Introduction to Drawing - Week 2
Tomorrow night will be Week 2 of ‘Introduction to Drawing’, a series of 5 workshops with Adult Learning Shetland which aims to take participants through some of the fundamentals of drawing.
This week we’re going to develop our understanding of shape further and learn about proportion.
A definition of proportion is “accurate relationship between parts and the whole”[1]. When making a drawing, we always find that all the separate elements relate to each other. If you change the size (or scale) of one element, it will affect how the eye reads other elements in the drawing. Giving careful attention to proportion allows us to check the accuracy of our observations, to effectively plan a drawing on the page, and to suitably scale our work.
Here is one of the drawing exercises we’ll be trying to practise proportion in drawing.
Introducing Sighting
So far we’ve been mostly relying on our intuitive understanding of proportion, but we’re now going to be more accurate, and check ourselves at each stage of drawing.
Set yourself up another group of objects / still life - say two or three objects of varying shapes and heights. Start by lightly mapping out the basic or dominant shapes of the group, as we were doing last week.
Check the general width to height ratio of your drawing by sighting: To sight, hold you pencil in front of you with your arm straight and elbow locked, and your pencil held parallel to your body. Using your pencil as a ‘ruler’, close one eye and line your pencil up with the widest part of the whole group. See how this measurement compares to the height of the whole group. For example the width might fit into the length two and a half times - so must it also in your drawing. If not, adjust your initial mapping out lines – remember, it is always easier to correct yourself at these early stages before you become too invested, and your finished drawing will always be stronger with considered planning.
Once you’re reasonably confident with your initial guiding sketch, carry on with your drawing, continuing to map out the placement of individual objects.
ARISTIDES, Juliette. 2019. Beginning Drawing Atelier. New York: Monacelli Studio.
