For this exercises I was asked to search for a set of examples of drawings that could be considered ‘research’ and write about them, considering how they fit into an ongoing creative process.
I searched through the various course books I have acquired for this course and the previous one and chose 8 drawings that were as varied in style and in relation to their purpose as I could find and that I was also drawn to or that I found pleasing aesthetically. The drawings and my thoughts on them are outlined below under subheadings:
1. Student study of a Matisse
In this sketch, at-the-time student Ann Helaine produced a series of drawings using the method Henri Matisse would often use by working from a particular motif and doing a series of progressive sketches with each drawing moving further and further away from the original. I checked out Matisse paintings but I couldn’t find this one so it may be a different subject but what I found really interesting in this particular sketch was the combination of using frottage, outline and ink to capture the great form of the hat and which in the next sketch (below) transforms into two sweeping strokes of ink and gentle hand-detailed sketch to mimic the pattern of the frottage.
There is no final piece shown in this book but clearly the student is replicating a master artist’s technique to experiment with progressive drawings of the same subject to either get to a final piece or simply to learn and experiment within the creative process. The idea of the progression but focusing on preferred elements and bringing them into the next drawing in a new and inventive way is something I had not yet come across and yet it presents a really great way to experiment that I perhaps only slightly dipped my toe into as I was coming up with characters in my illustration course where I would repeatedly draw them until I found a composition and way of drawing the character that I was looking for and then would use that to create the finalised character.
Source:
Kaupelis, R. (1980). Experimental Drawing. New York: Watson-Guptill
2. Study of composition for ‘The Cow’ by Theo van Doesburg
This is a series of drawings whereby the artist starts out with a realistic drawing of a cow in a quick sketch and then moves onto further sketches to research how to bring a more abstract almost cubist break down of the subject in order to get to his final rendition which turns into various editions of this cow so abstract it becomes a group of different coloured squares!
I think this approach of using a series to break down shapes is really useful and I believe it would be extremely hard to get to the final piece without having gone through this experimentation.
I have never really list abstract paintings and this is probably linked to my aesthetic preference and maybe too traditional understanding of art. I admit that seeing the process from which the artist came to the final piece does give me a better understanding though I still dislike it!
It also reminds me on how I attempted a subjective drawing of a highland cow for my illustration course that was meant to evoke the word ‘rugged’ and where I tried to break the shape of the face of the cow into more angular shapes as per the below. I clearly didn’t go as far with the abstraction…
Source:
Kaupelis, R. (1980). Experimental Drawing. New York: Watson-Guptill
3. Figure drawing in limited strokes
This drawing comes from a student being forced to use basic lines to draw a series of the same figure but each time dropping the amount of strokes they were able to use until it was to be done with one stroke. The above I thought was fantastic as with what I could as about six lines, you have the form of a woman sitting on the floor with one leg bent back. I presume this is part of a way to research for learning purposes as an exercise in fluidity in strokes and to explore how to concentrate or focus on key elements of a figure drawing. Thus it is unlikely to be specifically part of a design process to get a final result of some kind but the result I find excellent. I think I would find it very challenging to do this though it would benefit me greatly as I struggle to get loose with my drawings.
Source:
Kaupelis, R. (1980). Experimental Drawing. New York: Watson-Guptill
4. Drawings to prepare for ‘Christina’s World’ by Andrew Wyeth
This sketch is part of a series to research the composition of a final painting by Andew Wyeth called “Christina’s World”. The artist also does a series and in this one is able to bring in the foreground of the main subject of the girl in the grass looking back at a farmhouse in the distance.
Clearly he is focusing on getting the two main elements of the painting into the composition he desires by focusing only on the girl and the house. What is quite interesting is to see how he already captures little details in these sketches like the whispy bits of hair flowing in the wind and the posture of the girl’s body which continues to be captured in the final artwork.
Sources:
Kaupelis, R. (1980). Experimental Drawing. New York: Watson-Guptill
Wyeth, A. (1948) Christina’s World. [Tempera on Panel]. MoMA
Researched via the MoMA website: https://www.moma.org/collection/works/78455
5. Studying Gustave Courbet’s Self-Portrait
Using a reproduction of Gustave Courbet’s Self-Portrait as a motif, at-the-time student Janet Siskind produced 50 variations in a variety of materials working non-stop for four hours. The above is acrylic on paper and these experimentations were used to decide on a final artwork using pastel to achieve the below:
What strikes me most about this is how indeed using different medium can really change the texture and feel of a piece of art. I quite like the final drawing in pastel and the almost impressionist look it has. I presume that through this experimentation, the student was figuring out which medium was the preferred approach to get the result she wanted. I have certainly done similar things myself by experimenting with medium on top of thumbnails sketched or just trying out materials on paper to see what effect they give and also mixing them so I can understand how this can be really useful. Doing so many variations also probably allows for a very detailed understanding of the subject matter and thus better equips the artist to render it in the way she desires.
Source:
Kaupelis, R. (1980). Experimental Drawing. New York: Watson-Guptill
6. Essex coast sketches
These sketches are from Simon Carter. He experiments by using really quick drawings of the coastline in Essex almost every day, learning the subject so well by repetition and seeing it in different light and seasons and then uses these to go back to planning a final painting back in his studio. I really like this approach as I have always wondered how artists get good landscape paintings without using photos and that need time to do when light and seasons change so rapidly, especially in the UK! A quote in the book also intrigues me as he says ‘often you need much less in a painting that you think’ and so the idea of quick paintings focusing on key elements that inspire the artist and which then can be incorporated into a painting seems more like capturing an essence in a simple way rather than attempting a ‘photographic’ perfection and thus probably has more character and history to the painting, combined with the artist’s style.
Source:
Hobbs, J. (2014). Sketch Your World Essential Techniques for Drawing on Location. London: Apple Press
7. Warehouses
Here the author of the book shares an example of a sketch he did of some warehouses. This started out as a ‘lacklustre’ black pen drawing that he then reworked and superimposed with colour pens and diluted ink to enhance it. This makes me think of the value of also going back to sketches when they don’t work and you have moved on from them to also see what else you can learn from them or how you might enhance them and come up with new ideas once you have had some time and distance from them.
Source:
Hobbs, J. (2014). Sketch Your World Essential Techniques for Drawing on Location. London: Apple Press
8. Cast drawing of the foot of the ‘Hercules Farnese’
This clearly looks like a final piece, and an excellent one at that, however I would still class this as research as its part of an artist’s drawing of a cast in a bid to enhance understanding of and capacity to draw human form – as part of classical atelier drawing schools. Apparently nearly every artist who lived from the time of the Renaissance to the start of this century have studied the works of master sculptors at some point in their training. Replicating other great artist’s can and must be really insightful and I have applied other artist’s styles to my own drawings as an experiment as well as broken down existing paintings into visuals to understand them too. I have yet to try to master a Degas painting, one of my favourite artists!
Source:
Aristides, J. (2006). Classical Drawing Atelier, A Contemporary Guide to Traditional Studio Practice. USA: Waston-Guptill
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