Figure Drawing

One of my ultimate art goals is to develop the ability to draw figures in my paintings to add interest and also I feel it is a form of ‘product differentiation’. Many contemporary ‘hobby’ artists avoid the human form and face because it is difficult. Difficult sounds to me like a good reason to try to master the art!

I went to a set of five morning sessions delivered by Paul Birchall. It was part of the local university summer school; I think it was at the start of 2019. After I retired I returned to classes with Paul with the intention of developing my figure drawing skills further. That was at the start of 2020, Covid 19 then came along and art classes were put on hold.

Paul suggested a few practice exercises I could undertake during the start of the Covid period but with time the isolation and distractions of dealing with the new reality ended those efforts.

Paul has started providing tuition via zoom with a new arrangement whereby he acts as coach. I enlisted a week ago and began a new venture into the tricky realm of representing humans by drawing a skull.

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Drawing of human skull

The work shown here is on an A3 sheet of 60gsm layout paper. I used Lyra Art Design pencils ranging from HB to 9B. I usually start by getting the overall shape and proportions right with an outline drawing. On this occasion I then sent a quick snapshot of the outline to Paul for comment.. Once the master had approved of that stage, I followed up with an exercise in shading to define the form by delineating areas of cast and form shadows.

The initial outline work uses the point of the pencil and a putty rubber (extensively). The definition of form requires the use of the side of the pencil held at about 30 degrees to the paper. I find that during this process any error in the form drawing becomes apparent and so some putty rubber and line work is still required.

Following the skull drawing I was assigned the task of drawing figures from my head without any reference material. I tried a few, disaster! Following that I was to cast a photograph of an artist model up on a large flat surface. Then, set up an easel and draw the model form ‘life’. I have completed two of these so far.

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Pencil figure drawings

The image above shows the first figure I drew on the right and the second attempt on the left. Both are A3 drawings created on 60 gsm layout paper. The first drawing was created using the Derwent Graphic pencils, the second Lyra Art Design pencils. The Lyra pencils work better on the smooth and slippery layout paper. Each image required about eight to ten hours effort. I spread the time to produce these drawings over two days for each one. Constantly comparing the drawing to what is on the screen in tiring and requires concentration. As soon as I catch myself working the image without direct eye contact with the feature I am creating, I stop. I will explain my reasoning for this practice below. The model was photographed and made available to artists by 'Pose Space' on the Internet. 

A number of texts that I have read discuss the issue of drawing what is visible, not what our mind thinks the subject should look like! This is the perception versus vision problem that one has to overcome to become an artist of real world subjects. My interpretation of what the various authors say is that our eye acts like a camera and creates a digital image. Our conscious mind looks briefly at the image projected from the eye, and then it searches for pre-existing models of the displayed image. Once the mind finds the ‘right’ model, it uses this model, updated with a few new details from the image on the eye, and acts accordingly.  The problem of course is that when it comes to people, and particularly portraits, the viewer is as conversant in the reality as the artist! This results in viewers’ ability to judge the ‘truth’ of the artwork. This is what makes figures and faces so difficult to represent.

This is a list of some books that address the issue of perception versus vision.

Edwards, B. (1988) Drawing on the artist within. How to release your hidden creativity. Glasgow: Fontana / William Collins and Sons.

Elliott, V. (2007) Traditional oil painting. Advanced techniques and concepts from the Renaissance to the present. New York: Watson-Guptill Publications.

Jacobs, T.S. (1986) Drawing what the eye sees. Mineola, New York: Dover Publications Inc.

A third Addo Elephant drawing, and a Pink Elephant

The drawing below is the third in the series of Elephant images I am producing. On this occasion I returned to the format of the first drawing and decided to try out a different background. Utilizing the idea Paul Birchall put forward to develop the ‘Letter from Earth’ painting I rubbed graphite around the outline drawing of the Elephant. Once I had established the background ‘grey scale’ I drew the animal with that as a reference tone.

I chose to adopt the dark background so that the light falling on the Elephant would be more clearly depicted. In fact the background had another effect, directly on my artistic rendition. I was so conscious of it that once the drawing was completed with HB, B, B2 and B5 pencil, I skipped straight to the softer B8 and B9 for my darkest darks. Most of the shadow areas of the Elephant are paler than the background. I think this has given the image a more ‘3D look’, the Elephant head certainly looks to me like it is emerging from the paper.

 

The drawing is on A3 size 200gsm paper. Pencils used were Lyra Art Design and there is probably about 16 to 20 hours of actual work involved in its creation.

Pink Elephant

At some point in the process of creating the third Addo Elephant drawing I was overcome with a need to do something else! So I used the same image outline on a small, A4, watercolour paper to splosh some colour about.

I was actually testing out a piece of old board to see if it would sustain a watercolour being stretched, without staining the paper from behind.

Not regarding this as a serious exercise in creating an artistic work, I thought perhaps painting an Elephant in Rose Madder (W&N Cotman) might be entertaining. To create a dark background I mixed Pthalo Green with Rose Madder to create a grey wash. I am still adding colour to the painting but the image below is where it reached as a two colour rendition.

A second Elephant from Addo National Park

I received some feedback regarding my earlier work on the Elephant subject, mainly about including the rest of the Elephant. The image below is the result of a new A3 work that addresses those comments.

My personal view on this is that the inclusion of the legs changes the overall symmetry of the composition to its detriment, I prefer the earlier approach, and it just feels more intimate and pleasing.

I used a set of Lyra Rembrandt graphite pencils for this one. I used a photograph I took in the Addo NP several years ago as my reference. I see that there are numerous comments on the internet about artwork that fails to give proper attribution and confirm permission from the original photographer. I am fortunate to have a lifelong obsession with taking photographs, consequently I have a large collection of my own images to work from.

Addo Elephant No2

Addo Elephant Portrait

 I have an intention to do some art every day. It never really works out that way... L but I try. One approach is to have a sheet prepared and waiting with an outline of a subject on it. Then I can spend an hour, or a few minutes, with pencil and putty rubber developing the image. I did this with some of the locomotive drawings I mention in previous posts. I thought that living in Africa made wildlife a logical subject. I have hundreds of photographs to draw on (Excuse the pun).

This work is intended to be a bit of a departure from the – what I see as traditional – view of an Elephant with big tusks, facing the viewer, with dust and so on around its legs. I decided to focus on the face alone, and so I have merely suggested the forelegs and left everything else out. See what you think.

Portrait of an Elephant in Addo NP

The drawing is on A3 paper. I used a set of Staedtler Mars Lumograph pencils and 200 gsm drawing paper. To date these are the best pencils I have worked with for drawings of this kind.

SAAB Gripen over the Swartberg - creation of an oil painting

 This painting was quite an involved project. I began with a concept of two SAAF Gripen flying over the Swartberg Pass in the South African Swartberg Mountains. My inspiration came from experiencing a pair of these aircraft low flying over the area whilst I was out walking at a place called Groenfontein.

I had taken a photograph from the top of the pass so had a backdrop from a fair height looking south. For the aircraft image, I used my Airfix 1:72 scale model of a SAAB Gripen. I placed it in different poses on a flat surface, and photographed it with a digital camera.

Composition

These photographs (Image 1) were then rather crudely combined using Microsoft PowerPoint. The resulting image / slide was saved as a jpg format file and posted in the Aviation Art forum on Wet Canvas. This has proved to be a fairly reliable and constructive source of advice on matters relating to aviation and art. I have used it for several years and like it.

Image 1 - Airfix model mock up

One member of the forum advised me to use a free software package called ’Sketchup’; it has a library of three dimensional models of most aircraft which can be positioned and posed easily in a virtual space. I did this and then placed the resulting images into my PowerPoint background and posed a selection of compositions on the Wet Canvas forum for additional ideas and criticism (Image 2).

 

Image 2 - Thumbnails of Sketchup composition

From these ideas and with some ‘votes’ from the forum members I selected version two as the basis for the eventual painting.

Artwork development

I usually start my artwork with pencil drawings. I find this provides me with a feel for how much tonal range I need to use to give the feeling of depth to an image. I am basically creating atmospheric perspective. The drawing process also assists me in becoming familiar with the shape and salient features of the subject (Image 3).

 

Image 3 - Initial A4 drawings

Once I was happy with the pencil drawings, the ones above were an A4 initial sketch. I worked from them on A3 paper to re draw them in more detail.

Watercolour work

Following the drawing stage I moved to the colour decision process. I restored an airbrush and compressor arrangement that has languished in my cupboard for many years and used it to create a background wash. Onto this wash I then painted the two aircraft (Image 4).

 

Image 4 - Watercolour study

I can’t say I was particularly happy with the result as a piece of art in its own right. But felt it served its purpose. How wrong I was!

My main reason for producing a watercolour in one of these projects is to create a full colour idea of what the final painting will look like. It tells me what colours to use and where they may clash. Except in this case I did not pay enough attention to the small issue of aircraft camouflage!

The oil painting

The process I am describing started in August 2020, by the time I started on the Oil painting proper it was October.

I outlined my composition and created a Burnt Umber under painting of the aircraft, then worked over this with Payne’s Grey. After that I glazed in some hues that I thought would serve as the basis for the landscape behind the aircraft.

I then painted over the aircraft in a colour mix that more closely met the colours visible on photographs of the real aircraft in service with the SAAF. This is where I began to see a problem. The SAAF colour scheme is designed to make the aircraft fade into the haze of distant clouds or landscapes (Image 5).

 

Image 5 - Initial oil painting

I decided at this point that the landscape had to be darker than the aircraft so that they would stand out. So I duly spent some ‘happy time’ rendering a suitably realistic landscape behind the aircraft (Image 6).

 

Image 6 - Adjusted painting with landscape completed

This looked quite hopeful until I converted the image to greyscale. I could see tone was an issue and any ideas of glazing in a distant haze would also allow the aircraft to blend in! (Image 7)

 

Image 7 - Greyscale of adjusted painting

As a result I worked this version over with some Umber to darken the background and ‘cool it down’ so it would recede (Image 8).

 

Image 8 - Landscape with Umber glaze

This worked though I lost some of my lovely landscape details. With the addition of some contrails I did manage to gain a feel for movement and speed in the image. Many aviation paintings depict the aircraft in perfect focus and detail which makes the machine hang motionless in the air.

 

Image 9 Greyscale image of Umber glaze

A monochrome version of the image revealed that the tonal range, plus the contrast with the landscape, now brought the aircraft into the foreground (Image 9).

My final step was to complete the detailing of the aircraft and enhance the contrails to strengthen the feel for speed (Image 10).

Image 10 - Final painting / artwork

Winsor & Newton Artisan (water mixable oils) colours on Fredix canvas board. (50 x 76 cm).

Outeniqua steam engine

 This is my second steam engine, I originally planned to render it on A3 format paper, but during the preparation process I decided that what I had prepared would work better in A4.

This image represents a departure in my process from working with a hard copy (Photograph or print), to working off a computer screen.

I scanned the original photograph (a 35mm colour slide) and then loaded the digital image into MS PowerPoint. I created a grid of squares in the PowerPoint package and overlaid these on the steam train image. Finally I saved that slide as a jpg picture which I could display on an old laptop screen and refer to as I started drawing.

Original photograph with grid lines superimposed

I initially drew the scaled up grid out on 60gsm A3 paper and then drew the salient features of the steam engine using the grid for guidance. Once I had a simple line drawing my intent was to use a light box to transfer the lines, without the grid, onto the final art support. When I looked at my line drawing I realized that the scale I had drawn the engine to fitted better in an A4 format and the rest of the image was not adding anything to the drawing.

With the above considerations in mind, I traced the outline of the train onto 200gsm paper and then worked it up using Staedtler Mars Lumograph pencils. I found the paper a little too rough in texture for my liking. I was not able to get lines as fine as I wished, and dark areas persist in having bright aspects. 

A4 drawing of steam engine in Garden Route lakes area

There are a few perspective errors in the drawing, so more care next time! As I worked on the drawing I discovered that the boiler and the various lines along and around it are more complex that they first appear, in fact what look like lines or joins at first glance turn out to be part of a sophisticated set of pipe work!

The original photograph was taken in the mid 1990s in the wetland area between Knysna and George on the S. Coast of South Africa. This train is moving timber from the forests around Knysna. A landslide blocked the line and this traffic is now fulfilled by road transport. The loss is a pity as this was a tourist attraction.

A departure from realism with Paul Birchall

The past two weeks were occupied with a UCT summer school course delivered via Microsoft Teams. Our instructor was a well known local artist, Paul Birchall. He led the group of attendees through a creative process that resulted in my production of something completely different to my normal works.

Postcards from abroad

One early exercise Paul led us through was to select three images and use them as the face of an imaginary postcard. Then use the image to illustrate the message home written on the reverse of the postcard.

I selected three images of paintings by Caravaggio, and used them to construct a set of weekly cards home from a holidaymaker visiting Italy in these ‘Covidian’ times.

Postcard 1

Dear Mum,

I have arrived in Italy and managed to find some shared accommodation in the ‘old quarter’ of the city. Because of the pandemic rules, I have to spend fourteen days inside; fortunately I will not be alone. A young lady from Alexandria is also staying at the hostel.

My quarantine companion tells me she is here for a part in a film. This evening I came across her in the lounge clutching a long sharp sword. I did not know that Italians allowed such things in public. When I asked about it she said it was a prop for a film. She is hoping for a part in the film as the tragic heroine.

Postcard 2

Dear Mum,

I have now been a week in this hostel. I am not sure the young actress also staying in the hostel is what she claims to be. There has been a bit of drama here. Another guest was found this morning in his room with his head cut off! All I can think of is the sword I saw her with when I first arrived.

The police say they arrested the cleaning lady early this morning. She claims she found the victims head in a bag. Her story is that she found the bag in the hall and did not know what was in it! I must say she is a frail old thing. I am not sure she could behead a person. The police are puzzled because the cleaning lady has no DNA traces of the victim on her.

Postcard 3

Dear Mum,

I have had enough of Italy, with lockdown it’s no fun. I have now boarded a ship home. Unfortunately due to quarantine we are confined to our cabins. So we spend all day and night peering out of the porthole.

The good news is that I am not alone. The young actress has become a really good friend. Both she and her sister are with me.

I did notice a bit of agitation on the part of the police detective when we left. He suspects my lovely companion. But I think she is a harmless, lovely person in need of a break!

See you soon.  J

Stage two – a Dada poem

The second thread to the creative process was to select some passages from a text and then mix the various phrases together to create what to me is a nonsense, but I am informed is in fact a ‘Dada poem’

Selected passages

These are the passages of text I selected. They come from a book by Tim Biggs titled ‘Three Rivers of the Amazon’.

“The canyon sides grew steeper, with the result that the number of blockages increased. At some places entire sections of the mountainside had become dislodged and crashed into the river. This forced the river to flow under gigantic house sized rocks for distances of up to a kilometer.”

“The good mother tirelessly carried water from the river, cooked the evening meal, chopped wood, cleaned the house, picked up and breastfed the crying youngest child, and all the time kept watch over the strangers who had invaded her territory. Although very poor in possessions, the family appeared to be totally contented, living in harmony with their beautiful surroundings.”

From these through a process of mixing I arrived at the following Dada poem;

living in harmony with their beautiful surroundings

for distances

The canyon sides grew steeper,

gigantic house sized rocks

to flow under

At some places entire sections of the mountainside,

chopped wood,

cleaned the house,

and all the time kept watch over the strangers who had invaded

 

with the result that the number of blockages increased,

of up to a kilometer

cooked the evening meal,

had become dislodged and crashed into the river,

The good mother tirelessly carried water from the river,

 picked up and breastfed the crying youngest child

This forced the river

Although very poor in possessions

 the family appeared to be totally contented

Stage three – image creation

The phrases in the poem above were put in a search engine on the internet and images that interested me were saved onto the PC. These various images were then put together in a collage. This can be done by printing and cutting them out or in my case I built them up in a MS PowerPoint slide.

Once a collage was completed it was used as the basis for a grey scale image. Pauls instruction was to use charcoal, but I found it more convenient to try with graphite.

The process to follow is to rub powdered charcoal / graphite onto a sheet of paper. Then use charcoal / Graphite stick and a putty rubber to indicate light and dark areas, thus recreating the collage. This image is then transferred to the painting support and used as the reference for the actual painting.

Stage four - The watercolour painting

The greyscale image was then outlined on 300gsm watercolour paper and a background ‘wash’ applied using an airbrush. The image was then developed using conventional watercolour methods. The outcome is a 33cm by 51cm watercolour.

The watercolour painting, I thought, could do with the same treatment as the ‘postcards’ the process started with. So I have called the painting ‘Letter from Earth’. The text of the letter reads;

Unit six,

Grand Canyon Condominions

April 2050

Dear ‘Earth-watchers’, I know you are there in your pristine space habitats, and in your caves on Mars. I think you will be interested in a recent event here on Earth.

I live in the Grand Canyon, this is the last refuge of the wealthy and the last wild place on Earth to be assigned re-development status. I live in one of the new bunker style houses that protect us from the Sun now the ozone layer is gone!

Though I live in a new development, no sooner had we taken occupation than ‘illegal’ traders set up camp on the river banks and homeless poor people, who somehow live in the Sun’s rays are crowding the shallows drawing precious water for their basic needs.

The last of the ‘Tree-hugger’ sect have taken up residence on the far side of the canyon and closed the roads to prevent further development. They seem to spend their time trying to clean up all the pollution. They seem to think that nature is more important than commerce!

What I want to bring to your attention is the presence of a deity like figure that has arrived in the Canyon. It calls itself ‘Gaia’, and claims to have a message for us. “A great flood is coming; the World will be swept clean!” I am worried about my investment in the new shopping mall!