My first sketches in about 5 decades . . . updated to add the second page of sketches.
Last edited Sat Jan 20, 2024, 12:04 AM - Edit history (1)
So we haven't had class yet - MLK day, freeze day, snow day. So our first class is Monday, which coincides with the due date for the first assignment. I expect it will be delayed, but I'm trying to work on it anyway without the benefit of any formal skills training.
The idea was to start with something we want to draw and collect images if that thing (I picked flower), then find images of things that are directly connected to the original image - line, color, texture. I used a bunch of my images from diving as well as a few images I found of nebula and bugs that resembled flowers. Then go off on a tangent from something in the first two steps. Three of my images include droplets magnifying things - so my third set of images explores super magnification (electron microscopes, for example) and some NASA images from outer space a lot more close-up than we can see them.
Then we are to fill two pages with sketches of parts of the images we collected (no whole things) using lines to create different values (even of the original image didn't have any/much value range), using at least 3of the drawing tools we have. (I've never drawn with anything other than pencil, so I wasn't very adventurous - I used pencil, ebony, and conte crayon.)
Here's my first page. From left to right - close-up of an eye, cross-section of Okra (top) + drop on a blade of glass (bottom), part of a dogwood blossom, (next row) drop of water creating ripples, part of a flower spike leaf bug, (next row) electron microscope view of kidney glomeruli, and leaf with droplets on it.
Ultimately, the first project is something similar - but with a bunch of the images pulled together in one cohesive (???) 44 x 30 image.
I hate the water drop (my daugher likes it best because it has the widest range of values. I like the dogwood and kidney glomeruli. I struggled with using lines to create value since that is a technique I didn't learn in middle school. 
Second set of sketches.
Electron microscope image of some sort of crystal, sea anemone (carribean), (second row) flowers with raindrops, triton snail egg clusters, center of a rose, (bottom row) ring nebula, sea anemone (NW US - cold water)
I like the top anemone, the egg cluster, and the electron microscope from this batch.
Enjoy . . . or have a good laugh!
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I like the wrinkles you drew in the leaf in the upper right. Don’t be timid about laying down a bold line along with lighter ones in the same object. You’ve made an excellent start here! 
