Drawing from Observation

Drawing From Observation

I chose this brush and ink sketch because i like the shape and relative simplicity of the tones. It was my first attempt at drawing this cactus and it gave me some good ideas of how to put together following sketches.

this sketch has more depth of tone than the previous one making the form more apparent. I think it makes it a more interesting image than the first one. I am happy with the added depth but should tone down the sold black outlines.

This sketch was the third in and final sketch in a series based on the same photograph. I wanted to highlight the shadow of the trees on the building, the detailed silhouettes of the leaves and branches contrasted well with the solid form of the building.

Drawing from reference is an extremely useful way to gather information about a particular subject that may not be readily available for you to draw live. You can draw from a wide variety of examples but are constrained by the photographers choice of composition and the quality of the image. Drawing from you own observations means you can choose your own composition and study movement and form more completely.I often use reference photographs to help me with illustrations but observational drawing has given me a new perspective and altered the way i look at certain compositions especially figure and movement.

making multiple drawings of the same image has been an interesting and challenging experience. often drawing at home i will sketch and erase lines and forms until i find the right one then carry on with that image until its a finished product. The problem with that is it  doesn't encourage experimentation. I definitely noticed improvements the more i repeated the same image (as well as things that didn't work). A big challenge for me was to maintain concentration and not rush main parts of the composition after already drawing them a few times previously.

I would like to work more with ink & brush. It is not something i have done much in the past and i like a lot off the effects and tones the media helps create. It also pushes me away from crisp built up fine liner lines that i am used to using in the majority of my illustrations.