Shoe Study - Perspectives

Parts 2, 3, and 4 

Pure Contour Exploration: Three Shoe Perspectives

The main prompt/idea that drove my three drawings to completion was to draw a shoe, but in three differing perspectives on separate pieces of paper. These three perspectives had to be the side, (profile) front, (frontal) and above. (aerial) I decided to use one of the shoes I was wearing, because it was convenient, and I also liked the style of the shoe which I could draw. 

First, I started with my profile view. I progressed through these drawings starting with the easiest view to reproduce on paper. On each one, I began with using general shapes seen in the shoe and also the outlines. I then slowly added more shapes. With the thought in mind of erasing these sketch lines later, I used a light 2H graphite pencil for these beginning steps. We were prompted to use graphite pencils for this exploration because we started with a brief sketch and general shapes which need to be later erased. Eventually, I added more and more details until I eventually it looked like what I was seeing in front of me. I took a lot of time to add fine details, and made sure not to shade. Once I convinced myself that I liked it and it looked realistic enough, I went in with a darker 4H pencil to make more dark and confident lines. For adding depth to my artworks, I made thicker lines. In this exploration we didn't use shading, but instead we showed the light and darkness with the line thickness. After I made my bold and confident lines with the darker pencil, I erased all sketchy lighter lines that were made with the 2H pencil. This was an important part because it adds clarity to the final look of the artwork. It is necessary to erase the lines made in the sketch because it shows profession and a sense of completion in the drawing. Also in the concept called pure contour, there should be no light and sketchy lines. 

There weren't many planning processes that occurred to produce my three drawings. Despite this, there were several decisions and some problems that I endured. At the beginning, I had to decide if I were to use my right or left shoe. I ended up choosing my left shoe because in the profile view I wanted to feature the inner side of the shoe, and have the toe box face towards the right side of my drawing. Before starting the initial drawing, I chose to use the H pencils. I decided this because after using a B pencil in my past project, it smudged a lot. In these drawings, I didn't want any graphite in the empty space. The H pencils were a good choice for me because they didn't smudge as much. Another decision I made was if I was going to make the holes in the toe box. I ended up choosing to make them, because the toe box would look much different and unfinished in the end if I hadn't made the holes. One challenge or problem that I had while creating all three drawings were the laces. On one of the drawings, I redid the laces about five or six times until I made something with which I was satisfied. Another challenge I had was proportion. It took me a little while to figure out drawing a sketch that better showed the general height and width of the shoe that I was drawing. I liked this project because it was a challenge, and also practice with perspective and line.