Today is about “putting it all together”, and breaking down complex forms into pieces.

The “five questions” Eviston suggests:

  1. What is the biggest shape?
  2. What is its axis?
  3. How big should it be?
  4. Where should it go?
  5. What changes can I make? (once a first attempt has been made)

The idea is that we always work from the big/general down to the smaller and more specific. This is an approach I’ve really never applied when drawing, and so it will be interesting to experiment with.

One other thing that was usefully solidified this week is the idea of darkening lines as a way of keeping track of what parts of a form we are “confident” in. We start light in our first attempts, and then slowly darken lines as we become more sure about the “correctness” of the form we are making. I think that that is something I can practice more.

The assignment today is to just try drawing something simple using this process. I did a few sketches on my bike ride:

sketchbook pages with studies of a rock and a lifeguard chair

Of course there’s lots more than the shape breakdowns going on in these – color, shading, texture and so on. Lots more for me to practice and learn.

I am still noticing a few things I think it will be helpful to work on more:

  • Really embracing the “building up from light lines” approach and technique. One thing to remember for me is that I don’t have to “commit” to the first lines I put down; that is the whole point. We can build up and refine. Also finding ways to draw lighter I think will help (or by contrast go even darker). On the lifeguard I tried sketching first in a lighter grey pen then later went over in black; I don’t love the quality of the black lines, it would have been better to go with a looser touch I think.
  • Relatedly, trying to figure out the right way to blend the recommended approach with my existing experience and habits, and preference for working more in pen. I think especially, ideas I take from this first week: (1) building up from light and refining as I go (vs. committing), (2) working with longer strokes and lighter lines, especially in the early stages, (3) thinking in terms of big shapes.