Week 6

This week was spent critiquing the cross contour shell drawings. I found myself struggling with the shell drawing because I would get lost in the shapes and forms of the shell and lose track of what I had drawn and what I hadn't. My shell is very geometric and has many points which also made things difficult. I haven't done a cross contour drawing in a very long time, so that fact compounded the issue. I was very intimidated when I sat down in front of my paper. I didn't know where to begin on the paper. Mapping the shell out on the page was the first obstacle I needed to overcome. I usually draw on a much smaller scale, so creating the composition took some time, along with a coupe sheets of paper. I had really struggled with creating the cross contour drawing, but was pretty happy with the end result.

However, there is plenty of room for improvement. The line weight in my drawing is all pretty consistent, so I need to work on varying the weight of the line to create more dimension. I understand the concept of line weight, but it is harder for me to put that concept into action. I need to push the range of my lights and darks as well. My entire composition remains a pretty consistent neutral gray. I want to concentrate on this issue the most for my next drawing. I also want to show dimension through darkening the forms closest to the viewer and lightening the forms that go further back in space. I also need to work on the "spiral" of the shell to more accurately illustrate the motion of the form. I hope this assignment will come a little easier the next time around and that I will improve with each attempt.