Sketchbook: Vito

[Vito]

oh hai this is mai sketchbook i will fill it with pictures of cocks

crits welcome, unless they are pictures of cocks

only i can post cocks

[Vito]

As previously discussed (http://boards.polycount.net/showpost.php?p=847226&postcount=8), I'm taking an introductory art class. Copying straight from the syllabus, our first project was "Cropping / Abstraction," creating two compositions using:

weighted line asymmetrical balance
organic shape scribble line
geometric shape

[Vito]

First, we picked a photocopy of a photograph from a stack the instructor had and cropped out a 2x3" section, and blew that up on a photocopier to 8x11. This pretty much makes it a black and white image, with gray values being more like halftones. This was my 2x3" crop (actually my second, I started out with a bit of tree and got pretty far along in the whole project before I decided to start over):

http://mavra.perilith.com/~vito/photos/design1/pc-200809xx-design1-0001.jpg

And here's the blown-up version:

http://mavra.perilith.com/~vito/photos/design1/pc-200809xx-design1-0002.jpg

[Vito]

Then we were to use only pen and ink and use a weighted scribble line to recreate the values in the composition. This required practice, and in the end, I probably should have practiced a lot more than I actually did.

http://mavra.perilith.com/~vito/photos/design1/pc-200809xx-design1-0003.jpg http://mavra.perilith.com/~vito/photos/design1/pc-200809xx-design1-0004.jpg http://mavra.perilith.com/~vito/photos/design1/pc-200809xx-design1-0005.jpg

This actually looks a lot better scaled down than it does at 9x12. or whatever my sketchbook actually is.

[Vito]

(This is a placeholder for the final image, which I have no way to scan in since it's so big. I'll have to take a photo of it.)

[Vito]

Then we did it all over again, cropping out a portion of our first composition. Here's the 2x3" crop:

http://mavra.perilith.com/~vito/photos/design1/pc-200809xx-design1-0007.jpg

The blow-up looks exactly the same.

Again, using only pen and ink, "use only straight, angular lines (hatching and cross-hatching) of varying weights and density to recreate the cropped section." Here's practice, of which there wasn't enough:

http://mavra.perilith.com/~vito/photos/design1/pc-200809xx-design1-0009.jpg

[Vito]

(And here's a placeholder for the final version which I'll have to photograph.)

[Vito]

The second project was "rhythm and repetition." One composition made of three 5x7" panels. We were to pick a song and create a composition which compliments the piece. "Each of the three panels must relate to one another and to the music but must not be identical... must use a combination of organic and geometric shapes and weighted line... repeated shapes, spaces and lines to create a sense of rhythm in the composition..." No realism, no illustration of the lyrics, use positive and negative spaces, use the format as more than just a frame, only stippling and crosshatch.

I picked a Disney song. Lots of easy, obvious repetition. And, to be clever, I thought I'd use only hearts. Stretched hearts, perspective hearts, doodled hearts, precisely drawn hearts, stippled hearts, hearts hearts hearts.

My instructor couldn't recall anyone using only a single shape before and I've come to discover why. I've been working on this for two weeks and it basically needs to be done this week, since we're starting painting on Wednesday and our critique on this is the following Monday.

[Vito]

So, here's lots of practice:

http://mavra.perilith.com/~vito/photos/design1/pc-200809xx-design1-0011.jpg http://mavra.perilith.com/~vito/photos/design1/pc-200809xx-design1-0012.jpg http://mavra.perilith.com/~vito/photos/design1/pc-200809xx-design1-0013.jpg

And then the composition starts to come together a bit more:

http://mavra.perilith.com/~vito/photos/design1/pc-200809xx-design1-0014.jpg http://mavra.perilith.com/~vito/photos/design1/pc-200809xx-design1-0015.jpg http://mavra.perilith.com/~vito/photos/design1/pc-200809xx-design1-0016.jpg http://mavra.perilith.com/~vito/photos/design1/pc-200809xx-design1-0017.jpg

[Vito]

Then some heart practice:

http://mavra.perilith.com/~vito/photos/design1/pc-200809xx-design1-0018.jpg

Then I played with making precise hearts out of circles and squares and overlapping them into pseudo-butterflies:

http://mavra.perilith.com/~vito/photos/design1/pc-200809xx-design1-0020.jpg

[Vito]

But when it came time to put it all together:

http://mavra.perilith.com/~vito/photos/design1/pc-200809xx-design1-0021.jpg http://mavra.perilith.com/~vito/photos/design1/pc-200809xx-design1-0022.jpg

... it looked like ass.

http://mavra.perilith.com/~vito/photos/design1/pc-200809xx-design1-0023.jpg

And now I'm in whatever the art equivalent of writer's block is. I've got a few pencil sketches for new directions but nothing's concrete yet. Which sucks, because, as I mentioned, it pretty much needs to be done real soon now.

[Vito]

And that brings me up to right now. While I was stuck, I scanned all this stuff in, and tried trees:

http://mavra.perilith.com/~vito/photos/design1/pc-20081005-tree-0001.jpg http://mavra.perilith.com/~vito/photos/design1/pc-20081005-tree-0002.jpg

http://mavra.perilith.com/~vito/photos/design1/pc-20081005-tree-0003.jpg

[Eric Chadwick]

Cool Vito, it's great to see you picking up drawing.

I strongly disagree with where the instructor is going with their course though. I would start people out drawing a still life (an single apple or flower, something natural) and work from there.

Drawing from imagination does not really help people learn how to draw. It is very tough to critique abstract art, which is what this the instructor seems to be teaching. Even the masters of abstractionism all studied classical life drawing (and mastered that) before moving on to abstract subjects.

The reason for this is that with life drawing it is much clearer what needs to be refined in one's technique. It also greatly increases the ability to see, which is in the end what drawing is all about, learning how to see.

I like the trees, those are the strongest pieces on the page. Keep going with those, they're the real meat IMHO.

[Vito]

Eric, you're right, if this were a Drawing I class, I'd be pissed.

However, the class is "Design I," and is billed as an introduction to design techniques: line, color, value, contrast, etc. It's all abstract shapes because we're supposed to be practicing tone, gradients, composition, structure, etc. Part of my problem is forgetting that and getting hung up on "meaning" instead of focusing on what the work is supposed to be about.

Work was a bear the last two weeks, and on Monday the 6th, our last day to work on the project in class, I was still stumped. At the instructor's suggestion, I built the following idea: take the two panels from #10, and have the hearts and butterflies flutter down into the petals of a flower.

http://mavra.perilith.com/~vito/photos/design1/pc-20081006-design1-0000.jpg

I liked it a lot, but I didn't really think I could execute on it, though. The alternative was a riff on Escher's Liberation (http://mavra.perilith.com/~vito/photos/design1/Escher_Liberation.jpg), with component circles and squares at the bottom, combining into butterflies and separating into hearts that flutter away at the top, and I felt I could at least get something close, so that's what I went with.

[Vito]

Here's the practice that went into the Liberation riff:

http://mavra.perilith.com/~vito/photos/design1/pc-20081012-design1-0001.jpg http://mavra.perilith.com/~vito/photos/design1/pc-20081012-design1-0002.jpg

http://mavra.perilith.com/~vito/photos/design1/pc-20081012-design1-0003.jpg http://mavra.perilith.com/~vito/photos/design1/pc-20081012-design1-0004.jpg

http://mavra.perilith.com/~vito/photos/design1/pc-20081012-design1-0005.jpg http://mavra.perilith.com/~vito/photos/design1/pc-20081012-design1-0006.jpg

[Vito]

(Placeholder for final once I take a photo of it)

[Emil Mujanovic]

That's some pretty interesting stuff, Vito. I might have to give a few of those exercises a go.
Keep pimping stuff.

-caseyjones

[pior]

Hi there, some interesting things here.
Regarding design theory I would recommend this :
http://www.amazon.com/Art-Color-Design-Maitland-Graves/dp/B000I0WENS

I just got it the other day and it is one of the most fascinating art theory book I came across. It's totally geraed towards the notions you pointed, and quite well written.

[Vito]

Thanks, Pior, I'll look for it when I go book shopping tomorrow.

I'm currently looking for Drawing in Ink by Harry Borgman, which we looked at in class. If I find a copy I'll scan in a few pages.