Creating Depth in Your Drawings

When we draw, we are trying to fit a 3-dimensional world onto a 2-dimensional surface.  It's quite a trick when you think about it.

Here are a few tips to help create the magic of depth in your drawings.

Overlapping 

When one object overlaps another, it's obviously in front.  You can see that happening in the drawing of apples on a table above.

Relative Size

Notice how the closest apple appears much larger than the distant apples.  This works from still life drawings to landscapes.  You can check it by measuring the apparent width of the near apple and comparing that measurement with the width of one of the distant apples.

Softening Edges & Contrast

We see softer edges and less contrast in objects that are farther away.  Notice how the little shed has crisp edges and high contrast, but the more distant trees are really just shapes without much detail, and the far hill is reduced to a single tone.

The photograph of the scene shows this clearly, but we can also exaggerate the effect in our drawings if we want to create more depth.

Converging Lines

Notice how the little lane is quite wide at the bottom of the frame, and narrows until the sides seem to almost touch towards the top of the drawing.  Parallel lines converge as they move towards the horizon.

Here's the reference photo for this drawing.  You can also see how the little trees to the right of the lane get smaller and closer together as they get more distant.

You see more detail in the nearest part of the scene -- the weeds at the bottom right & the tree shadows over the lane, vs the single tone for the distant forest and the simplified trees near the top of the hill. 

Foreshortening

Foreshortening can be maddening at times.  

You see something coming towards you (or receding away from you), and your brain believes it knows how to draw that simple object.  Yet, when you draw what your brain tells you is right, it looks wrong!

You might be drawing a simple object, but from a complicated perspective.  It's important to trust your eyes.  Look carefully!

Remember that the closest parts of the object will appear much bigger than you expect.  I drew the close end of the baguette 2x the size of the distant end.  You can measure this with your pencil or other straightedge, even a ruler if you like.   Measure it yourself on the photo below.

 Here's a post from another artist about how artists measure the things they draw using the pencil & thumb method:

 https://blog.artlounge.in/blog/2024/2/22/how-to-sketch-using-pencil-and-thumb-method

Notice the way lines converge.  

You can hold your pencil in the air in front of you and rotate it like the hands of a clock to get the correct angle, then lay the pencil on your paper in that angle and make a quick line to help you see where the line you draw should really go.

Remember that the foreshortened view shows you a compressed view of something.  

For instance, long loaves of bread will appear much shorter than you expect. Measure the width of the broken end of bread. Now compare the width to the length of that loaf.  I find that the length of the bread is almost 2x the width of the bread -- much shorter than you'd expect.

Negative space shapes.

 We call the area around the subject the negative space.  When you look at the shadows and shapes around the object you're drawing, it helps you to see the true shape of the foreshortened object.  You can compare these negative space shapes with the corresponding shapes in your drawing to make sure you got the shape of the object right.  

For instance, notice the V-shape between the two baguettes in the photo above. Notice that I got the distant V-shape between the loaves right in my drawing, but not the V-shape closer to the front.  It's easy to make mistakes. Double checking the negative space shapes helps you make a more accurate final drawing.

These negative space shapes help you to see if you've drawn the foreshortened object right.  If you have the same shape in your drawing, it's right! 

Foreshortened objects look weird!

Remember, after you get done with your drawing, the foreshortened object may still look weird.  Foreshortened views look strange.  Do the best you can; then take a break!

Come back a little later, and your drawing may look more natural to your eye.

Remember that all of these techniques take time and practice.  The more you draw, the more you learn.  I hope these techniques help you to create a sense of depth in your drawings!

Happy Creating!

Weekly Planner in Spring Colors

A recent visit to the Pittsburgh Center for Creative Reuse turned up some pages from a vintage book of children's fables. I love the black & white images, and have felt a hunger for spring.  I tore out a few images and laid them out on the weekly planner spread.

After gluing the images down, I added splashes of watercolor in spring colors.

Finally, I added the days, dates and events of the week.

Limiting my collage & paint project to a smaller size made it easy to jump into and begin.  

Do you have any printed material destined for the trash can that you could turn into collage art? I hope you give this technique a try!

Happy Creating!

Drawing in the Museum

Last Friday we wrapped up the Osher class Drawing in the Museum.  We had a lot of fun!

Here's a look at some of my sketches.

The Carnegie Museums of Art and Natural History allow artists to bring in only a sketchbook and pencils.  Turns out, having a limited list of supplies simplifies the drawing process and helps me to kick my creativity into gear.  The art and artifacts in the museums are fascinating, and you can imagine yourself as an early adventurer sketching a Native American mask (above) or a Goliath Beetle (below).

Next time you plan a visit to a museum, or even a new park or cultural spot, make it an adventure and record what you see with a pencil and a sketchbook!

An urn in the Hall of Architecture.

Details on a statue.

A detail of a lion capturing a horse in the Hall of Architecture.

I hope you'll take yourself on an art date, and bring your sketchbook along.

Happy Creating!

Nature Journal Sketches from Vacation

Leaving the arctic cold at home and flying to Florida's warmth brought opportunities to see fresh foliage and wildlife.  

I snapped lots of photos while there.  Back at home, I have enjoyed recording the experience in my nature journal.

It's been uplifting to see the bright colors and vibrancy in these Florida scenes. 

Sketching from our vacation photos gives us opportunities to relive a favorite experience and to practice making art. I hope you'll dig out some favorite photos of warmer times and make some art with them.

Happy Creating!

Heart-Themed Weekly Planner

I love making valentines, and this year, had extra painted hearts leftover from my card-making.  You can see my Valentine's cards post here.

Needing a new weekly planner page, I gathered up a fistful of hearts, a few pens, some painted papers and a glue stick to create a collage page.

When I collage, I lay things out on the page, and when it looks sort of pleasing, I glue them down.  I used to try to make perfect collage compositions, which we all know isn't possible.  Sometimes I would abandon a collage creation without gluing things down.  I eventually learned to listen to my intuition, lean into the imperfections, and my creativity flowed naturally.

Now I know that when a piece looks imperfectly pleasing, it's time to glue it down.  

That's what I did in my planner page.  Then I added the days and events.

Following a process, even if your inner critic doesn't believe you're doing it right, helps to get the creativity flowing.  Step-by-step, you make something based on your intuition; something unique and beautiful.  Something that reflects your own inner beauty.

And starting with a low-stakes activity like making a weekly planner page can help you to build your art-making skills and try out new ideas.

Here's my step-by-step process for making a collage planner page:

1. Gather a few materials that catch your artist's eye -- they only have to be interesting to you.  You don't have to use them all.

2. Tear or cut out some shapes or pieces of the collage material and move them around on the page.

3. Listen for that weird little voice inside you (your Intuition) that quietly says "Yes." or "no" or "turn this piece upside down."  I've never heard my Intuition shout.  It speaks softly, gently, and often surprises me with unexpected ideas. 

4. When the collage pieces look sort of interesting or pleasing to your artist's eye, glue them down with wild abandon. If this feels scary, remind yourself that you are allowed to paint over anything you don't like with acrylic paint or gesso, or simply cover over it with more collage.

5. Add any other elements you'd like -- a wash of watercolor or ink, some colored pencil, whatever appeals to you.

6. Add in the days, dates, & appointments.

7. Step back and admire what you've created, with the option to add something else if you like.

8. Enjoy your days, knowing you started the week with creativity!

Happy Creating! 

Mark Making Practice in Beginner's Pencil Drawing Class

A good book can inspire us to get sketching.  These pages were inspired by Pencil Drawing by Arthur Guptill (more on this book here).  I followed the book's mark making exercise as a warm-up, and felt inspired especially by the marks with varying pressure (top right of the page above).

It can help to reduce the fear of the blank page to start off with mark making, and copying another artist's work is even easier.  Even though in school we've been trained not to copy someone else, copying in art (as long as you give credit to your source) is an important part of learning.

Find an artist you admire and make a copy of their drawing, their marks, even a portion of an artwork.  This process will build your drawing skills and help you to see new ways to solve conundrums in turning a three-dimensional world into a two-dimensional drawing.

 Happy Creating!

Beginner's Pencil Drawing Sketches

The world is full of beauty, and in Beginner's Pencil Drawing, we find ways of seeing & drawing it in our sketchbooks.  

We've just embarked on a new series of Pencil Drawing classes at the Community College of Beaver County, and we're having fun exploring the world with our pencils.

The homework this week is to draw your breakfast or to draw a small piece of your life, daily if possible, even for 5-10 minutes.  When your materials are a few drawing pencils and a sketchbook, it's easy to jump right into making art.

The morning after our first class, I sat at the breakfast table, intending to draw eggs and veggie sausages, but these flowers called out to be sketched.  I started by drawing the scene before my eyes.  

I took the above photo to allow me to put more detail in the drawing after the breakfast dishes were cleared away and the light had changed. In my phone's photo editor, I translated the color photo to black-and-white using a filter.  This helps to clearly see the values in the scene.

I started the sketch with a 2B graphite pencil.

Simple marks lightly laid down were the beginning, and I held the sketch at arm's length to check it now and again.  I began adding tone with a 10B pencil once I felt satisfied with the general layout.

I wanted to show the light values of the lily by creating the darker tones around the flower.

All of the shapes of the other flowers around the lily were interesting to my artist's eye.  It was fun adding in darker values and suggesting the shapes of mums, daisies and leaves.

I took a break from drawing, and when I looked at the photo above, I realized that I wanted to add more dimension to the lily.  It looked flat.

I darkened the values around the lily.  I liked the way this popped the lily forward.  Then I added a few dark spots within the lily, unifying the composition.

Looking at a photo of your artwork or simply stepping back from it lets you focus on the whole composition and assess what needs work.  Or what needs to be celebrated! Sometimes you step back and see that something beautiful has developed.  Make sure to be open to that possibility.

Remember that the more you sketch, the more opportunities for discoveries you create. Each sketch -- whether you love it or don't --builds your drawing skills.

Happy Creating!