Wednesday, November 12, 2008

Drawing Project


I've been working on something called a "cast drawing" which is drawing pictures of white plaster casts and making them as exact as possible. Its really hard. I've done it before, but it doesn't get any easier, apparently. It's a good way to sharpen your perception  and accuracy in seeing. It's also really hard .....  did I mention that before?  Right. I thought I did. Anyway this is a picture of my set up, with the casts on the left and the drawing in the first stages on the right. The method involves moving a couple of feet away from the drawing, looking at the casts, and then moving up to the paper and drawing what you saw. Then you move back to the previous place and check if the marks you made are correct. And repeat and repeat. And repeat until the drawing is finished. It is how all artists were trained, right up to the 20th century. Even Picasso had to do this and I think its why he invented cubism. He just decided that he wasn't ever going to do that again. Because it's really hard.

1 comment:

Sheldon Tapley said...

I enjoyed your posts--I teach drawing and would like to use your photo of the simple setup for sightsize drawing. Do you have a larger file of that same photo? It would project better in the classroom. Thanks--
Sheldon

Its Spring!

I found these in a garden center, nestled in the Astilbe.