The Slide # 2

Posted on July 22, 2015 by Sarah Sullivan

My goal this week is to plan my composition using thumbnail sketches. Wednesday we were traveling and although I sketched at lunchtime, I did not do thumbnails. Later after we set up our camp and ate dinner, I returned to the ‘Slide’ from 7/21. I had other thumbnails from my playground sketches the previous day and I used those to redraw ‘The Slide”. I had several thoughts about how to tell the story of the little girl and her mother. I wanted to strengthen the communication of  the child’s perspective by making the steps and slide more daunting by completely taking out the top of the steps and lifting the curve of the slide up. I thought the original tree and sky did not add to the composition and so eliminated them. Then I needed to show depth so I diminished the use of lines in the foreground and strengthened the value of the color on the playground equipment. I see now that the idea of the mother’s support for her daughter is lost because the color of the mother’s face and clothing does not contrast enough with the new slide.  I should have lightened the slide around the mother as I did around the child. And I should have decreased the value of the lawn as it approaches the horizon in order to show more depth.

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The Slide

Posted on July 21, 2015 by Sarah Sullivan

This morning I sat and did thumbnail sketches of children and their families on a playground. Capturing the differences between child and adult in a small thumbnail took significant effort and made me glad I was sketching in pencil. I was fascinated by a child looking with hesitation at the steps up to a slide and by her mother looking at her child and did a very quick sketch in color of the two. The child never went up the ladder and the mother stayed by her side, neither encouraging nor dissuading her child. Later I tried to redo this sketch and add a better slide. I did get a better slide but was not able to replicate the body language of the child and mother.

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Midsummer’s Night Dream #2

Posted on July 20, 2015 by Sarah Sullivan

Today I got up and began to redo the sketch I did yesterday. I did several pencil thumbnail sketches where I experimented with the placement of figures on the page, the placement of audience on two or three sides, the dark values and an arching sky.  The thumbnails were a help but I am having difficulties transferring the black and white sketches into color. This realization of course gives me something to work on with this week’s focus on using thumbnail sketches as a thinking and planning tool.

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Midsummer’s Night Dream

Posted on July 19, 2015 by Sarah Sullivan

Today I had a great opportunity to use color values to add depth to a sketch. We attended an outdoor performance of A Midsummer’s Night Dream in the park. It was performed in the round so I was able to sketch the audience on two sides of us, as well as the performers. I sketched with a pen and then after the performance added watercolor.There is a clear story that is being told in the sketch with body language, color, value and line.The faint color and line that describe the audience contrasts with the strong color and line for the three performers and adds depth to the sketch. I was able to show a foreground, middle-ground and background and to make a night sky that goes with the play and the actual performance.  I may redo this sketch tomorrow as I wish I had put in faint arches in the night sky.

This is the end of my third week blogging and the end of a week working to include greater value in each sketch. Interestingly, although I was thinking about value, it is with perspective that I made the most growth. In my school, teachers often noticed something similar with our students. It happened often that the learning clicked after all the lessons had been taught. (Think of all those grades that don’t show what students really are able to do!) Perhaps next week will be the week I become comfortable with value.

In the coming week I will plan my sketches better by doing a thumbnail sketches showing value and composition before actually sketching. My hope is to force myself to think, problem solve and grow before I slip into the fun of sketching.

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Library Napper

Posted on July 18, 2015 by Sarah Sullivan

Today I continued to work on telling a story about a person while also placing the person into a place that shows depth and proportional sense.

I returned again to the library, read books about composition and sketched several versions of the person napping in the library. The man sleeping seemed tired and comfortable in the easy chair and I think these feelings are captured in this sketch.  I like the use of shadows on the napper’s face and think it helps convey being asleep. I was more courageous with dark values on the figure and think the contrast with the bookshelves  that fade slightly as the distance from the napper increases adds depth to the sketch. Drawing bookshelves is such a great way to understand how to use one point perspective. I am so pleased that I now know how to manage this. I may do one more day of book shelves tomorrow.

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Library Stacks

Posted on July 17, 2015 by Sarah Sullivan

After spending some time in the library reading and sketching, I looked down an aisle and realized that I was sitting in a prime location for creating a classic one point perspective drawing. It was interesting to finally be in a spot where theory and fact matched this well.

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In the Library

Posted on July 16, 2015 by Sarah Sullivan

Today I went to the library in search of books and subjects. My intent was to sketch figures in a setting that allowed me to work on showing depth within the sketch by using lights and dark values.

I feel like I am getting closer to showing depth within a sketch. The white paper, the light values and suggestion of the books on the shelves cause us to think of the books as being at a distance from the writer. The darks increase as the focus comes to the foreground of the sketch and I think this also helps with the illusion of depth. I like the way the bits of pencil line give form without dominating the drawing. And I do think this sketch shows the focus of a writer at work.

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