My aim for which ever workshop I deliver is to challenge the way the students work. I know I chosen art for my education but this was because I enjoyed it, not because I thought I was good at it, I have never really liked any drawings I have done, in fact I never thought I was good at drawing until Foundation when they introduced different ways of drawing, ways that challenge the notion of a piece of art.
I began my drawing development by focusing it on time-managed still-life drawings. The objects I draw from was not anything special, they were just objects found around my bedroom. Having a certain amount of time to draw something in front of you, can be very nerve-racking. When I was in Foundation, I hated doing these experiments because I found it hard starting, the fear of the white page bothers quite a lot of students. To get around this, I began to put fields down just to ease a bit of pressure and preciousness of my work, this time round I stuck to a plain white background.
For this image below, there are 3 different time-managed drawings of the same object using 2 different media's. I consider charcoal and pastels to be a good media to use for the quick drawings because they have a thick edge and are easily messy. The 1st of the drawings was a quick 1 minute drawing done in charcoal, this amount of time is clearly not enough, the object cannot even be made out, all this drawing holds is the shape of the object. I think Year 12/13 students may find their results of this task, in a word crap and it may dishearten their approach to the next tasks. The central image was of a 5 minute task which was also done in charcoal. I found 5 minutes too long for this drawing, I think this was down to the media but also because I felt like I had to rush because there was not enough time in the first task. The last drawing was a 10 minute task that was drawn't in black pen, I decided to use a smaller linear media because the time given was longer. Considering the time was longer the middle images' shading and highlights is better.
These 2 images were both done in charcoal, the one on the left hand side took 1 minute of time whereas the one on the right took 5 minutes. I prefer the image that took 1 minute, it is a simple linear drawing that captures the structure of the composition, I think for the 5 minute drawing it was over worked and the shading and highlighting was rushed. Neither one of these proportions look right and the glass candle holder in the right image looks horribly drawn't. I would argue that with the 1 minute drawing there is no time to panic or worry about the outcome, it is strictly about drawing what you see in a minute, even though this drawing experiment is worthwhile to boost the students confidence and get them going, it would not suffice as a complete workshop, this would be the beginning of the workshop, as a starter.
I got a little more experimental with media for these 2 images, I decided to use pencil crayon and chose the random colour of blue for the first one. It was a 5 minute task and even though the candles prespective and proportions are still off the perfume bottle makes up for it. The bottle looks proportionally right and even the letters of the perfume bottle are straight. The drawing on the right was a half an hour drawing and the bottle in the previous image looks better than this one. This makes me ask the question whether time is a major factor when producing a good piece of art?
After drawing random objects from the bedroom, I wanted something more Art based to draw from and the only thing that I had that was Art based with some structure was a small movable mannequin, even though figures are not my favorite thing to draw, I think the results were pretty impressive. All of these drawings below were 1 minute drawings, using different media's for each. The aim of this experiment was to find out whether the type of media used hinders time management and from the results it is proven to do so. The largest figure was done in charcoal and the smallest figure was done using water colour. For any workshop that I am going to propose, I would like the students to be confident with the media they use but I would also like the students to be experimental with their work and push the materials they use. I would maybe give specific instructions to what media should be used for some of the experiments but also allow options on others, this would give me the opportunity to see what students favour and dislike.
This page of drawings was about testing the abilities of both hands and not just the one we would normally write or draw with. The first 2 drawings on the left hand side were drawn't using my right hand-this hand being the one I normally write and draw with. The 2 drawings on the right hand side were drawn't using my left hand and I was surprised by the results. Looking at them now, the images drawn't using my left hand are better than the others, these have structure, linear depth and shadow detailing, the right handed ones are simple linear structure that captures the figure shape but it does not look realistic or 3-dimensional. These are a mixture of 1 minute and 5 minute experiments and the 1 minute experiments are hardly finished. Uncompleted work never looks good.
These 2 drawings below also challenge the notion of drawing with both hands. Using a red ink pen, I draw the figures without taking the pen off the page at all, this creates random lines throughout the drawing. The one drawn't using my left hand turned out better this time also. Students who do not challenge the idea of drawing now will be extremely awakened when going into A-levels and especially Foundation, as I was. I got told to forgot everything I had already been taught. I did both A-levels and a Foundation course and both were incredibly different. I learn't from both but would encourage people to do a Foundation course as it mentally prepared me for university, it also gave me the time to experiment with everything. Experimenting like this would help students define their strenghts and weaknesses.
Doing these experiments has given me a wide range of other options and ideas that I could test and try out for my workshop proposal. These ideas include:
- drawing whilst walking
- recording a journey-movement
- drawing what someone else describes
- drawing what you can feel and make out
- drawing with your feet
- drawing with unrealistic materials-home-made materials
- drawing to different speeds of music
- drawing from memory
The scope for experimental drawings can go so far and I intend to explore all options.
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