Graphics - Unconventional ways of drawing

Drawing with out eyes closed from memory

Drawing 1 - Drawing blind

For our first day of the Graphic's week (in our exploratory stage,) we were asked to choose someone from our table. Once we picked the person, it was then explained that we would be drawing them from memory and we were going to be drawing with closed eyes. Before we began drawing everyone was in panic while at the same time trying to stare at each other to get the last glimpse before we were literally thrown into the dark. We were given three minutes to draw that person from what we could remember. This, as we found out, was a lot harder than what we originally thought. Drawing without looking at the paper for start, is always very hard to do. You can't remember or know for sure where you drew the last line. Another challenge I faced was trying to remember all the details of that person without looking at them. I was trying to include the most important parts of her face so that it looked like her but this was so difficult when I didn't even know what I was drawing for sure. To the left is my outcome for this session. The image is very distorted because the facial features have been drawn all over the page. I don't really like the outcome because it doesn't look like the model and it isn't visually attractive - however I really did enjoy the method and unconventional way I drew it. It was an interesting experience to try to remember the girl's face and where I last drew my last line. It gave me a lot of freedom not to have work neatly but allowed me to draw over the lines.

 

 

Drawing with the wrong hand

 Drawing 2 - Drawing with the wrong hand

The second exercise that we all did was to draw another person from our table with our wrong hand.  I liked doing this because it meant I had to try and develop my drawing with my left hand quickly. I had only a few minutes to capture most of her facial features in order to create a drawing that looked like her. Another reason why I liked drawing with the wrong hand was because of the wobbly lines which encouraged me to be free to create a messy picture. Unless you are ambidextrous the art will always have a strange and wobbly outcome. I decided to draw this image with a orange colouring pencil because it would enable me to create tone better (the harder I press the pencil on the paper.) To the right is the image I drew with the left hand. I really like this image because the face came out really well considering it was with the wrong hand.



 

Drawing 3 - Pen in mouth

The next image I created was with a pen in mouth method. Yes, I had to draw a another girl from my table without my hands but with my mouth! This was quite a challenge because I was unable to draw a straight/curved line with this method. Which meant that the girl's face was drawn with lots of broken lines and was very crooked. It was actually quite difficult also to keep the pen in the mouth and direct it to the mark I wished to make. I don't really like the outcome because I captured her head in a strange shape. Even though I didn't like the result I actually really enjoyed doing this - it was not only fun to do as everyone couldn't stop laughing at how ridiculous we all looked but because it was something I have never attempted to do before in my life. It also opened my eyes to creating art in some of the most peculiar and unconventional ways.

 

Drawing 4 - Continuous line drawing

The next method we were asked to do was a continuous line piece. A continuous line drawing is when the pen isn't taken off the paper once.  We were asked to do this drawing of our selves (also from memory.) To do this I could feel my face to feel our facial features. Although I should know my face very well (even more than the other people I had been drawing up till this point.) I actually found it hard to try and add the elements of my face I could remember. The outcome is to the right. I don't like this piece (probably the most out of all four) because it wasn't how I wanted it to turn out and it doesn't look much like me and the proportions are all over the place. Even though I do like the concept of drawing myself from my memory. I really like drawing in a continuous line because it shows the way you draw and the paths I took to get to one part of the image to the next. Furthermore this method worked especially well with the short time frame (a couple of minutes) to create this image.  I love the way you can see all my lines and how you can tell it was quickly done because these lines are so fluid.

Drawing 5 - Ear Drawing

The last drawing that we did was a drawing of someone else's ear. We were given the most time to draw this out of all of the drawing so far - so I spent more time trying too capture the ear with all of its strange curves and shapes. During this exercise I realised how hard and weird ears are. When we draw faces we never concentrate on ears because most of the time they are hidden. It was strange to have to therefore capture the ear because I haven't had a lot of practice it. I did this drawing on an A2 piece of paper and was my largest piece. I decided to use a blue colouring pencil to add tone and to experiment with a different colour than what a normal ear would look like. Overall I really like the outcome - I did make a lot of mistakes however this let meant I was able to refine my work and focus on shadow and shape of the ear.