Introducing colour

Exercise Introducing colour

This was a very enjoyable part of this assignment for me.  I wanted to explore a range of mediums and also look as some more expressive ways of representing the subject matter.  I started with a watercolour version of a pencil drawing produced earlier in this assignment.  I purposely didn’t use outlines.  I need a lot more practice with this medium but find the form and colours interesting in this picture.  I need to work on subtle shading and blending but water-colours is a medium that I love to look at so I will spend time learning how to use it more proficiently.

Next I moved on to a pencil and water drawing of an artichoke sliced through as a cross section.  I lightly sketched the outline and then made a very light wash in watercolour.  Then I splattered watercolour to give more texture to the design.  I then coloured behind the artichoke in dark colours to highlight the subject matter in a directional form.  I think as a method this works quite well although I will need to finish more detail in the artichoke itself.  I actually wanted to come back to this piece but had lots of ideas with colour so moved on while I was inspired.

Below is a pen and ink drawing which is much more interpretive than previous work in this assignment.  I wanted a very loose feeling with very little pen work.  I also coloured the background but am not sure that it was in the right colour.

I like this type of illustration, not realistic but loose and stylised.

This drawing was created with Luminance, Caran D’ache pencils on textured watercolour paper.  Each stroke is made in the same direction.  This was a very time consuming project and I had to pay a lot of attention to achieve shading and blending.  I actually like pencil on watercolour paper, it gives and interesting texture and dynamic to the piece.  I outlined in very faint pencil the correct form at the beginning of the work.  This is a fairly tight subject to use directional pencil work it would perhaps work better in a subject that didn’t require such regular boundaries.

Above right is another watercolour and ink study looking from a different angle.  This is again more of an interpretive study and accurate real life.  Again the there are too many ugly brush strokes particularly on the background.  I would like to see a smoother, flatter surface.

This last study is a very graphic picture using colour markers.  I wanted to polarise the image and reduce it to a few different shades.  By adding unreal shades of colour it adds drama.  I made each stroke directional to give a flatter tone.  Unfortunately, I could afford to buy the good quality Copic markers that don’t show stroke marks.

This is a very different take on the subject matter but I am looking to do something different and fresh for my final piece and am leaning towards an expressive and interpretive study.