Drawing Workshops

Camberwell special collection workshop

It made me think differently about objects in museums. Being able to handle some objects was really interesting as we could look at the object at any angle and feel the weight of the object and the texture of the surface. I found the drawing exercises quite fun and my drawings look quite different. I enjoyed thinking of words to describe an object, then drawing based on each word. This is a method I think would be useful in future projects, particularly when developing ideas. I found drawing from descriptions given by others really difficult. It was particularly difficult when someone was describing their object for me to draw, especially when English might not be their first language. It was a bit easier to describe the object to someone else, as I could see the object, look at it from every angle, and feel its weight and texture. 

Using water based materials workshop

Although it was only a short workshop, I think it helped to refresh my skills using ink. I find that using ink takes a lot of practice, especially in terms of creating a full tonal study of something. I think that using ink is something that I would like to do more of, as I enjoy exploring light and shadow, and if used successfully, it can be a great way to create a dramatic drawing using black shadows and the white of the paper showing through. I did find it quite difficult to use ink washes quickly to create portraits, as portraits are not my strongest point. It was really hard to work quickly because if the ink wasn't dry before another layer was added, it bled and so was harder to control. However I think this also creates exciting images. 

Model building and drawing

I really enjoyed the process and way of working in this workshop. We began with collage, which I am starting to quite enjoy using, as it is a quick way to get shapes on the page. Using different elements of existing buildings to create an imaginary hybrid building was a fun task. Then attempting to take that image and move into 3D was very difficult, because we had all made such complicated hybrid buildings, but I think that was all part of the challenge. I had to simplify my building a lot, choosing one section of it to build in cardboard. After making the model, we moved back into 2D and drew from observation. Observational drawing is one of my favourite processes because I enjoy looking carefully at what is in front of me and attempting to put that to paper. Although I found it very hard because our buildings were all very irregular shapes, and so trying to draw them in perspective was a big challenge. I really enjoyed this was of working, and it was interesting to keep switching between 2D and 3D. I feel that illustration is becoming a lot more 3D, and so exploring this process was helpful and exciting.