Wednesday Drawing Night 8th October

Drawing Night 8th October 

With Wednesday's visual communication lesson over, I stayed behind with one of my group to catch up on some work. There were lots of things to write up and stick down from today's visual communication. After a while a different group of students came into the room. While they were talking we overheard them discussing tonight's drawing class. This was something I completely forgot about, but having heard it was starting soon, I quickly packed up and searched for the room where it was held.

I found the room, sat down and got ready for the class to begin. It started with an introduction on what we will be doing for the next two hours. After hearing exactly what, I started to worry. What had I got myself into? We had to pick an object and stick with it for the whole two hours. We would have to draw quickly, focusing on capturing the feel of the object, not getting hung up on making sure the line work was perfect. We were given twenty minutes on each drawing and had to have at least three to four A1 drawings by the end of the night.

Getting so much done in a short time worried me a little. The main things I find difficult are all the things we had to do, drawing in a large scale on the wall, working quickly, and not focusing on the line work of the drawing. What had I got myself into? There was no time to think of that now. No time to worry about anything because the 20 minutes had already started. I had to quickly grab an object, paper, a bit of wall and something to draw with, or I wouldn't have time to finish anything.

There was a wide selection of objects on the table to choose from, from plants to bones. I found a interesting shell that had been broken and allowed you to see through it. I decided on the shell, picked up some charcoal and was ready to begin.

I started with drawing the shell on white paper, making sure I filled as much of the page as I could. With no time to think about making everything perfect, I had to go with the first lines I made on the page. Working quickly, I had to get as much tone and texture onto the paper as I could in the 20 minutes. With time ticking away, I found it easier to make faster and freer marks. With the first 20 minute up, I'd completed my first drawing. I was surprised I'd finished it. I could of done more, but it was done. You could see it was a shell and I managed to even get some shading done.

However, there was no time for examining my work, I had to quickly move onto the next piece. I chose black paper this time and took a closer view of the top part of the shell. I liked the way you could look through it and see different areas of light. The contrast of the smooth inside with the rougher outside was interesting. I had no time to worry about getting the texture exactly right, but I did have to rework some areas as I went along. Sadly, I didn't get time to finish the texture of the rough part of shell, but overall I was happy with the end result.

Once again it was time to start a new drawing and I wanted to use some brown paper. I had to cut the paper myself and there wasn't much room to do that. It took some time out of my 20 minutes, but I got there in the end. I could now start. I turned the shell around to view it from a different angle. I added a little colour. I worked quickly, trying to capture the various tones and the feel of the shell. I would of liked to have done the shape a little differently, but there wasn't enough time to be picky.

Now for the last drawing of the night. The minutes were passing so quickly I'd hardly noticed the time. I couldn't reflect on that now because I had to start my last piece and I had to make it work. I grabbed one more piece of black paper and positioned the shell, turning it to face me so I could see the inside and outside spirals. I quickly sketched the outline of the shell and shaded like my life depended on it. I moved swiftly from one part to another, smudging the smooth inside part of the shell, but keeping the outer lines sharper to depict their rougher texture.

The final 20 minutes were up. I stopped and reflected on what I'd done; I'd finished four A1 drawings in 20 minutes, and was happy with them. This was something I didn't think I would ever do. Having only a short amount of time to draw, made me worry less about the lines I was making. There wasn't time for worrying about decisions. I couldn't be indecisive. I had to go with my feelings and draw quickly and instinctively.

Last Friday I spent a long time trying to finish my feather drawing. However, in the last two hours, I did more than all day Friday. This class showed me I don't have to take so long to draw. I can capture the feeling of an object without taking hours. I was happy with each one of my drawings. Of course there were some parts I would like to change or do differently, but overall it was a good result. I was amazed at the end of the lesson at what I'd achieved. I left feeling excited and pleased.