Your tutor may take a while to get back to you so continue with the course while you’re waiting.


Assignment two


Drawing 1

Part three Expanse

Student, Joe Clarke

Part three Expanse


Part Three is about observational drawing and learning how to get to grips with drawing the world around you. When you’re first confronted with an expanse of landscape it can be hard to know where to begin. If you choose an expansive subject such as a park, a farmyard, fields, or a woodland view, there will be a vast amount of information to capture and select from. It may be useful to use a viewfinder to do this (see next page).

If you’re unable to go out into the landscape, draw the views through the windows of your home or car, or from photographs.

The weather can change very quickly. If you’re unable to finish a drawing, take a photograph from the same position and use it as a reference to help you complete the drawing. But remember that photographs don’t capture everything that the eye can see. Our eyes move and we can move our heads; a camera uses a fixed lens that has distortions, particularly wide angle and depth of field distortion. So you’ll need to rely on your memory of the scene as well as the photograph.

In general, don’t spend more than two hours at a time outside. A significant amount of your work can be completed indoors. Break your outdoor work down into small chunks if that suits you better. Don’t feel you have to sit outside for long periods if you don’t want to.

Self-consciousness can be a problem when drawing outdoors but it’s usually just mild curiosity on the part of the spectator. If people do chat with you, be pleasant and pass the time of day –they’ll soon move on.

Sir John Everett Millais, Awful Protection Against Midges, 1853 (pen and brown ink on paper)


Health and safetyAt the risk of stating the obvious, here are a few health and safety reminders for working outdoors.• It’s easy to forget extremes of temperature when working outdoors and because you

remain in one spot you can be susceptible to sunstroke or even hypothermia.• In hot weather, always wear a sun hat, take a bottle of water to drink, keep in the shade and

wear high factor sun cream.• You can get cold very quickly at temperatures below 10° C – the wind chill factor is often

deceiving. Wear layers of clothing to retain body heat and take frequent breaks to walk about and keep your circulation going (a good opportunity to stand back and look at your work).

• Don’t try and carry too much. Simplify the materials kit you take when drawing outside. Pack a digital camera to take reference photographs.

• Never draw in isolated areas without letting people know where you are – try to go out drawing with a friend.

ViewfindersSome artists find it valuable to use a viewfinder to frame and compose areas of landscape. Using a viewfinder may make it easier to decide what to leave out and what to adapt to make an effective sketch or study.

You may also find a viewfinder useful in still life drawing. Holding a piece of mount card or a picture frame up to your face allows you to visually frame a scene, object or subject. The closer the frame is to your eye, the larger the view. The further away the viewfinder, the more reduced and simple the composition.

Both Turner and Constable used this device. If you’re right-handed use your left hand to hold the viewfinder, and vice versa if you’re left-handed. Always try to look at your subject from exactly the same position. Some students prefer to attach the viewfinder to a drawing board.

How to make a viewfinder• You can buy plastic mounts with a grid printed on one side, or you can make your own

viewfinder out of A4 thin card or cardboard:• Take a piece of A4 card. Draw a line from one corner to the diagonally opposite corner.

Repeat this with the other two corners. This locates the centre of the A4 card.• From the centre, draw a horizontal line and a vertical line. You now have four rectangles and

a diagonal line running across them.• Subdivide the rectangles again. You now have the centre of each rectangle. Draw a

horizontal line and a vertical line through the centre point of each of these four smaller rectangles. Join up the four points. You should now have a central rectangle that is the same proportions as your A4 card.

• Cut out this rectangle and you have a viewfinder with four measuring marks along the top, bottom and sides of the frame.


Project 1 Trees

Before we go headlong into the expansive view of landscapes and townscapes, let’s start with a more focused study of trees. In many ways drawing trees can be likened to learning to draw parts of the body, with their hard and soft structures, spaces, repetitions, grooves, bumps, joints, textures and so on. This project will help you practise measuring, the use of negative and positive space, tone, perspective and other important aspects of drawing.

Trees form and define the characteristics of many of our landscapes and townscapes. When we view a rural or urban scene, trees often provide a framework, focus and atmosphere. For much of the time we don’t view trees in isolation but in relation to other trees, the sky, streets, hills, buildings and people. Whether in a crowded woodland or tree-lined street, the space all around, the ground below and the canopy above all come together to create different atmospheric effects through light, space, movement and perspective.

There’s no simple formula for drawing trees. It’s possible to identify some basic tree shapes associated with particular species, but the growth patterns of individual trees are unique and dependent on their location, surrounding trees, prevailing wind, and light. Pruning, pollarding or wind damage all alter a tree’s natural form so it might be worth avoiding such trees for this project.

Henry Moore, Trees in Winter 11, 1977 (charcoal and watercolour)

Project 1 Trees


Deciduous or broad-leaved species have a very different appearance through the seasons. Think of the bare winter tree as the skeleton and the foliage as flesh. You have to find the underlying structure in order to understand the overall form of the tree when in leaf.

The key approach to making any study of trees is simplification. Try to keep a fluid approach that will tie in with the organic and flowing lines of the tree’s form. Don’t be put off by the dense and complex patterns of foliage and seeds or the endless subdivision of branches and twigs. Look for strong lines, bold shapes and strong areas of tonal contrast. Be aware of the individual characteristics of any tree that you study and focus on its particular dynamics.

Studying trees in the landscape will build your observational skills, develop your drawing techniques and composition, and help you to select from what you see.

Exercise 1 Sketching individual treesFind a tree that interests you in a park, garden or anywhere where you feel comfortable sitting or standing. Look out from a ground floor window if that suits you better. You’ll need to be at some distance from a big tree.

Do around four preliminary drawings – it may help to divide your paper up into four landscape or portrait boxes. Use a soft pencil (2B–6B), charcoal or pen and ink. Keep building up on the basis of previous sketches.• Draw a simple outline of the tree’s overall shape.• Draw basic shapes in outline, or shaded areas that describe how the foliage forms in

different masses around the tree.• Draw the outlines of the trunk and the main branches of the tree that you can see.• Draw with lots of scribbled outlines or shade roughly to try and indicate something of

the texture of the foliage.

These simple studies will help you get to grips with the structure of the tree.


Exercise 2 Larger observational study of an individual treeNow spend more time really looking at a tree in detail. Spend at least an hour on this drawing. Choose which media will suit the individual characteristics of ‘your’ tree. For example, you might decide to use A3 cartridge paper and a fine drawing medium such as a drawing pen, pencil or ballpoint.

Try to work fairly quickly so that you keep a free and flowing hand to follow the fluid lines and forms of the tree. What makes the tree distinctive? Its solid massive presence (a mature oak, horse chestnut, sycamore or ash), its airiness and delicacy (a birch), or its bent windblown form (a hawthorn)? You don’t need to draw twigs and branches in detail but try to capture a sense of directionality. Ash twigs curl. Beech twigs grow straighter and are almost on a horizontal plane when in leaf; in winter they reach up. Some Scots pine, larch and firs only branch out high up the trunk, making for a very distinctive form. Continually observe your subject and don’t be afraid to keep drawing without looking at your paper.

Notice the light source; see where the deepest shadows are and the strongest light (these are usually next to each other). Hint at texture by fluid use of shading or lines.

Student, Andrew Macdonald


Exercise 3 Study of several treesThis drawing demonstrates the artist’s ability to be selective and simplify the scene. It captures the most striking feature – the fall of light on the trees – by simply leaving white areas free of marks. Note the very simple use of perspective where the more distant forms are not only smaller but also less defined.

Spend one to two hours on this exercise. Work in a wood or study a group of trees. You might decide to work using a variety of media and introduce colour with crayon, oil pastel or watercolour pencils. Look for a point of interest; this could be a path to introduce an element of perspective, or strong contrasts in light and shade, or the dynamic forms of the trees themselves. A bank or rocks could form part of your study.

Foliage will provide its own contrasting tonal areas, but in autumn and winter you can see contrast and depth in the intense darkness of evergreens or the density of receding layers of bare twigs and branches. Notice the effect of ivy on a deciduous tree or the presence of conifers, holly or laurel in woodland. Try to work in broad tonal areas. Look for strong contrast in light or dark or intense areas of colour, especially evident in autumn, or the brightness of moss in winter. Tree trunks will dominate in either dark or pale tones.

Your drawing should suggest form and mass, but don’t get stuck with detail. If you use watercolour pencils, use a wet brush to develop some simple watercolour washes so that you can map out areas of tone. Through autumn and winter leaf litter often makes for vivid and complementary colour and tonal interest.If woodland or several trees overwhelm you as a subject, ‘zoom in’ on an area that interests you and make a more abstract drawing composed of elements that have strong lines, texture, colour or contrast.

When you’ve finished, make some notes in your learning log.• What techniques did you use to

distinguish one species of tree from another?

• How did you convey the mass of foliage and the spaces between?

• How did you handle light on the different parts of the tree?

• Did you manage to select and simplify? Look at your drawings and make notes on how you did this, and what you could have done better.

Student, Jim Lloyd


Project 2 Landscape

There are many reasons why we might want to go out into the landscape and draw. For some, the most important reason is a desire to depict the beauty and the variety of the world around us. However landscapes don’t have to be beautiful to be interesting. There can be as much interest and atmosphere in an industrial landscape as there is in a rural location. Depicting landscape can also be as much about the elements as it is about recording its many forms and features. It is also as much about light and space as it is about physical forms and structures.Light that enhances the features of the land, buildings or cast across fields may not last more than a few moments so you need to plan, perhaps coming back the following day depending on weather conditions. Think about tone and shadow and how light can change a scene atmospherically as well as structurally.

When you find a view, stay awhile and consider what interests you about the place. Is there adequate subject matter to engage you in a sustained drawing project? Perhaps take photographs to record shadows, textures and fine details.

Collect things on your walk, such as stones, leaves, bark or other material to remind you of your journey, and sketch individual details and features of special interest – isolated trees, gate posts, barns, a church in the distance. These may well come together to form your subject and its context.

As well as realistic scenes based on converging lines of roads, paths, rooftops, etc., try bolder, more stylised images, abstracting some of these elements to create patterns, texture, gestural lines. Silhouettes can be an interesting challenge and these work well when incorporating trees, buildings, statues or other features. If you’re in an urban environment consider the area between sky and land, using the forms and structures that appear there to create interest across the horizon line.

Student, James Lloyd

Project 2 Landscape


Research pointResearch artists from different eras who use landscape as their main subject. Albrecht Dürer’s landscapes are some of the earliest recordings of the northern Renaissance world. You might also look at Claude Lorrain’s designed landscapes based on classical proportions. Moving forward into the twentieth century, L.S. Lowry’s images of Salford industrial life arguably show a more down-to-earth human response. Today we have George Shaw who shows us the reality of an urban environment and Sarah Woodfine who takes an imaginative approach to drawing spaces and places.

George Shaw, The Passion: Number 57, 1997


Research pointSome artists adopt a similar approach to drawing other natural elements, for example the sea or the night sky. Look at some images by Vija Celmins and consider how her approach can help you with your cloud drawings. Watch this video www. vimeo.com/22299024

Vija Celmins, Ocean Surface, 1985 (Drypoint)

Exercise 1 Cloud formations and toneIn this exercise you’ll concentrate on drawing clouds in the same way as you concentrated on trees, creating comprehensive tonal studies in your sketchbook using charcoal, oil pastels, conté sticks and other tonal media. You can also use a putty rubber to lift out the lightest tones and add texture by erasing small areas, leaving pale and expressive traces of paper beneath the medium.

Take time to study and observe the weather conditions. Look at the way light hits the top of the cloud and filters through the gaps, for example. The light will vary according to the weather. Remember that it will be darker underneath the clouds and may reflect colours in the sky from the sun, or by the moisture carried by the cloud.

Take account of movement: wind can move the cloud at varying speeds and so the shapes and structures will differ according to the weather conditions.

Go out in different weathers and make small sketches of patches of sky and clouds. Use a range of media to create monochrome and subtly coloured studies. Try to capture different weather patterns and times of the day.

Draw quickly and try to give volume to the clouds; make them billow and show movement. Remember to focus on light and dark and try to capture the contrasts and tonal effects. This can be a very satisfying exercise as only you know what the cloud looked like at the time of drawing. There is no right or wrong way to depict something as fleeting and formless as a cloud – only interesting ways.


Exercise 2 Sketchbook walkGo for a walk in your local park, around your garden or somewhere you normally walk. Find a view that you like or are familiar with and use your viewfinder to help you focus on a point of interest. This could be trees, a gate or a road. If you can’t get out, focus on a view from a window – or use a photograph.

Make four sketches during your walk. You’ll be drawing rapidly and you may make mistakes – but don’t rub anything out. You can draw over any mistakes and re-state what you want to depict. Try to capture the idea of what you see through drawing; think of your sketching as taking notes. Try to get everything in, no matter how roughly. Fast drawing helps you to concentrate and see more clearly, shutting out unnecessary ‘noise’.

Make written observations where appropriate:• the time, weather conditions and direction of light and shadow• the main point of interest such as a building, gate or group of trees• the division of space into foreground, middle ground and background• pattern and textures, repetition of large and small shapes, tonal values, etc. across the

scene.



Exercise 3 360° studiesChoose an expansive landscape where you have an open view in all directions. Start one drawing looking north. Use your viewfinder to find a focal point, frame your view and complete a 15-minute drawing.

Then turn your stool on the same spot to face west, south and east. Each time repeat the process of finding a focal point and complete another 15-minute drawing.

This exercise should teach you how the landscape view changes by just shifting your viewpoint slightly. Many artists return to a favourite spot and, simply by shifting their viewpoint, see something entirely different in the landscape.

Research pointResearch some historic and contemporary artists who work in series with the landscape. You may already be familiar with works by Monet, Cézanne and David Hockney. Look also at work by Peter Doig, John Virtue and other younger artists working today. For example, see Nicholas Herbert’s series of drawings of the Chiltern Hills at: http://nicholasherbert.wordpress.com/tag/contemporary-landscape-drawing/

Raymond Pettibon, No Title (I have had...), 2003(Dexter, 2005, p.248)



The main challenge in working in the landscape is that it is so big. The view is massive and we tend to read it as a vista or panorama, extending past the edges of vision from one view point. Working in the landscape we are bombarded with information, both seen and felt. Rather than standing in front of our source, viewing it from a distance, we are absorbed into it – a part of it – and it can be hard to make any kind of sense of things.

Be as bold and creative as possible when selecting what aspects of your experience of being in the landscape you choose to select and compose into your drawing. Remember everything that you discovered in part two and combine it with you developing understanding of the landscape to build this drawing.

Exercise 1 Developing your studiesReview your preparatory drawings from Project 2 and select those that have most of the elements that you would like to include in a larger drawing. It may be that you’ve already produced a composition that you now feel is strong enough to take further. You could decide to focus on a single form that dominates the composition, or you may have in mind a group of forms that can be positioned in an interesting manner, using repeated colours, lines, marks, textures and so on across the picture plane. Whatever you decide, try to be adventurous in your subject and in your composition. Test your growing skills and show that you can work beyond the expected.

Working outside involves some planning and preparation and a clear sense of intention. Always take a sketchbook and digital camera with you while searching for locations. In softer rural landscapes, look at the main compositional lines such as those along hills, valleys, roads, walls, trees and buildings. Consider the most interesting features and shapes and decide on a focal point. This could be an object or area of dramatic contrast, say between pasture and woodland, or it could be a rocky outcrop, a barn or a group of trees in the distance. Think about how to exploit other elements in the foreground or middle distance to lead the eye around the picture as well as towards the focal point.

If you’re studying a ‘hard’ landscape with strong geological elements, you can simplify massive structures such as mountains, hills, cliffs or rock faces by following the dynamic forces that shaped them. Look for fault lines and facets, deep crevices and areas of shadow and light. Don’t be intimidated by scale and keep thinking about the viewpoint and ways to use perspective to convey distance and close-up viewpoints. Exciting abstract handling can result from drawing the ‘bones’ of the landscape.



Research pointUse your reading list and other sources to find contemporary artists who work with landscape and a range of viewpoints and compare their approaches with those of earlier artists. Discuss your findings in your learning log. For example, compare Tacita Dean’s blackboard drawings www.mariangoodman.com (click on artists for Tacita Dean) with Seurat’s Landscape with Houses. The Seurat image is widely available online, for example at http://metmuseum.org

Start by listing the similarities and the differences.

Tacita Dean, Fatigues, 2012 (chalk on blackboard) Marian Goodman Gallery. Available from: http://www.mariangoodman.com/exhibitions/2013-02-01_tacita-dean/ [accessed 13 February 2014]


Exercise 2 Foreground, middle ground, backgroundChoose one of your sketches or photographs – or if you prefer, return to a location and draw on the spot. You’ll need A3 cartridge paper (on a hard-backed sketchpad or fixed to a drawing board if you’re drawing outdoors), a ruler, and a range of pencils, graphite pencils and water-soluble pencils. You’ll also need to use your viewfinder and a grid if you’re enlarging one of your sketches or working from a photograph.

The aim of this exercise is to establish a foreground, middle ground and background in your drawing. If you can compose and structure your drawing to include these divisions, you’ll begin to establish a sense of space in the structure of your drawing. This way of organising space is characteristic of the French classical painters Nicolas Poussin and Claude Lorrain, who in turn influenced the British landscape artist, JMW Turner.

The crucial factor to bear in mind is that objects in the foreground such as trees or plants will appear to be clearer and have more detail, be bigger in proportion, and will have texture. Draw boldly to create detail and show light direction and shadow. The middle section of your drawing will include subtle changes. The detail will begin to be less important and you should employ more tonal shading through closer hatching. Use your putty rubber sparingly to increase the contrasts in tone.


TipIt’s sometimes a good idea to incorporate a small feature to frame the middle distance; this could be a house at the edge of your drawing or a field division such as a wall or fence. If you do this, though, make sure it doesn’t look false or overly intended – there’s a fine line between artistic licence and cliché.

The background of your landscape will usually include the horizon and the sky. The sky is very important because it is the source of light. The horizon can be defined by hills, buildings (which may be loosely drawn and vague in shape) or the junction between sea and sky in the distance. It is important to convey this distance by very even or light shading. Nothing in the background should be defined. Try to convey the impression of great distance between the spectator and this section of the landscape. The aim is to emphasise atmosphere – this is the basis of aerial or atmospheric perspective (see Project 4).

When you’re happy with the work you’ve produced for the previous two exercises, take some time to reflect on what you’ve achieved.• How did you simplify and select? Were you able to focus on simple shapes and patterns

amid all the visual information available to you?• How did you create a sense of distance and form?• Were you able to use light and shade successfully?• What additional preliminary work would have been helpful towards the larger study?

JMW Turner, Windsor Castle and Park with Deer (watercolour over pencil)


Project 4 Perspective

Getting the relative scale of the objects right in your drawings is most important if you want to create a sense of three-dimensional space. Angles of receding lines and foreshortening must be accurately translated if the drawing is to look ‘real’. Perspective is a technique to create an illusion of space and depth on a flat piece of paper. Another way of describing it is the ability to establish the scale of objects at different positions in space.

Perspective was developed by Italian artists in the fifteenth century and it rapidly became the drawing system which artists used to create three-dimensional effects in drawing and painting. Artists had managed to create three-dimensional effects before this simply by drawing the foreground objects large and the background objects small.

Linear perspectiveThe simplest way to explain linear perspective is to look at an ordinary rectangular doorway, first with the door closed and then with it opened away from you. First, look at it straight on, so that the closed door and its door-frame are perfect rectangles. Now get someone to open the door slowly. As soon as it opens even a fraction, it appears to become a different shape. It is no longer a rectangle, it no longer fits the doorframe and it appears reduced in size.

Now look again at the open door, first from a sitting position and then standing. The door will appear to be a different shape from each position, as in the figures below.

By looking at a door like this you can see that:• receding parallel lines (in this case the top and bottom of the door) when extended meet at

a point• the point at which they meet changes if you look at them from different heights. These are

the basic principles on which linear perspective is based.

Project 4 Perspective


The basic rule of perspectivePerspective has one basic rule: receding lines which are actually parallel appear, if you extend them, to meet at a point on the horizon line (your eye level). This imaginary point is called the vanishing point.

These receding lines are not real lines but lines that, if followed through in your mind from any object, will converge at the vanishing point. All objects above the horizon line appear to have lines that angle downwards towards the vanishing point. All objects below the horizon line appear to have lines that angle upwards towards the vanishing point.

In the image below, the vanishing point is just beyond the top of the steps, through the second archway. This has the effect of drawing the viewer’s eye through the entrance gate. A similar effect is created in the pencil drawing of the Pont d’Avignon below.

Caspar Friedrich, Entrance Gate to the Royal School in Meissen(pencil and watercolour)

Claude Barry, Avignon (pencil)


Parallel or one-point perspectiveIn parallel perspective, all lines converge on a single vanishing point so that objects appear to disappear into the distance. This is used when you have an object that is facing the viewer flat on.

Below is a diagram representing a rug on the floor, seen first from a seated position and then standing up. In both drawings, two sides of the rug are receding while two sides are drawn flat-on and parallel. Initially all pictures drawn in perspective were drawn like this with one plane of the main object parallel to the picture plane. This form of representation is called ‘parallel perspective’.

Vanishing point

Vanishing point

Eye level

Eye level


Two-point or angular perspectiveThe limitations of parallel perspective make it impossible to depict ‘corner-on’ views of objects, i.e. when an object doesn’t have a straight edge facing the viewer. Angular perspective was developed for views of this kind so that, for example, two sides of a building which are actually at right angles to each other can be drawn receding to two separate vanishing points.

Exercise 1 Parallel perspective – an interior viewDraw a view through a doorway inside a building. It could be a view from one room into another or a view from a room into a corridor or hall. Try to arrange it so that there is a rectangular rug or something similar in front of the doorway. If the walls and the floor are tiled or have some kind of geometric pattern that will be ideal. Position yourself to draw so that the doorway is flat on to you, as is the rug in front of it.

Draw in line (use tone as well if you wish) and check the angles of all receding lines against the horizontal and vertical lines of the doorframe. Don’t use a ruler or a rubber. Draw and re-draw these angles until you think they are correct and then stop for a moment. Estimate the height of your eyes from the ground and mark on the doorframe in your drawing where this point would be. If you wish, stand next to the actual doorframe and mark the level of your eyes there. Whichever method you use, next use a ruler to draw a horizontal line across your drawing at your eye level.

As you’ve seen, the basic rule of perspective states that lines that are actually parallel will recede to a single vanishing point. Now check your drawing to see whether they do. Extend these receding lines using a ruler and see whether they meet. If, as is probable, they meet in a variety of places, make one pair meet on your eye level. Then, using a ruler, draw other lines which are parallel to these to meet at the same vanishing point. In this way you are constructing a perspective drawing on top of your drawing made from observation. Spend some time checking what you can actually see and comparing it first with your initial drawing and then with the superimposed perspective drawing.

Make notes in your learning log on your experience of this exercise. Did using a ruler help you?

Joseph Gandy, Sir Francis Chantrey’s Sculpture Gallery (watercolour and pencil on paper)


This drawing relies strongly on the use of perspective to draw your eye along the street and thus creates a busy city scene rather than a straightforward architectural drawing. Check the accuracy of the drawing by copying a simplified version into your sketch book and then continuing the perspective lines to the vanishing point.

Exercise 2 Angular perspectiveMake a line drawing of a building or several buildings seen corner-on. If this isn’t possible, arrange a group of books on a table with the books all seen corner-on. The books should be different sizes, with some placed on top of others.

Use every possible vertical or horizontal reference to ensure that receding lines are drawn at the correct angles. If you’re drawing buildings remember that the vertical corner of the building itself is an excellent reference.

When you’ve drawn the objects as accurately as possible, draw in your eye level and extend receding lines to it. If you’ve drawn buildings outdoors you’ll want to do this part of the exercise afterwards at home. All parallel lines should meet on your eye level but, in this drawing, you’ll have many vanishing points and you’ll discover that most of them will be off your paper.

Bruce Nauman, Drawing for Rotating Glass Walls, 1970 (Godfrey, 1990, p.48). This drawing is a proposal for an imaginary revolving structure made of glass and was the starting point for Nauman’s experimental film projections (Morgan, R. (ed.) (2002) Bruce Nauman. Baltimore: JHU Press)

Sir Muirhead Bone, Rome, 1910 (pencil)


Aerial or atmospheric perspectiveAnother way of creating a sense of distance is through aerial or atmospheric perspective. This refers to the way that distant objects appear less distinct and colour intensity fades towards blue-grey as objects recede.

Exercise 3 Aerial or atmospheric perspectiveThis exercise is about tonal gradation. When you’re working with perspective and the suggestion of distance, you should notice that tonal values become lighter as the amount of space between the eye and the horizon increases. Detail is less clear and focus steadily reduced. If there is moisture in the air greater ‘fogging’ occurs and, even on a fine day, it can seem as though veils of blue are layered across the mid to far distance.

In hot and arid zones, aerial perspective barely exists and the hottest tones (such as the reds in the rocky outcrops of the Australian desert) retain their saturated depth far into the distance.Using drawing media such as charcoal, soft graphite, conté sticks, soft chalky pastel, oil sticks and ink, make several tonal studies that analyse receding features of the landscape from foreground to mid and far distance.

With a light touch, establish the horizon before plotting the basic forms of objects in the landscape. Analyse the gradation of tone away into the distance. You may prefer to use a single colour, using monochrome as a tonal and atmospheric tool.

In the image on the next page the artist has used a soft reddish grey palette across the whole scene to suggest a misty atmosphere that contrasts with the strong linear drawing style. This is a quite different approach to the use of colour and tone, but equally atmospheric.


A note about Part FourIn Part Four, you’ll be trying some life drawing and you’ll need a model. Start thinking about this now so that you don’t find yourself stuck for a model when the time comes. You’ll find some notes at the start of Part Four.

Wilhelmina Barns-Graham, Tower of St Ia, St Ives, 1963 (pencil and mixed media)


Project 5 Townscapes

This project follows on naturally from the last one because, when you’re drawing structures such as buildings, roads, cars and so on, it’s important to understand the different ways of using perspective so that the man-made elements are believable as three-dimensional forms. Trees, people and other ‘natural’ forms are rarely symmetrical, but the structures that make up towns often are, and this is where strong perspective skills come into their own.

Townscapes are in some ways more readily approached through drawing than more rural subjects. Architects, designers, illustrators and town planners project their ideas of buildings before they exist. Ruskin studied the architecture of antiquity in fine drawings and watercolours in order to explore their properties, but the urban landscape has inspired far more expressive handling. Look at how Lancashire mill towns were interpreted by L.S. Lowry, or how Whistler and Monet made much of the smog in London.

Graphic artists interested in the urban landscape can exploit the lines of buildings, streets and pavements to explore perspective and convey a sense of the contained space that we experience in town. Most of us are urban dwellers so making a project of studying your immediate environment is not only practical but you’ll also already be familiar with your subject and perhaps have strong feelings that you wish to convey through drawing.

If you decide to work on an urban landscape, think of secure locations that you can work in where you won’t feel overlooked or self-conscious. Consider working close to home or even from your home, looking from a window or garden. Another option would be to draw from a parked car.

Research pointThe urban environment is a theme increasingly adopted by contemporary artists who revisit the art historic subject of ‘landscape’ to offer insights into today’s fast changing society. One example is John Virtue. Try to find some information on the work he produced while associate artist in residence at the National Gallery. You’ll also find works he has made on site on the moors and at sea.

Look for other examples to use as inspiration for your own ideas and discuss these in your log.

Project 5 Townscapes


You’ll concentrate mainly on clearly defined shapes and forms of buildings and this is a good way to practise your observational skills. You can draw from a window, a café or anywhere that offers an interesting view. Focus on what interests you by zooming in and quickly sketching the basic forms, tones, lines and so on. You can also use photography and written notes to capture different aspects and details for later use.

Try to translate the textures and patterns of buildings as well as their forms. Observe closely and absorb the atmosphere and overall colour; consider how it affects your response to the scene, whether it’s a bustling thoroughfare or an empty street. Weather conditions and the time of day will influence the amount and quality of light on your subject and the tonal values across the scene. Think about how you might draw what you see and what drawing technique might best describe it.

Consider drawing from a high position so that you’re looking down on buildings and streets. Then try looking out from a small space – a conservatory, shed or greenhouse. Don’t attempt to reproduce a grand panoramic view unless you’re really keen to do so. Go for more achievable viewpoints which offer forms, lines, textures, etc., up close, as well as others receding into the distance.

Your scenes don’t have to be picturesque or carefully composed. Crowded and untidy industrial scenes can provide interesting and challenging material.

When you’re looking for an interesting view, look for horizontals and verticals. Horizontals are important in that they help you plot distance through receding lines and tonal values; verticals work with these to add structure, pattern and a sense of height. A combination of both with a touch here and there of diagonals, curves, etc., adds further interest to the overall image, so look for opportunities to use these in different ways to separate the picture plane.


Exercise 1 Sketchbook of townscape drawingsStreets in townscapes, from industrial buildings to a collection of domestic houses, offer diverse opportunities for using a variety of colour media.

For this exercise, carefully select a viewpoint that gives you somewhere to sit comfortably while you’re sketching and making notes. Focus on one particular building, for example a corner site or a building façade, and notice how the other buildings support your main focus.

Make written notes about your sense of the place (does it evoke an emotional response?) as well as the appearance of the scene. Take note of your eye level which will become the horizon line – this helps place the buildings and organise linear perspective. Notice details of the buildings and scene around you, such as the proportion or placement of windows and doors on the building’s façade, the building materials, the pattern and texture of bricks, as well as the colours.

Make a detailed study with a 3B pencil, in a 10cm square, showing a section of the building. This will help you get the essence of the structures in front of you. Draw a second 10cm square tonal study showing how the light falls across the building.

Make notes about the direction and strength of light, time of day, shadows. Make notes about colour. Describe the use of the buildings or movement of people and anything else that will help your decision-making for a larger piece of work.

Make several quick drawings in your sketchbook before you decide on the most interesting view. Just looking often doesn’t reveal all the possibilities. Sometimes it’s only when you begin to draw that you spot an exciting view. Once you’ve decided what to draw, quickly plan in your sketchbook where everything you intend to include in your drawing will be. Draw the main shapes in pencil or charcoal before you commit yourself to colour.

Be selective. Draw what you see as interesting and unusual. Find your own unique view of your chosen place. Your drawing should have a sense of the actual location but you don’t have to include everything you can see. What you leave out is arguably more important than what you include and this skill is only learned with practice. Keep looking and translating what you see until gradually you discover what is important and what is incidental.


Exercise 2 Study of a townscape using lineUse two sketchbook pages to make a preliminary drawing of this study. Establish the primary focus and any other shapes and objects you think necessary to make this drawing interesting and unexpected. Make notes about the weather conditions and how they affect your approach to the drawing and establish the general mood. Decide what sort of marks fit the mood and shapes of this study. Find the centre point of your paper and relate this to the focal point of your preliminary drawings; decide on the foreground, middle ground and background. Complete the study in pen and ink or a black drawing pen or fine brush pen.

Did your preliminary sketches give you enough information for your final pieces of work?

What would you do differently another time? Make notes in your learning log.

Student, Jackie Gaskell


Exercise 3 A limited palette studyUsing your sketches from the previous exercise, select a drawing to develop in colour.

Begin with a horizontal line that defines your personal eye level. Use a limited palette for this exercise – no more than three colours. Traditionally these would have been deep brown, sanguine (red brown), black and white, but decide which works best for your subject. Use conté pencils, coloured pencils or ink and work on smooth or rough paper.• Draw the strongest verticals of the primary focus, i.e. the main building.• Draw in the diagonals.• Begin to build in some of the detail.• Add a touch of colour by applying light pressure on the coloured pencil. This will allow

you to build the surface and tonal values gradually.• As the picture evolves, gradually increase the pressure to give a stronger line and more

depth.

If it doesn’t seem to be working for you, either move on to find another viewpoint or just keep drawing. Often, as your sketches progress, what at first appears uninteresting can evolve into something exciting; concentrated observation and drawing often reveals a scene in other more interesting ways.

Remember that the white paper is your lightest tonal value. The conté pencils will give you the middle and darkest values and help you describe the colours and textures of the buildings.

Were you able to create a sense of depth with your limited colour palette?


Exercise 4 StatuesIn a similar way to drawing trees and drawing figures, statues are great for honing your drawing skills and they don’t (usually) move!

For this exercise look for statues outside, in streets, parks, cemeteries, town squares, etc. Statue drawings can become a source of inspiration for further pieces as well as being completed drawings in their own right.

Decide what interests you about the particular statue. You could focus on silhouette, tone and negative shapes. Alternatively you could look at the textures created by erosion and lichens. Look at the play of light on the statue created by the other objects nearby or draw the statue in context – what’s beside, behind or in front.

Look up at large statues and draw exactly what you see; look down on small statues and again draw exactly what you see – not what you think you see. The statue in this student image is drawn from the side and the artist must have been standing on something fairly high to achieve this parallel viewpoint; if not, the figure would have been drawn differently, the upper body smaller than the lower body depending on the angle of the direction and angle of the artist’s gaze. Think about this and consider how you can make your drawings more interesting by adjusting your viewpoint. You’ll think more about perspective and foreshortening in Part Four.


Assignment three

Draw an outdoor scene of your choice. Try to find a view that includes some natural objects – trees, shrubs, pot plants, fields, garden plants. Also try to find a view that will allow you to demonstrate your understanding of aerial or linear perspective – in other words a view that has some demonstrable depth to it. Look for a view that offers an opportunity to draw straight-lined objects as well as items drawn from nature: buildings, walls, fences, gates and so on. This may seem like a lot to look for, but most views from windows and doors will offer you a bit of all of these things.

Set yourself plenty of time for this assignment.

Do some preliminary drawings in your sketchbook to experiment with the composition. Try different versions, eliminating and moving objects if necessary to create a pleasing composition. Make some sketches to practise getting the perspective of the scene right. How are you going to create depth? Are you going to use receding lines (linear perspective) or use graduated tone (aerial perspective) and the receding size of objects, people and buildings?

Next do some broad sketches in charcoal or diluted ink and brush and trial other media before you select which to use. Think about the atmosphere and energy of the place and whether you’ll be able to give a sense of this through your chosen material and approach to mark-making.

With an A2 or A1 sheet of paper pinned or taped on a board or on a pad, get settled comfortably and keep your preliminary sketches around you for reference. Think about your successes in previous exercises and look very carefully at the scene in front of you. You should spend anything up to two hours on this final drawing, not including all the preliminary work you’ve already done.

ReflectionDon’t forget to look at the assessment criteria in the introduction before you proceed. Assess the work you’ve produced against these and make notes in your learning log.

As well as the completed pieces and preliminary studies, you should submit a sample of the work you’ve done on the exercises in Part Three as evidence of your development. Put your name, student number and project/exercise number on the back of all the drawings you’re submitting and send them to your tutor, together with relevant pages from your learning log (or blog url) and sketchbook.

Your tutor may take a while to get back to you so carry on with the course while you’re waiting.


Assignment three


Drawing 1

Part fourThe figure and the head

Edgar Degas, Study for a portrait of Manet (black chalk)

Part four The figure and the head


Close study of our selves presents the greatest combination of challenges. Drawing the human form and head requires a high degree of analytical observation and the value of constant practice in figure drawing cannot be underestimated. If you’re new to figure drawing, you may feel a little apprehensive about this part of the course but drawing the figure is a great way to learn to really focus your gaze. Movement studies are just one of several ways to closely observe the body and its proportions. Working with a model who adopts a different pose – every two minutes, 10 minutes, 30 minutes or an hour – will give you plenty of opportunity to learn the basics.

Life studies have been a key element in teaching drawing since the early Renaissance and this is not surprising since our familiarity with the human form means we can spot errors more instinctively. With practice we know when an arm is too long compared to a leg, or when an eye is too high compared to the other. Studying the contours and shadows of the figure and head is an important element within any artistic genre, not only drawing and painting but also sculpture, fashion, illustration, photography, film and more.

In a sense, though, we are burdened by a sense of the history of art and long traditions of depicting the human head and form. It’s important to put aside what we know and what we think we know as this can blind us to what we really see. Whatever your view about drawing the naked figure, practice with life drawing in terms of looking, measuring, analysing, checking and scanning will heighten your perceptual skills in all other areas of drawing and so is well worth the effort.

Research pointThe human figure, clothed or not, is arguably the most common subject throughout art history and viewing different depictions of other people and ourselves can be, amongst other things, sensual, amusing, disconcerting. Without intending to, we might see ourselves in some of these images, our reactions and emotions working in the space between viewer and image. As you work through this part of your course, jot down your thoughts on this. Look at the reading list and study contemporary as well as historic figure drawings for inspiration.


Finding a modelIf you can, attend a life drawing class in your area. These are sometimes held in colleges as evening classes, but increasingly they’re informally arranged between groups of artists and students in art centres, studios, and other places where there is adequate space and equipment. Try to attend at least once a week; regular practice will help you learn to concentrate your gaze, measure accurately, gain confidence with mark-making, work on a larger scale, experiment with materials and poses (and more).

You may be able to get together with other students in your area and share resources (easels, boards, books and materials) as well as the cost of hiring a model. If this isn’t possible, then find someone who will pose for you on a regular basis; you’ll need someone who can sit reasonably still for more or less the lengths of time required.

Drawing someone rather than something may seem rather daunting at first. You may be anxious about looking too closely and worry how the model will react to your intense stare and how you depict them on paper. Experienced life models are very comfortable with this but ‘amateur’ models (friends or relatives, clothed or unclothed) may feel as self-conscious as you do. Generally, though, we’re all curious to see what we look like to others and so most people will be supportive and think of it as a useful and fun experience. Try to make it so and only do what you and the model are comfortable with.

Whether you’re working with an experienced or inexperienced sitter, don’t forget that they’ll need regular breaks to stretch between poses. If you’re organising the session, use a timer and jot down the amount of time taken on the back of your drawing.

If you’re lucky enough to have more than one model, take advantage of this to test your skills further. On the other hand, if you can’t find anyone to sit for you, use a mirror and draw yourself, or failing that, use photographs. Neither of these options is ideal, but it’s certainly better than nothing. You must engage with this part of the course if you are to benefit later on. Let your tutor know about any problems you’re experiencing at an early stage in Part Four.


Project 1 Fabric and form

When drawing a clothed figure, softly draped fabrics can help show the outline of the body. The fabric, the interaction of the body and the fabric, and the resultant folds and creases, all become an important part of the composition. The way that material tucks into the angles of the body or stretches tightly over the figure helps describe the movement of arms, legs and torso. The weight of the fabric will also determine how it hangs around the body; your handling of form as light passes over the figure will contribute to your success in capturing the feel of the material.

Student, Linda Crossley

Project 1 Fabric and form


Exercise 1 Drawing fabric using line and toneThrow a piece of clothing or a length of plain fabric (so you don’t get distracted by pattern) across a chair to make folded and soft layers of fabric and then, using an appropriate medium for each, make two 15-minute sketches, one using line only and the other concentrating on tone.

Loosely divide a large sheet of paper into 8–12 cm squares and draw five-minute sketches of different parts of the fabric. Look at the shapes caused by the folds and use lines to follow the curves, rises and falls as though the tip of the pencil is walking along the ‘landscape’ of the cloth. Identify and emphasise the areas of light and shade that define and emphasise form. Use both line and tone, testing different approaches and media as you work. Work on a larger scale on single sheets if you wish.

How easy did you find it to create volume in the folds of fabric? Make some notes about this exercise in your learning log.

Exercise 2 Emphasising form with clothHere you’ll sketch a seated figure wearing a plain and pale coloured shawl, baggy jumper or soft dressing gown.

Using very light marks, sketch the overall shape of the seated figure, remembering to fit it interestingly within the borders of the support. Then, disregarding details, concentrate on drawing the body and the fabric as though it were a single form, considering the cloth as much a part of the body as the skin, flesh and bones.

Very lightly and simply indicate the general shapes for the head, hands and feet without going into detail. Your emphasis should be on the overall form of the main part of the body.Observe how the fabric moulds gently around and softens angles, and how marks and lines can create the illusion of three-dimensional form and believable weight.

As you work, consider how the fabric helps invoke the essence of a living being beneath the surface. What difficulties did you encounter when approaching the cloth/figure as a whole?


ResourcesThere are some videos available on the OCA website and on Vimeo where an OCA tutor guides you through some aspects of drawing the figure.

See ‘Quick seated sketch’ on vimeo.com/12016459, for example. Search for other sessions to observe the different ways that artists and tutors work. There are many methods to try and many approaches to consider so the more you learn the better. Test your drawing skills by investigating the figure through a variety of compositions, poses, contexts, colours, marks, and so on.

Getting the right poseThe pose should be comfortable and natural. Consider positioning your subject, if clothed, in a believable situation – reading, watching TV, washing dishes, preparing food; this will work so long as the head and body remain in more or less the same position during the session. Think about the whole of the image, not just the figure floating in empty white space. What you work in and what you leave out depends on the overall impression you wish to make, but whatever you decide, the rest of the image should not look like an afterthought.

Work in other aspects of the room (or other situation) at the same time as the figure. Hard and straight lines will be very different to softer rounded body lines, so use these for door frames, windows, shelves, etc., to offer a contrast. Or you may prefer to work in draped fabric or curtains to continue some of the marks used in the figure across the rest of the image. Test your skills and try several methods and materials in your sketchbook and on loose sheets of different colours, sizes and formats.

LightingTry to incorporate contrasts of tone by shining a strong light on the figure, or try different positions where sunlight enters and falls across the scene. This helps define shadows and planes.

Marking the position of a life modelYou’ll need your model to return to the same position after a break, so place small pieces of masking tape or chalk marks in key positions to mark the places where the body parts touch – feet on the floor, elbows and shoulders on the chair, etc.

Nude or clothed?Some of the illustrations in this course guide are of nude figures because they show balance and proportions more clearly but not everyone feels comfortable working in this way, so an alternative is to ask the model to pose in clothes which are quite tight- fitting and don’t disguise the form of the body too much – unless, of course, the clothes are an important part of the drawing, as in the previous exercise.


Research pointIf you decide to work with the naked body at a more advanced level you’ll be expected to engage with contextual research into the many ideas and arguments that surround this historic and at times divisive subject. Now is a good time to begin to acquaint yourself with some of these views. Make notes in your learning log, reflecting and analysing how the depiction of the male and female nude has changed over the centuries.

John Berger’s ‘Ways of Seeing’ (a 1970s BBC series available on YouTube) is a good place to start.

If you want to research this subject in more depth, you may find the following of interest:

Betterton, R. (1996) Intimate Distance: Women Artists and the Body. Abingdon: Routledge Kemp, M. and Wallace, M. (2000) Spectacular Bodies: The Art and Science of the Human Body from Leonardo to Now. Berkeley, CA/London: University of California Press/Hayward GallerySaunders, G. (1989) The Nude: A New Perspective. London: IconSennett, R. (2003) Flesh and Stone: The Body and the City in Western Civilisation. London: Penguin

OCA student, Carol Smith


Project 2 Proportion

It is important that your drawing records the true characteristics of your model; some people have long legs, for example, and others short ones. However there are some proportions which are general across most figures and awareness of these can enable you to avoid some common faults in figure drawing. For example, the head is more or less one-seventh to one-eighth of the height of the figure, so when drawing you should visually assess the length of the model’s head, counting how many times it fits into the length of the body.

In the early stages of figure drawing you may find it hard to get the proportions right but keep trying to see how the different parts of the body relate to each other. Common faults are to make the head too big, the legs too short and the hands and feet too small. As you work on the various parts of the figure, keep stepping back to view the figure as a whole.

Of course, some artists deliberately distort these proportions for visual effect. For example, in the first image opposite by David Hockney, Celia’s head and facial features seem overly large in comparison to her body, but in the second image the proportions (and realistic portrayal of Celia) are more accurate.

The technique of measuring by holding a pencil against the thumb and then at arm’s length is a traditional method and used by many, but not everyone finds this useful, so careful observation of the subject should be your foremost concern – your eyes and brain are your best measuring tools.

Euan Uglow, Female Figure Standing by a Heater, 1952 (oil on canvas)

Project 2 Proportion


It’s possible to make very powerful statements about the human figure through the apparently simplest of means – line. The fluid lines of the human body lend themselves to a linear approach. Line is used to define the space that is occupied by one thing and to separate it from what surrounds it, so our interest in the human form and how it occupies space can be rendered very sparely but effectively with line. Tonal studies, and even very complex and highly rendered oil paintings, can have strong linear elements, and there is great skill in combining the two. Your first exercise in this project is to make some quick line drawings of your model.

David Hockney, Celia, 1984 (Godfrey, 1990, p.63)

David Hockney, Celia in Black Slip, 1984 (Godfrey, 1990, p.62)


Exercise 1 Quick studiesIn this exercise you’ll draw your model in a comfortable position. Having something in the background helps identify the space and will help you place the figure so that it doesn’t appear to be floating in space. Position yourself so that you’re facing the model with an interesting viewpoint, and use paper on a board or a large card- backed sketchbook.

Familiarise yourself with the figure and composition by making some quick preliminary sketches in charcoal or graphite. First, draw five two-minute sketches of the model in your sketchbook, paying particular attention to the proportions and just using the basic lines that describe the figure.

Make rapid sketches to lock your concentration onto what is essential: making immediate assessments and trusting them. Be bold and let your confidence grow.

Draw from the middle of the body out towards the feet and the head. Don’t be tempted to draw outlines. This invariably causes problems as the drawing progresses, and you may become trapped by an overly large head or some other problem that will be awkward to rectify. Keep your marks loose and light to start with; as the image begins to come together you can make your marks and lines bolder to create tone and form.

Work on two larger 10-minute drawings. Be free in your use of medium and don’t erase any incorrect lines. Keep drawing over and over until the lines and marks begin to work.

Do some more drawings of this pose, moving to a different position and changing your drawing medium. Try oil sticks, charcoal, conté sticks, pens, ink and brush.

Make written notes in your learning log about the planes and shapes of the body and about any challenges you experience with measuring or media.


In the study below, the artist presses in strong, sharp and short lines on a coloured ground to convey the grittiness of a domestic scene. The background is merely hinted at and the subject positioned in a believable space through just a few marks beneath the figure and the chair. Think about the coloured ground and the use of white and how you might try this yourself.

Paul Cézanne, Drapery on a Chair, 1890–1900 (pencil and watercolour wash)


Exercise 2 A longer studyFind a pose that your model is comfortable with and that they can hold for an hour, such as a seated position; take breaks every 15 minutes or so.

Draw small marks onto the sheet of paper indicating the outermost points of the figure (the top of the head, the angle of the shoulders, the tips of the toes, knees, etc.). This will give you confidence that you’ve measured the proportions correctly and that the whole body will fit into the rectangle.

Draw a long pose with your chosen medium. Keep checking the body measurements up, down and diagonally, comparing one part with another, for example the length or width of the head compared to the hand. Remember that the lengths and widths that you see (the visual measurements) are often very different to the ‘actual’ physical measurements due to viewpoint and perspective.

Make some notes on your experience of this exercise in your learning log:• How well have you captured the characteristics of the pose?• Does the body have sufficient weight and presence?• Do the proportions look right? If not, how will you try to improve this?

Research pointTry lounging on a couch with a mirror facing you from the foot end, then draw your body as you see it in the mirror. Your feet will be huge in comparison with the rest of your body. This effect is called foreshortening. Can you find any images where the artist has used foreshortening to create a particular effect?


Project 3 Form

Describing the form of the figure is crucial to creating the illusion of three dimensions on a two-dimensional plane. As you saw in Part One, it’s useful to think in simple basic shapes: squares, rectangles, triangles, circles and ellipses. These are used to construct three-dimensional fundamental forms such as cylinders, spheres, cones and cubes. The head is a sphere, the torso, arms and legs are cylinders, and the feet and hands are ellipses.

Exercise 1 Basic shapesArrange your model at a slight angle in a chair. Establish that they will be comfortable to sit in this pose for an hour or so (with breaks). Before you begin your drawing consider the angle of the central axis that runs through the seated figure. Notice any twists or bends.

Block in the basic shapes. Look carefully at which planes of the body are receding and which planes or lines are parallel to the edge of your picture plane. This will help you establish the bulk of the drawn figure in relation to the space around it.

Identify a measured unit that will help with the scale and proportions of the figure. Draw the model from different angles and positions. Remember to look and measure with each pose.Identify the possibility of foreshortening and make written notes. Is there more than one line of movement? The torso may have a slight twist to it.

Project 3 Form


Exercise 2 Essential elementsThis time draw a sequence of six different poses lasting ten minutes each.

Adjust the light so that it hits just one side of the model, to emphasise the three- dimensional form. Take time to look at the model and identify the darkest and lightest areas. Remember the basic shapes and begin to shade in the darkest tones.

Build up the different tonal values with loose hatching and/or broad sweeps of dark tone. Leave the white paper without marks for the lightest tones.

Draw the whole of the figure, and don’t concern yourself with detail.

Were you able to maintain a focus on proportion at the same time as creating a sense of weight and three-dimensional form?

Which drawing gives the best sense of the pose and why?

Was there any movement or gesture away from the model’s central axis? If so did you manage to identify this and put it into your drawing?

Make notes in your learning log.

Student, Linda Crossley


Exercise 3 StanceLook for the line of balance or the centre of gravity in a standing figure: it begins at the top of the skull and passes through the middle of the nose, straight down the middle of the chest cavity. With a back view, the line starts from the back of the neck on the spinal column. From a side view this line of balance starts at the back of the ear and travels down to the weight-bearing foot.

The line indicating the central axis also helps indicate where the body mass or majority of the body weight is placed. If the figure moves or if the model sits down, the weight or mass changes to a different area of the body.

Move around the model before you begin to draw to get a sense of where the figure is in its allotted space and to identify its centre of gravity and gesture. Mark the central axis in your initial sketches of the standing figure. Ask the model to change poses every two to five minutes. Draw as many quick poses as you can.

These will be useful as reference material for future work.


Exercise 4 EnergyAsk your model to adopt a ‘dynamic’ position – lifting an arm, twisting the hips, turning the head, stretching the arms or walking. They’ll need to be able to hold the pose for about five minutes.

Work on sheets of A3 paper and, using charcoal, brush pens or other tools that allow for broad and sweeping marks, quickly sketch the figure. Try to convey the sense of energy in each pose. Don’t worry about details – concentrate on the sense of movement in the figure.

The drawing above is all about movement. You can see how some rapidly drawn, flowing, undulating lines can create the effect of the dance. Lines repeated and close give the impression of movement. (Think of waves – tidal waves, heat waves, sound waves – all different kinds of repeated small or large movements.) Experiment with creating abstract marks that depict movement in your sketchbook.

Marcel Vertes, The Tango (pen and ink)


Project 4 Structure

The fundamental structure of all animals, including us, is the skeleton and it’s worth taking some time to study basic anatomical drawings in order to understand the mechanics of the body and how it moves and rests. As you work through this project, look for and practise copying images of skeletons and other anatomical studies and make notes on how this might improve your figure drawing.

Exercise 1 The structure of the human bodyLoosely sketch some of the structures that make up the human body. Look for images online and in the library and use your own body as reference. Work in your sketchbooks to help you understand the body’s measurements and mechanics – for example the length of each part of a finger in relation to the other fingers, thumb and hand, the shape of the knee when the leg is bent or straight, the shape of the toes when the foot is relaxed or stretched, etc...

Looking closely, work upwards; start with your toes, sketching them in several positions, then do the same for the feet, ankles, calves, knees, thighs, hips, torso, shoulders, arms, elbows, hands, neck, and skull, until you have pages of small studies of the individual parts that make up your own body.

Research pointLook for historic and contemporary artists whose work involves the underlying structure of the body.

Project 4 Structure


Exercise 2 Three figure drawingsUsing different tools, materials and supports, work on three drawings of your model:1. Standing2. Seated3. Lounging

The aim is to practise making interesting studies of the figure to show you’ve understood the basic structural principles, and are able to incorporate these using whichever style or approach fits your subject.

Ensure you have a good light source to help you observe the tones and shadows that fall across and underneath the body, emphasising its structure, form, weight and position within the overall scene.

Before you start on the larger sheets, spend some time looking at the stance, posture, movement or stillness of the figure. Move around the model assessing interesting viewpoints. Look for positions that may cause a challenge through foreshortening, for example lounging. Position yourself at a slight angle, so that you’re looking down, along and across the body in different ways. Observe the difference in the scale of the head and feet depending on your own viewpoint. Remember that there are often hidden parts that may be difficult to suggest, for example the shoulder furthest away when viewing from the side.

While you’re drawing, think about the skeleton that supports the body and the muscles and skin that soften the shape into something living. Also look closely at the shapes between and around the parts of the body and the room.

When you’re ready to start, make several two-minute studies in your sketchbook before moving on to the larger sheets. Spend between half and one hour on each of the three drawings (A2 or A1 size).

Review your completed drawings and make an honest assessment. How accurately did you depict the overall proportions of the figure? Did imagining the sitter’s skeleton and muscles help you to convey the figure’s structure and form?


Project 5 The moving figure

Drawing a moving figure is different from drawing a posed figure – the person won’t slow down or wait patiently for you to finish. You’ve already had some practice in producing quick figure drawings but this project may be more of a challenge because you’ll need to draw quickly to record your subject in motion. This will probably mean looking up and out, concentrating on the subject in front of you while drawing ‘blind’, rather than looking down and concentrating on the sheet of paper.

As well as working outdoors and indoors you can draw people from a window, car, etc. Wherever you are, draw quickly and keep your eyes on the figure in action. Try to capture the vitality of the movement through fast and confident marks and lines, and don’t be tempted to repair or overwork the final image. Keep looking at the figure rather than the paper.

Use quick exploratory lines to express the overall flow and movement rather than seeking a perfect reproduction. Think about the speed and purpose of the figure in movement and how to capture the energy through stance, mark-making, etc. For example, someone running for a bus may have their coat flying and head thrust forward; the figure will have momentum and intention. Try to express this.

While working, make notes about your observation of moving figures and why they’ve caught your attention. Think about:• Narrative – the story that reveals the

reason for the activity, such as running for a bus or dancing.

• Interaction – merging the moving figure with its surroundings, considering its relation to the environment and other figures, buildings, etc.

Look at the energy in this fast brush drawing by Richard Hambleton; his brush strokes echo the speed of the figure. Now go to David Haines’ website (http://www.davidhaines. org/work02.html) and find the drawing New Balance Sneakers vs KFC Bucket. Note the more restrained movement of the figures and the artist’s detailed rendition of the scene in pencil; here the act of drawing is slower and more careful.

Richard Hambleton, Osaka, 1981 (Godfrey, 1990, p.53)

Project 5 The moving figure


Exercise 1 Single moving figureKeep drawing moving figures in your sketchbooks. Try to fill a page a day; this will be a rich resource for future work as well as improving your figure drawing through regular practice.How well have you managed to create the sense of a moving figure rather than a static pose?

Exercise 2 Groups of figures‘People watching’ is a good way to understand human movement and interaction. This might be at the supermarket, on a bus or train, in a pub or café, cinema queue or takeaway. Night or day, observe different kinds of people – how they stand, how they interact, what they carry, what they’re doing with their hands, and how they dress. If you can do a few small and quick sketches on the spot, that’s great. If not, take a few discreet photos and try to keep the atmosphere of the scene in your memory until you return home, then try to recapture the colour, movement, drama, noise, etc., in your sketches.

How successful were your attempts to retain an image of a scene to draw later? How might you tackle this in future? Make some notes in your learning log.

Student, Sarah Youseman


Project 6 The Head

In Project 4 you drew your own body from the toes up. Here, you’ll concentrate on the head in a similar way, studying individual elements before moving on to the whole head and a self-portrait. Concentrating on the relation of parts to the whole will help you to scrutinise every curve, line, valley and hill, just as you do when you’re drawing the body or a landscape.

Important note: Although the head is the focus of attention is everyday life, for a drawing to look convincing you need to consider the whole head, and particularly the underlying skull (temples, jaw and eye sockets). This will give you the structure and form to locate eyes, nose and mouth.

Exercise 1 Facial featuresLook at people (including yourself ) in the flesh, in magazines, TV and other places and study the individual features. Practise drawing these in your sketchbook, a couple of pages per feature – different kinds of nose, eyes, ears, lips, chin, hair, eyebrows, etc. If it helps, use an enlarging grid to scale up a found image. Bear in mind that tonal variation, hatching and curved lines help model the form of facial features in the same way as they do in a still life or landscape.

When you feel fairly confident, draw an entire head. Don’t worry if your lines and marks overlap and become untidy, and don’t erase your mistakes. These workings and re-workings are part of the thinking process and show your tutor that you understand where you went wrong and worked to put it right.

Project 6 The Head


Research pointLook at contemporary as well as historic artists who work on the face in different ways. Use your research to inspire your own experiments. Look at the reading list as well as other sources and make notes on what you find in your learning log.

Look at the subtle approach of Graham Little who uses coloured pencils and fine repeated marks and lines. Now look at the more fluid blocking in of tone by Elizabeth Peyton in the image Daniel. Both artists use colour to draw the face in a ‘painterly’ manner.

Elizabeth Peyton, Daniel, Berlin, 1999 (Hoptman, 2000, p.157)


Exercise 2 Your own headCreate two interesting images of your own head. You’ll need to think about the pose, measuring, tonal variation and lines and marks. Don’t worry about producing an attractive or accurate likeness; the aim is to create a believable head with the features in more or less the right place.

Look at yourself in a mirror and quickly draw several five-minute studies of your head, neck and shoulders. Slightly adjust the angle of your gaze to avoid a disconcerting straight-ahead stare.

Keep moving your pencil around the drawing and don’t be tempted to concentrate on just one area at a time; this will inevitably cause an unnatural and tight image. Study the whole of the head and keep working in shadows and lines until the features begin to emerge within the three-dimensional form. Remember that there are bones and muscles beneath the skin and that you’re positioned within a spatial and physical environment – a room or some other place.

Avoid drawing a closed outline of the head. This often serves to make any mistakes in measuring hard to rectify. Instead keep your marks and lines loose and fragmented; this will allow you to make changes as you work..

Before you start, consider the angles or movement of your head. Think about whether to look straight ahead, down, up or slightly to one side. The imaginary vertical line that travels through your nose will indicate movement if it appears to be off centre.

Start to build in the loose shapes of patches of tone and features. Keep it simple – don’t get caught up in small details. Don’t worry about a likeness at this stage. If you get the shapes and angles more or less right the personality will evolve.

Consider the hair as it surrounds and drops into the facial plane. Work in the positive and negative shapes and don’t get involved with drawing individual hairs.

The face is made up of basic shapes and angles influenced by the bone and muscle structures beneath the skin. Try to think about these as you draw but don’t be too obvious in sketching basic forms. Use tonal gradation to indicate three-dimensionality. Describing the shadows on the facial plane will give the head a sense of solidity.

The darkest shadow on the facial plane is within the eye sockets at either side of the nose. The shadow under the nose is lighter. Again, avoid rigid outlining unless you want a cartoon effect.

Once you’ve completed a full self-portrait, take a break before revisiting the image and consider how it might have been better. Do the proportions, angles, tones, etc., work? Note down your thoughts to help you when you begin work on your second self-portrait. Look at it in the mirror and see if there are measuring issues. Look at it upside down and from a distance. This helps you see with different eyes.


For the second image position yourself differently, and try using a different medium and approach. If the previous version was in pen and ink, try charcoal or conté.

The following page gives an indication of the basic proportions of the features in relation to the head, bearing in mind that all our faces are different and rarely symmetrical. If you weren’t happy with your first image, follow these guidelines for your second attempt. Compare the two self-portraits you’ve produced and make some notes in your learning log about what you did differently and how this affected the final outcome.• Which drawing materials produced the best results? Why?• Does your self-portrait look like you? Trying showing it to some friends or family

members.• How difficult was it to move on from sketches of individual features to a full portrait?

Self portrait by OCA student


The head and faceThe overall shape of the head is egg-shaped (but please don’t draw the egg shape – these images are for guidance only). The facial plane of the head begins at the top of the forehead and continues to the tip of the chin. The vertical sides to this plane end at the outermost edges of the eye sockets. This plane contains the features of the face which are the eyes, nose, ears and mouth. The face is divided into two sections by a horizontal centre line.

From the horizontal centre line downward, the facial plane is divided again with another two more horizontal lines.

A vertical line travels through the centre of the nose on the facial plane. Most importantly this line never deviates from the centre of the nose even when the head rotates.

The orbital sockets containing the eyeballs sit across the first horizontal line. The nose begins at the first horizontal line and stops approximately at the second horizontal line.

The mouth sits on the centre of the third line. The corners of the mouth are in line with the pupils of the eyes if the face is at rest and looking straight ahead.

The ears sit on the space at the side of the head, behind the jaw line, between the first and second horizontal lines.

The skull pivots on the first vertebra. The jaw hinges in front of the ears.

All the features of the face, apart from the ears, sit inside the facial plane, not at the sides of the face.

The skull in a fully-grown adult never alters in size and shape, however there are differences between male and female skulls. The sinuses between and beneath the eyebrows are larger in males. This gives male skulls a more dominant ridge, but the muscle structure essentially stays the same.

As time passes, the skin becomes less elastic in all faces, altering the outlines of the skin.


Exercise 3 Portrait from memory or the imaginationFor this exercise, you’ll use your imagination and the skills you’ve learned to draw someone you’ve seen momentarily – or not at all. Perhaps someone you’ve seen on the bus or in a shop? Or you might create a portrait of a fictional character based on a description in a book.

This exercise should prompt the question, ‘What is a portrait?’ Should it show something more about the person than mere physical characteristics and, if so, what? How difficult is it to create a portrait of someone from a chance meeting or completely from the imagination? Make notes in your learning log.

Research pointResearch artists’ self-portraits. Begin by looking at historic examples, such as Rembrandt and van Gogh, and then use the reading list and other resources at your disposal to look at some self-portrait styles that have emerged in contemporary art. How do contemporary artists approach tone, medium, pose, story, etc., in self-portraiture. Make notes in your learning log.

You might start by looking at Tracey Emin’s self-portraits. She often uses monoprints and draws fast and ‘blind’ to produce expressive, frantic marks.


Assignment four

For this assignment, you should complete two large figure studies (A1 size) and a portrait or self-portrait (any size) – three drawings in total, together with supporting studies, experiments, etc.

For each drawing, consult your preliminary studies and make notes on what you plan to do. Think about composition, medium and approach. Write a few notes on the artist(s) that have inspired you to work in a particular way. Be inventive in your approach and in the materials you use. You’re not restricted to working with black on white. Try reversing this to white on black, or consider monochrome, perhaps dark blue on pale blue paper, or ink and charcoal on newspaper – the list is endless, so be inventive. Allow around two hours for each drawing.

1. Figure study using line (A1) – Seated model in an upright chair.This study is about drawing three-dimensional form using line. Take particular note of the proportions of the figure and the chair in relation to the whole scene, gradually describing details such as the hands and facial features as well as the folds of clothing using a single line or combinations of lines: narrow and thick, curved and straight, fractured, expressive, gestural, dynamic, dramatic (and so on).

Look back at your notes and studies from previous assignments to rediscover ways to work with line. Try different media and supports; do a few tests with textured and found paper, unusual formats, etc.

Do a few exploratory sketches before starting work on the larger sheet. Try to be as expressive and experimental with the large drawing as you were with the preparatory studies. Try not to tighten up or lose the fluidity and spontaneity that should have evolved since the beginning of the course.

2. Figure study using tone (A1) – Reclining modelPlan the setting carefully. Your model should be dressed in reasonably fitted clothes; it’s a good idea if the clothes contrast in tone (e.g. dark trousers, light top).

Use strong light from one major light source. If you’re using artificial light rather than natural light from a window, experiment by moving the light around to allow the shadows to fall across the figure and the room in an interesting way. Use tone only to create a real sense of form and atmosphere. Remember to use positive and negative spaces, including the small spaces in the hair, between the fingers, and so on.

Assignment four


3. A portrait or self-portrait combining line and tone (any size)Create a portrait a self-portrait where the features are believable and in proportion to the rest of the face, head, shoulders and chest. Try to find an interesting position rather than looking straight ahead. Use mirrors to view from different angles. In your sketchbook, experiment with some of the ideas you’ve uncovered during your research into other contemporary artists’ work.

Work with variations of tone and expressive line to create an interesting and atmospheric image. For your main light source, you might try using a candle, small lamp or torch in a semi-darkened room to exaggerate the contrasting lights and darks, for example. You might also work very close up with the features filling the sheet. Be experimental and ambitious in this drawing.

What to send to your tutorAs well as the two large drawings, portrait and preliminary studies, you should submit a sample of your research for this assignment as evidence of your commitment and development.

Put your name, student number and project/exercise number on the back of all the drawings you’re submitting and send them to your tutor together with relevant extracts from your learning log (or blog url) and sketchbook. If your tutor agrees, it may be more convenient to photograph these and email it to them for review.

ReflectionNow is the time to take a good look at the assessment criteria in the introduction and make sure your work meets the standards. When you send this assignment, ask your tutor whether they think you will be ready for assessment at the end of the course and, if not, what you might need to improve upon now.

NOTE: After Assignment Five you won’t be entitled to further tutorials, so this is your final opportunity to receive an honest appraisal of your work to date.

Your tutor might take a while to get back to you so carry on with the course while you’re waiting.



Drawing 1

Part fivePersonal project and written element

Nedko Solakov, Vitiligo People, 2001 (permanent felt-tip pen on lambda print mounted on aluminium) (Dexter, 2005, p.309)

Part five Personal project and written element


As you’ve discovered, drawing encompasses a wide range of activities and techniques. The tasks you’ve been working on in Parts One to Four have involved the use of many drawing media and varied subject matter. You’ve tried out a range of techniques and extended your sense of how handling different media creates a multiplicity of effects. But perhaps the most essential development in learning to draw concerns how you think about what you see and do. The key aspect of practice in any kind of drawing is the development of your own observational and creative skills and the confidence that comes with those skills.

Drawing is usually about looking closely and finding the means to express what we see, but it is also about materials and physical activity. When people start to draw they are inevitably influenced by other artists’ works, particularly the styles, concepts and themes that evolved in the distant past. But changing conventions in drawing reflect particular perceptions and are only part of the means of communication open to you as an artist. While learning to draw, your task is to try to translate what you see into a visual language that others can see and try to understand. To achieve this kind of fluency, it’s vital to look at the work of other artists working today. Limiting yourself to just one area or era means you’re unlikely to take risks or find your own voice as an artist and this is why we encourage you to work beyond the boundaries of the course and beyond the boundaries of what you already know.

The structure of this final part is different from what’s gone before so you won’t find any projects or exercises. Instead Part Five is your opportunity to consolidate and build on what you’ve learned, culminating in a personal project. To prepare for this you should reflect on previous exercises and artists that inspire you. Begin by evaluating your progress and interests in your learning log. Look at your tutor’s comments and reflect on whether you responded well to these. Have you taken on board any critique or advice and acted on it? If not, you’re unlikely to have progressed to the level required. Your tutor knows what other students have achieved and all advice is offered in the spirit of helping you attain the right level of competence for your course.

Student, Aylish Giamei


Assignment five

The personal project

Carry out a written self-assessment of each of the previous assignments, noting successes and problems that need to be resolved. Hopefully you’ve already done this during the course; if so, revisit your earlier notes and add any new thoughts. Next, select one of the previous four assignments as the starting point for your personal project.

The options are:• Line, space and form• Your immediate environment• Outdoors• The figure and face

In Part Five you have greater freedom to pursue some of the things that interested you most throughout the course. Choose a project to develop from one of the earlier parts of the course in consultation with your tutor. It may be possible to combine options – for example, combining elements from Part Three Outdoors with animal studies from Part Two – but discuss it with your tutor first.

Be guided by your own interests, tastes and inclination in finding a subject and feel free to develop your own interpretation. Experiment, be bold and let your intuitive and emotional involvement influence your approach to this final assignment. Imagine your portfolio in a room full of other portfolios and make sure yours stands out for its visual impact.

Whatever your choice of subject, you should aim initially to be objective and highly critical in your approach. As you progress with the project, you may find that certain aspects of your subject come to life for you or that you become fascinated by a certain quality that you could develop into more abstract handling.

You’ll know by now the value and necessity of your sketchbook. As your technical skill develops so will your critical capacity. Throughout your initial experiments, keep on reviewing both the studies you’ve made in your sketchbook and your larger drawings. Reviewing your work should be an ongoing process, both while drawing and in assessing your final pieces.

Assignment five The personal project


Finding a subjectBefore you choose a subject or theme for this project, carefully review the work you did for the relevant part of the course. Consider what were for you the most enjoyable and successful studies. Evaluate your drawings in terms of technical skill, creativity, what you need to alter, adapt, build on further, etc.

Before you start work, think about:• Subject – or focus of your drawing• Format – landscape, portrait, other?• Support – paper, board, found material?• Medium – single, combined, mixed, experimental approach?• Line, tone – a combination of both?• Composition – traditional or experimental?• Mood, story, visual impression• Abstract or realist – a combination of both?• Light – natural or artificial?• Size – negotiate with your tutor

Do you want to work with bold, large gestures, or does your subject suggest more delicate and subtle handling? Are you going to explore line and tonal values with a limited palette?

By now you’ll have experimented with a full range of drawing media and you’ve probably got an idea of what you want to use. If you do decide to use a less familiar medium in any part of your work, experiment first on loose sheets and in your sketchbook.Make sure that you’ll have plenty of time with the right amount of light. If you’re working outside, will you need to visit your site more than once? Consider your light source carefully. If you wish to work on figure studies in natural light you may have to book time with your model at the same time of day over two sessions. If you’re to work by artificial light you’ll need to ensure that this is well placed both for you to see to work and for your model to be lit in the most effective way. The same applies if the model is you.

Have you got the right equipment for the job? If you’re working on landscape, for example, working on a larger surface will mean that you may need a board that you can tilt towards you. (Any drawing surface must always be on the right plane in relation to your eyes to avoid distortion.) If you’re working with the human form, will you do a figure study, a head and shoulders portrait, a self-portrait of just your face or a whole figure self-portrait? Will you explore expressive aspects of figure or portrait drawing or work more objectively on an analytical study? Will you include the background? If so, will that form an essential part of your enquiry? Will the background or any objects included as ‘props’ have any significance?

Think how you might use colour to convey mood and atmosphere. For example, you could use colour washes to express tonal values alongside hard drawing media but you’ll have to apply these at the start or end of your study if your paper is upright or tilted otherwise you’ll get streaming lines running down the paper – this may or may not be an effect that you want. Experiment first with a range of techniques before starting your larger piece.


These are just some of the questions you’ll need to consider. Make sure that you note down the rationale for any decisions you make in your learning log. You’ll probably want to include some of this information in your artist’s statement (see below).

Whatever your subject, keep looking at it and finding fresh ways to interpret it. Each time you look at it you’ll see something different. Adopt an open and enquiring approach and search for an interpretation of your subject that is right for you. Keep looking at other artists for inspiration as you go.

The written element – your artist’s statementYour second task for Assignment Five is to produce a short written statement (around 500 words) where you discuss your chosen option: why you chose it, which artists, materials, methods, themes, etc., interest you and why. Consider this as a proposal or plan, clearly setting out the task that you’ll attempt and how you’ll do this. Using your own words, think about what you’d like to test through drawing, and this will then become the title of your project, for example:

Title: ‘Combining movement and trees, looking at [artists, materials, styles, etc.]’ Title: ‘Investigating animals used in fairy stories, looking at .....’

Title: ‘Using tone only in a series of self-portraits, using [your chosen media]’ (etc., etc.)

These are simple examples but you’ll fit your artist’s statement to the project you want to carry out for Assignment Five. As you work through this final drawing project, reflect on what you’ve done before and what you’re doing now, and make notes in your learning log. You can use these notes alongside photos of your work in progress and your experimental test pieces as supporting material for your final statement, so make sure you keep everything together in your learning log. When writing try to critically assess your own work and complete a piece of writing that will inform the reader about your progress towards this personal project.

Note: This written element of the course is not about writing style or your ability to use words well. It’s about showing your ability to think clearly and creatively about your own drawing, and being able to inform and build your practice through looking at what others do, why they do it and how you might learn from their example. Your artist’s statement should accurately reflect your journey through your chosen personal project.

See the assignment as a whole as an opportunity to test an interesting idea through a combination of drawing and writing. In basic academic terms this is practice-led research, and once you progress to a higher level of study this will become more important.

What you’ll submitAs in previous assignments, send to your tutor your final drawing along with a representative selection of preparatory studies, your artist’s statement and relevant pages of your sketchbook and learning log (or blog url), by whatever means you’ve agreed with your tutor. Make sure that all your work is carefully labelled.


ReflectionBefore you send your work to your tutor, give yourself a final self-assessment check against the assessment criteria and make adjustments if you think there are any weaknesses or areas that don’t meet the criteria.


A note on formal assessmentWhen it comes to formal assessment, you can submit any pieces of work that you feel are successful in their own right or that you feel are vital to the development of your ideas. Bear this in mind while working and make sure that you don’t ruin any images. For example, some students write comments on the front of studies which means they are then unable to submit these as anything other than supporting work – regardless of their quality.

Congratulations on completing the course. We hope you have enjoyed your journey and are now even more confident in your abilities.

OCA staff and tutors look forward to welcoming you onto one of our other courses soon.

drawing 1 drawing skills · drawing at first hand through visits to museums and galleries. course...

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