Final Still Life Drawing

Essential Question:

What are the necessary skills to create a convincing still life drawing?

Purpose:

- To create a still-life drawing that demonstrates understanding of angles & ellipses in perspective, along with using a chosen and conscious mark-making technique to describe form;

- To understand value by creating a good range of values between black & white to help make the objects appear 3D;

- To demonstrate quality craftsmanship and good composition skills in a drawing.

Artists Studied:

Henry Moore, Giorgio Morandi, Vincent van Gogh, Winslow Homer, John Whalley

Reflection

In my final still-life illustration I used controlled scribbling. When we were studying different artists and their works, the one that stood out to me the most was Henry Moore. He was able to convey such realistic shades and shapes with rough lines and scribbling. For me, controlled scribbling helped me understand each layer of value that I was adding. I started off with light layers of shading, and then worked my way up to darker shades using layers of controlled scribbling.

Looking back at my pre-instructional drawing, I have learned that it is important to draw objects large enough so that I can add enough detail and shading later. It is also important to make sure that all of the lines went back to the perspective point to make the image realistic and easy to comprehend. I have also learned to start off my shading lightly, that way it is easier to make things darker if needed.

There are a few necessary skills needed to replicate a real life arrangement into a drawing. First, it is important for all of your shapes and lines to be in scale to their real-life counterparts. If any angles, shapes or lines are skewed, it can make the drawing seem off and less realistic. It is also important to have your lines meet back at the perspective points. This also helps make the illustration more real to the viewer. Another thing that is necessary in creating a still-life drawing is your concept of value. It is easier to start off with light shading and then work your way up to create darker shadows if needed. A final skill that is needed in order to create a realistic still-life drawing is to decide which type of marking/shading you are going to use. A drawing will look strange if there are very different types of shading used within it. For instance, using stippling with cross-hatching will look more confusing to the viewer than using a mix of hatching and cross-hatching.

I chose to replicate Henry Moore's style of value because I admired how a mess of scribbles could come together to form something so beautiful and realistic. Henry Moore's use of controlled scribbling also helped me understand the different layers of value, and how if you make a mistake you can cover it with another layer of scribbles.