Because of problems with my nerves, I have very little sensation in my fingertips which made these exercises an interesting challenge. I did what I could with what I could tell, and picked objects which either moved so I could notice how they moved, and did a lot with my fingernail — feeling the bumps and crevices rather than the sensation of the textures. I still think the topic went well, overall.
Exercise 2.6 – Drawing sensation
(For this exercise I focused a lot on how the silicone bent beneath my fingers, as well as noticing where the harsh edges were and feeling what it was like to roll the strands between my fingers)
Drawing no.1 shows the differences more starkly by the look, the lines are descriptively different but not as informative as drawing no.2 where the changes in line are more pronounced — they feel, and look more tactile. Without concerning myself with the placement of the lines I got more imaginative; what I touched felt bigger in my minds eye and thar translated to the page and how I moved the tool.
Drawing no.2 looks more abstract but you can also tell it’s rendered from an object, the final look reminds me of the print-like abstractions from the previous topic. The subtle variations on drawing no.1 are able to show a little bit of how the object moved, as well as the look.
Exercise 2.7 – Linear surface translation: eyes closed
Having my eyes closed made it harder to be sure the tool was being used differently enough – but it did make me aware of the physicality of the tool as well as the physical presence of the object. The mark making of the lines were not as wildly different as during similar exercises in Part 1 of the course, but the changes were organic and subtle.
2.8 -Linear surface translation – eyes closed
This became easier after a few rows to get used to the task. It was tempting to change the shape of the lines to convey what I was feeling, I had to remind myself to stick to verticals.
Once I started combining different tools into the row (once I even tried holding two at the same time) the effect became even greater, I found it easier to make the line quality different. Graphite sticks worked best for my chosen object.
The one page of a well crafted line felt like expanding on a small amount of information again, exaggerating and abstracting as in Topic 1. I like the quality of the line, of how it stands alone and also how the increased size helps to convey more information about the object at hand.
2.9 – Tactile Forms
For piece one I mostly managed to ignore the overall shape as much as possible, but it does still look a bit like the collection of objects. I managed to include plenty of different line qualities but I did work fast so that I couldn’t overthink and it was intuitive but this did end up with loose mark making and it looks a bit flat as a final piece.
I realised I needed to work bigger and exaggerate, don’t picture anything in my minds eyes and just to depict what I felt, and to either move the object around in hand or move my fingers — not both.
Piece 1 – feels lacking texture wise, the mark making too light handed, the middle is especially vague. I feel aesthetically it would have been better if had had filled more of the page.
I took several passes around feeling for texture on pieces 2 and 3 so they convey more which I like even though they are messier. Pencil worked better than pen and piece 2 I find most successful because of this — it has hard lines plus multiple types of soft texture conveyed, plus different form and shapes. It’s probably least like the collection of objects in question with all the lines going in different directions but it makes the most interesting piece to look at.
Piece three there are differences but they are harder to discern. I like the blank space around it and how that plays off the hard edges of the object.
2.10 – Textural drawing
Finding different types of marks to make seemed like it was going to be difficult but there turned out to be endless possibilities and discovering what I could do was a lot of fun.
Adding directional light to the images creates even more options, conjures more visual appeal. The patterns take on new qualities under the light and I find it is tied back to the emotional line making of Part 1, some look more imposing or angry, other angles create soft or worried looks.
The light can highlight jagged texture or soften discreet marks down to almost nothing. I find it interesting to think about the ways I could attempt to convey this with traditional tools.
For Piece 2 I had more confidence, but tried to be careful and precise to create the same effects as in the squares on piece one. I chose textures that ranged from visually subtle in the first column, then disruptive to the texture and sight, and then went back to visually subtle but actually broke through the paper.
2.11 – Drawing with Texture
The textures I chose were not too destructive to the paper, so the overall look is soft. It captures the object well, my initial outline drawing was precise and the textures filled the shapes without going over the “line” onto the rest of the page. I chose textures to try and match the object. I especially like the tactile quality brought out by the inside of the headband and the shine look for the crosshatch markings denoting the smooth plastic.
The fact that these series of exercises called back to part one gave me confidence to complete them, I feel had an intuitive sense of what was required and of how to put that on the page. The early exercises conveyed a lot of information about the subjects without being representative of the objects — line marks that got me to think on a more physical level not just visually about what was in front of me. The very last exercise was fully representational but it is less noticeable upon viewing the page. It has all opened my eyes to the dynamic changes that can occur depending on how you experience the objects and artwork itself, and that texture plays a large part of form and shape. Playing with those effects leads to some interesting visual qualities.
What I have learned throughout these exercises:
- The more expressive the marks can be, the better
- Subtlety doesn’t convey as much but can be used to great effect
- Some tools will be better to use than others, but mixing a range of tools is effective
- That what an object looks like can say a lot about texture, and I can use that when describing the form on the page
- How to create an impression of something using abstract shapes and pattern forms
- How to break down the surface of something into its base parts
- How the delicacy or softness (or the opposite!) of an object can be described by lines of varying weights and movement – both the texture of the item and the sense of space it takes up, and that these things can have an emotional feel to them
- It married the two sections from parts 1 and 2 and I would be interested in trying to recreate the textured physical marks into marks drawn with traditional tools, to take it a step further and see what could be achieved
Rebekah's OCA Learning Log 