EXPERIMENTAL DRAWING Home & Dublin Study Tour 2010

[Blind] Contour Drawing - without lookingYou are going to look at the subject of your drawing harder than you have ever looked at anything, but you are not going to look at your drawing paper at any time whilst your pencil is moving. First look at your subject, one line or form at a time, and force yourself to believe that your pencil is touching the form you are attempting to draw. When a particular form disappears behind another or otherwise comes to an end, pick up your pencil from the page, look at the next form, set your pencil down in relation to the prior line, and [again without looking] proceed to draw it.

Gesture Drawing In contour drawing you draw each little section one at a time. With gesture drawing you must perceive the form in its entirety, then place marks rapidly onto the paper. And while contour drawing touches the edge of the form, gesture drawing moves around inside the form. Gesture drawing is a way of studying the articulation of forms in space. You are trying to draw the energy encapsulated within the relation of different forms. Using chalk, charcoal, or graphite stick, your eyes should be on the subject 98% of the time. Spend time studying the whole of the form you are going to draw, then start out with an initial mark that encompasses the entire form in the fi rst couple of seconds. Don’t draw by just moving your fi ngers, or even the wrist. Allow your entire body to respond to the form you are drawing.

Modelled Drawing Modelled drawing is similar to contour drawing since it is also concerned with the sense of touch. Using your chalk, charcoal, or graphite stick on its side you have to believe that the you are actually touching the form. Press very lightly on those sections of the form that are closest to you, and as the form moves back, increase the amount of pressure, thus creating a darker tone. DO NOT begin with a rough or tentative outline, instead begin at the centre of the form and end with the edge.

Tone Drawing After line, light and dark are the most important drawing elements. The fi rst time you try this exercise, using your full range of pencils create a value scale of 2cm squares [one square for each pencil]. The squares must all touch one another. They must also grade evenly from white, though all the greys to black. Each square must have perfectly even tones and razor sharp edges within the bounds of its nearly invisible outline. Do not press hard enough to emboss your paper. Now draw those ‘nearly invisible outlines’ of the scene in front of you - a built form works beter than planting - and fi ll in only the tones of the scene. Make your tones perfectly even, and do not draw in any lines to show detail. It is only the light and dark we want to see. You should represent the amount of light and dark you see, so don’t use all the tones in your value scale if they are not present. You may have to generalise, imagine that you are looking at the scene through half closed eyes, or that it is blurred, so that you don’t get bogged down in the details.

In all these types of drawing it is the process that is most important. Try not to worry about how the fi nished drawing looks [this is the most diffi cult part]. Do not rub out or tear out any mistakes - there are no mistakes! By practising these techniques you will [eventually] become adept at drawing, but it will take time and practice. Trust in the process.

Dublin Study Tour

Monday: complete all Contour Drawing tasks [A,B and C] in O’Connell St. complete all Gesture Drawing tasks [A,B and C] in St Stephen’s Green.Tuesday: complete all Modelled Drawing tasks [A and B] at Hill of Tara. complete Tone Drawing task [A] at Mellifont Abbey.Wednesday/Thursday/Friday: Choose one task [A/B/C] for each place you visit from the list below. You should complete at least one task for each type of drawing.

Home Study TourFor each Park and Garden site you visit choose one type of drawing from Contour, Gesture, Modelled or Tone. Complete all drawing tasks for the type of drawing chosen, as detailed below. You should complete each set of tasks at least once.

Types of Drawing and Tasks

Contour DrawingA. On one page of your sketch book complete ten drawings lasting 20 seconds each (count slowly to 20 as you draw - no cheating!). Each drawing should be of a different object in the space. Try to draw as many different scales and types of object as you can. Don’t worry if the drawings overlap.

B. Fill another page with one 10 minute drawing of one object. For this you should try to include as much detail as possible (eg. draw both sides of a branch). Do not stop until 10 minutes is up.

C. Fill a third page with one 10 minute drawing of two objects and their relationship to each other. This should also be as detailed as possible. Do not stop until 10 minutes is fi nished.

Gesture DrawingA. On 2 pages of your sketch book complete twenty drawings (it is important to work quickly, each drawing should take about 5 seconds). Each drawing should encompass all the main elements of the space. Turn to face a different direction for each drawing.

B. Fill another page with one drawing lasting a couple of minutes. Remember, within the fi rst few seconds you should have made an initial mark that encompasses the entire form.

C. Fill another page with one drawing lasting 10 minutes. Do not stop until 10 minutes is up. Repeat once.

Modelled DrawingA. On one page of your sketch book complete one 10 minute drawing of a small scale object in the space.

B. Fill another page with one 20 minute drawing of the entire view before you. Try to get a sense of the totality of the scene. Do not stop until 20 minutes is up.

Tone DrawingThe fi rst time [or only time if you are on the home study tour] you try this exercise complete a value scale, take 10 minutes.

A. Fill a page in your sketch book with one 20 minute drawing of a group of built elements.