Reading through my notes made during the group crit session for my drawing project, it was positive for me to hear comments on my use of media and also my use of just black and white. I think that using only monochrome best complements the subject matter as it focuses on the tone and shapes without anything distracting the viewer. I also found it interesting that my peers recognised my experimentation with movement of people and that I wish to represent it through the use of shadows.
In response to the comments made by the group I decided to play around with composition once again, looking at shapes and view points of people (portrait and landscape) to help create different depths and densities of tone. As well as this I also experimented with adding subtle tertiary grays into the black ink using watercolour to see what that brought to my ideas.
(Untitled, ink wet on wet, charcoal, graphite
and watercolour on paper, A4)
and watercolour on paper, A4)
(Untitled, ink wet on wet, charcoal and graphite on paper, A4)
(Untitled, ink wet on wet, charcoal, graphite and varnish on paper, A3)
Above are some of my ideas that play around with black ink combined together with hints of colour and also experimentation with composition looking at idea orientation and also the densities of the crowds and the view points. As well as this I tried out using varnish over the completed drawing. I do not think this was successful as the varnish is not completely clear, leaving a slight yellow tone to the paper. Instead I will apply the varnish more as drips instead of painting it onto the picture as a whole to see what this adds to the idea. Evaluating these current drawings I think it is apparent that the ideas looking down on the crowd are not as interesting or as visually appealing as the ideas which generate depth with use of landscape orientation and subtle hints to structure which draw in the viewers attention. I then decided to add a lot more colour to my ideas to see how this changed the atmosphere of my drawings.
(Untitled, watercolour, ink and charcoal on paper, A4)
(Untitled, watercolour and ink on paper, A3)
(Untitled, water colour on paper, A4)
These next few ideas show my experimentation with the use of vibrant colours as an extreme contrast to my ideas using only monochrome tones. To do this I used the same process ideas used previously, wet on wet, this time applying rich watercolour to the paper. I tried out using the watercolours on their own, mixed and also combined with the black ink to add stronger shadows. I used compositions that have been previously effective looking at landscape viewpoints. Comparing these colourful ideas to my previous dark black and white drawings, I think that by adding watercolour the atmosphere becomes less dark and heavy, and is instead bright and uplifting to look at whilst still generating elements of people and the movement of crowds in a city environment. As further development on my use of colour I will try out my ideas on a larger scale comparing them against my larger monochrome pieces.
(Untitled, ink wet on wet charcoal graphite
and watercolour on card board, A2)
and watercolour on card board, A2)
When applying the same techniques used previously onto cardboard I found that the process was not as successful as it is on normal cartridge paper. Due to cardboard being thicker and absorbing more of the black ink, I found that when I produced the marks in the black wet surface they eventually merged in once completely dry. This then took away some texture which is expressed in previous pieces and I think that this makes the drawings seem a lot more bland and flat in tern detracting from the movement element of my ideas.
Testing my technique out onto cardboard and finding that the process fails to be as effective as it is on paper, I have decided to attempt to stretch ordinary cartridge paper to that it does not warp as much making my pieces more professional and refined. To do this I will start by first producing some small scale pieces to see if the stretching process works to complement my ideas and choice is media.
