Drawing Class 4 - Structure in Triangles

Before class I found online a description of how to measure with pencil and thumb -- and how to hold my pencil correctly. I pasted this picture to the top corner of my drawing board and made a conscious effort to correct the way I held my pencil every time I drifted back to the writing position. It really was easier to draw in the correct position --- but I didn't become proficient immediately :(

The first exercise was drawing from the screen - we needed to

determine the structure of Gricault's The Raft of Medusa and copy the drawing. I found the main triangles easily - it wasn't difficult to use the eye-thumb-pencil method with the straight edges of the paper. I had more difficulty adding the figures. I kept drifting away from measuring and just added details "by eye", until I discovered the outline did not match up with the next measured point. More

concentration is needed - my "eye" is not yet calibrated! And I work sooo slowly. But I was pleased that Brian used my drawing to discuss the structuring shapes when we all put our efforts in a row for the crit. Just like Jeff in the design class, Brian does not speak to individual work by name, but points out strong elements in different drawings.

We have a homework assignment based on this painting -- turn it into an abstraction and render using light, halftone and black.

During the break Brian disappeared and returned with a selection of objects

-- our "still life" exercise for the evening. I could not find a "unit of measurement" -- I focused on the distance between the ends of the handlebars, but nothing else was a multiple. Brian showed me what to do . He extended my distance to the edge of the crate, and "voila!" this unit could determine the points where the front wheel (on the diagonal through the shaft)

and the back fender met the floor. Seems simple when you know how - will I be able to do it next time? Only practice will tell.