Hand of Light - Thursday Group

Thursday Art group - Session 16

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Proportions 2

In this session the group were asked to concentrate on getting accurate proportions for items they had brought with them to draw or paint.

A few video clips have been added towards the bottom of this page to further assist you with your drawing techniques.

Please note that lighting conditions in the art room were not as good as normal. The weather was overcast and a couple of the light bulbs were out. The photographs have therefore not come out as well as usual and some colour casting has occurred.

Stan initially experienced something of an illusion, where his plate seemed a bit small in relation to the gravy jug. However, with a bit of adjustment and then working into the foreground, the size and separation of the two objects began to make more visual sense. (Click on image to enlarge).

Kathy did very well at getting her relational proportions right. A bit of an optical illusion caused the cup on the right to appear fatter in the drawing, but a bit of redrawing produced the desired effect. (Click on image to see more and enlarge).

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Nan chose an object that produced a few challenges, since its painted patterns didn't easily match the shape and form of the object. This made it quite difficult to render in a way that expressed its 3-D form. From the perspective of sitting, the background around the heart was quite dark and I suggested a bolder approach to help bring the form forward. (I'm not sure that Nan was too impressed with me 'spoiling' her picture, but I think working into it as each layer dried would start to give it more mass and form). (Click on image to enlarge).

Mags brought in a small, cute, very orange, bear. On the whole, her proportional measurements have turned out well (also bearing in mind her seated position is different to my photographic position). (Click on image to enlarge).

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Tracy had a couple of attempts with her glass. The first image, although seeming to measure up well, resulted in a glass that seemed a little bit short. Careful observation resulted in a much better second drawing which conveyed the tallness of the glass in better proportion to its width.

Tracy - still life

Mary worked diligently on marking several co-ordinate points with the help of her grid. This eventually produced a close representation of her subject's position and proportions. Given a bit more time, working up the drawing with some bolder shading would start to bring the form to life. (Click on image to enlarge).

Vee spent some time producing the body of the pot and initially things seemed to be going well - until it was evident that the top was a bit narrow. However, a bit of redrawing of the handles brought the proportions back in line. (Click on image to enlarge).

Rebecca did a couple of drawings (click on image to see both). The first drawing of a model Unicorn came out very well, but the Morris Minor Traveller threw up a few challenges - perspective being the main one. Eventually, the drawing began to take a better proportional form and towards the end of the session was much closer to being mastered.

Lorraine produced several ink and wash drawings, of which, the one shown below came out the best. Lorriane produces her drawing with both close proportions and effective rendering. (Click on image to enlarge).

Although the video below discusses figure drawing, the principles of measuring apply to all of your subjects:

The Measurement Technique: The Unit of Measurement

How To Draw Anything - and Pencil Technique

Techniques demonstrated

Ways of measuring with grids, pencils, rulers and dividers.

Observing relational measurement positions with parts of an object with itself and/or with other surrounding objects or backgrounds.

Consideration of angles of viewing and lines of perspective.

Observations

I noticed that quite a few people set up their still life slightly to one side and at an angle to their drawing, but often imagined looking at their still life straight on.

The viewing angle of the seated individual was different to the angle of a moving observer and some of the photographs shown above are taken from an elevated angle, giving the impression of different proportions in the drawings.

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