Visiting the National Railway Museum and the Museum Gardens in York made such a lovely outing today. The weather was wonderful, though slightly windy making my hands cold as I drew outside! I was so fascinated by the old locomotives and steam trains and couldn't help thinking it would have made such a great trip for Grandad if he was still here with us today. I brought along a small sketchbook, dark markers, a few fine liners, willow charcoal, a graphite stick and my trusty ink brush pen to capture as much of the day as possible.
Successes
• Using a smaller sketchbook to work quickly
• Brush pen with drying ink to convey quick strokes and movement
• Focusing on simple line and shape to not overcomplicate the image
• Not getting caught up in accuracies and small details; leaving the images to be simplified
• Incorporating compositional devices such as depth, line of sight and perspective; all implemented from the Visual Language sessions
• Feeling a lot more comfortable and confident to allow the illustrations to be inaccurate, bathed of my own thoughts and emotions; therefor loose and full of motion
First vs. Final Observational Session
• I had much more knowledge this time around regarding the fundamentals of composing a successful illustration, which really shows in my final pieces!
• I felt a lot more reassured in my abilities to work quickly from a reference photo without necessarily having to get it right - adding and taking away things as I felt the need to
• Feeling much more confident to draw on location, letting go of my emotional and physical setbacks and just enjoying the day and creating images!
Improvements
• More observational practice. It is something I would love to do more of over the summer holidays. The practice I have done in just 2 full day sessions has improved my confidence and ability by a long way - so a whole 4 months of observational drawing will make such a difference over the summer.
• I will be travelling to Uganda over the summer to help build a playground for disadvantaged school children, which will be the perfect opportunity to do some observational drawings and document my month-long journey!
Reflection
I have made such significant progress and am really pleased with how my drawings turned out today. The Visual Language sessions have been such a triumph for me in deconstructing my previous ways of working and starting from the very basics; changing the way I approach image making through simple elements such as line, shape and colour. I didn't always get the tasks completely right on the first session but worked at it through my motif of a carousel horse to really peel back the ornamentation and amplify through simplification. I feel my work is now less representational, less picture-perfect - and instead full of narrative, full of visual devices, individual quirks and lots of simplification and blank areas for the audience to fill in the details - rather than explaining every little detail visually. I'm really proud of how much my illustration skills have improved and how much I've been willing to let go of my old ways and adopt new ways of image-making through this module. The York trip has been a testament to my level of learning and a nice way to end the module.
Successes
• Using a smaller sketchbook to work quickly
• Brush pen with drying ink to convey quick strokes and movement
• Focusing on simple line and shape to not overcomplicate the image
• Not getting caught up in accuracies and small details; leaving the images to be simplified
• Incorporating compositional devices such as depth, line of sight and perspective; all implemented from the Visual Language sessions
• Feeling a lot more comfortable and confident to allow the illustrations to be inaccurate, bathed of my own thoughts and emotions; therefor loose and full of motion
First vs. Final Observational Session
• I had much more knowledge this time around regarding the fundamentals of composing a successful illustration, which really shows in my final pieces!
• I felt a lot more reassured in my abilities to work quickly from a reference photo without necessarily having to get it right - adding and taking away things as I felt the need to
• Feeling much more confident to draw on location, letting go of my emotional and physical setbacks and just enjoying the day and creating images!
Improvements
• More observational practice. It is something I would love to do more of over the summer holidays. The practice I have done in just 2 full day sessions has improved my confidence and ability by a long way - so a whole 4 months of observational drawing will make such a difference over the summer.
• I will be travelling to Uganda over the summer to help build a playground for disadvantaged school children, which will be the perfect opportunity to do some observational drawings and document my month-long journey!
Reflection
I have made such significant progress and am really pleased with how my drawings turned out today. The Visual Language sessions have been such a triumph for me in deconstructing my previous ways of working and starting from the very basics; changing the way I approach image making through simple elements such as line, shape and colour. I didn't always get the tasks completely right on the first session but worked at it through my motif of a carousel horse to really peel back the ornamentation and amplify through simplification. I feel my work is now less representational, less picture-perfect - and instead full of narrative, full of visual devices, individual quirks and lots of simplification and blank areas for the audience to fill in the details - rather than explaining every little detail visually. I'm really proud of how much my illustration skills have improved and how much I've been willing to let go of my old ways and adopt new ways of image-making through this module. The York trip has been a testament to my level of learning and a nice way to end the module.
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