13th January 2014 - AVA drawing workshop

13th January 2014 - AVA Drawing Workshop

This workshop was based on the preparation of drawings for use digitally on the AVA software next week. The task was focused around drawing, pushing our initial ideas of drawing as pencil onto paper out of the window. In small groups we were drawing portraits of each other, something I dread sooo much. I can't draw people!! However this was drawing with a twist. Using papers that we had previously painted with plain colours, we tore up pieces to create the basic outline and shapes that appeared on the face. The idea of this was to make the shapes as accurate as possible, without going into too much detail. This created an almost Picasso style of drawing from built up collage. After we had created the basic face shape and added the basic facial features from bright, abstract colours, we then focused on the shading of the face. We used pain t for this, however not black and white, instead using hues and tones of the bright colours. The lighter tones were for the highlights, whilst the darker were for the shading. We were told not to apply this lightly, but to apply it rather more bluntly, enhancing areas of shading. 

However, once we had finished our first attempts, it was clear that we had not stuck very closely to the brief. It was had creating a collage of someone’s face without putting in too much detail and applying the shades in large brush stroke was difficult. Some people were to tentative whilst others smudged the colour a little, creating a face like human quality, but not the outcome we needed. In order to use the drawings on AVA we needed to have drawings with a set of block shapes and colours.

Based on this, we completed the task again, drawing a different person. This time, as we knew what was required of the task, we were able to stick to the task rules better. We all used more of a variety on colours in the collage element of the drawings and kept the brush strokes on the shading a lot clearer. Everyone created much better drawings this time round, and i actually thing, funnily enough even though there was a wider range of colours and different bold shapes, they all looked a lot more like an actual person.

I enjoyed this task because, although it was drawing people, it was a different approach to it, which allowed us to experiment with materials and colours. This made the drawings more abstract, so they didn't necessarily need to be so accurate. This reminds me of the first year, which was based around the experimentation of drawing materials. This made me think about the way I draw in my projects, perhaps i need to be more experimentational.

Displayed below are the drawings I created in the workshop....