Our new Indie Games subforum is now open for business in G&T. Go and check it out, you might land a code for a free game. If you're developing an indie game and want to post about it, follow these directions. If you don't, he'll break your legs! Hahaha! Seriously though.
Our rules have been updated and given their own forum. Go and look at them! They are nice, and there may be new ones that you didn't know about! Hooray for rules! Hooray for The System! Hooray for Conforming!
Beginners Drawing Class - Week 6 - Logical Lights and Self Portrait Round Two: Fight!
Edges, Spaces, Relationships, oh my!
Drawing can be described as a combination of five perceptual skills:
Edges (the "shared" edges of a drawing)
Spaces (called negative spaces)
Relationships (perspective and proportion)
Lights and Shadows (shading)
Gestalt (the whole or "thingness" of that thing - not to be confused with "that thing I sent you")
Becoming proficient in these areas is essential for a well-rounded artist. This week we focus on edges, spaces, and relationships. Using the plastic plane and viewfinder, we are able to capture the 3D world on a 2D sheet of paper. Even famous artists like Van Gogh and Holbein utilized equipment similar to our plastic plane and viewfinder to help them get a handle on these ideas.
To ensure you get the most out of the lessons, it is a very good idea to read all of the instructions before beginning a given exercise. Also, lessons are beginning to build on one another more than before, so it is a good idea to do them in order.
Drawing on the picture plane:
Bust out your viewfinder and plastic plane.
Rest your hand on a table in front of you, pointing your fingers back up towards you. This should create a foreshortened view of your hand.
Try the two viewfinders and decide which one more accurately captures your hand (males generally use the larger viewfinder, and females generally use the smaller viewfinder).
Place the plastic plane and the viewfinder on your hand, positioning your fingers so that it is easy to balance. You may need to clip the view finder to the plane to keep it from moving.
Close one eye, choose an edge and begin tracing your hand using your non-permanent marker.
Be sure to avoid moving your head or hand so that the entire picture is from a single perspective. Closing one eye helps maintain that single point of view.
Put your plastic plane on a blank sheet of paper to see the result.
The result should look something like this:
Modified contour drawing of your hand:
Using the inside edge of your viewfinder, draw a border or frame on your paper.
Tone the paper by rubbing the edge of your graphite stick lightly over the paper, staying inside of your frame.
Once the paper is covered with a light application of graphite, use a paper towel to rub the graphite into the paper using circular motions and applying even pressure throughout.
Next, draw horizontal and vertical lines in your frame to match those on your plastic plane. Don't draw the lines too dark as they are only a guideline and should not stand out from the finished picture.
Draw the main edges of your hand, using the the plastic plane from the previous exercise as a reference. Feel free to erase as necessary and use the paper towel to rub in the missing graphite as needed.
After the rough sketch is complete, pose your hand in the same position as the picture.
Closing one eye again, focus on your hand from the same perspective as it is on sketch. Pick a point on your hand and place your pencil at that same point on your drawing.
As with your Pure Contour drawing, follow the edges of your hand with your eye and capture it with your pencil. Imagine your cross hairs and viewfinder over your hand to help you keep proportion.
You may choose to erase the graphite between the edges of your hand. This helps create negative space and makes your hand stand out from the rest of the paper.
The end result should looking something like this:
Negative space drawing of a chair:
Before beginning this exercise it's important to get an understanding of what negative spaces are. The example used by Betty is to think of Bugs Bunny running through a hallway at high speed. He smashes through the door at the end of the hallway, leaving just the outline of his body in the door. The rest of the door is the "negative space" of Bugs Bunny. Part of our vases/faces exercise was also an example of negative spaces.
As with the hand contour drawing, frame, tone, and cross hair your paper.
Choose any type of chair and place it against a simple background (such as a corner or a blank wall).
Fasten your viewfinder to your plastic plane and place it in front of your face, closing one eye. Move the plastic plane around until you capture the chair in a composition that you like.
Hold the plastic plane still and begin drawing the negative spaces around the chair. Again, do not draw the outline of the chair! Draw the spaces around it.
Once you've completed this, find a "base unit" to begin transferring the image to paper. A base unit is a negative space that you use as a reference point for the rest of the picture. Pick a base unit that is of medium size and is near the cross hairs.
Continue to draw the spaces of the chair, moving out from the base unit and using the cross hairs for reference.
Once you are finished, you can work up the drawing a bit by erasing the graphite in your negative spaces to make the chair stand out.