by Henk ter Heide on Monday April 27, 2009
This was meant as part of a larger drawing. But as soon as I started I realized that the size of chair was too large to fit the rest. So I thought I finish it as a kind of study. To get a feel for what I was planning.
Since I have a tendency to loose myself in the details I thought I draw this more abstract. Drawing the colors without giving much attention to the shapes.
That went very well for a while. But then I made a mistake and got so distracted that I couldn’t continue the drawing.
That I get so distracted every time I make a little mistake means that I’ll have to try something I’ve been dreading ever since I started drawing.
I’ll have to try to make a single line ink drawing.
The funny/panicky thing about a single line ink drawing is that you are sure to fail. That is even if you succeed in drawing a reasonable picture of, what ever it is your drawing, you will always find a lot of mistakes. Which means it’s the single most frightening thing to do for somebody that is as focused on details as I am.
But on the other hand.
If I can get through this.
What could hurt me?
Chair filled with odds and ends
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by Henk ter Heide on Thursday January 10, 2008
Practicing perspective.
The book advices to try to use free hand straight lines while drawing in perspective. But as my lines get longer I find it more difficult to draw straight. Which is a problem when you try to draw in perspective.
When drawing in perspective the point where lines intersect are very important. When drawing free hand the lines aren’t completely straight so these points change place.
At the moment I find it more important to understand perspective then to draw free hand so I’m using a ruler.
Practicing perspective box with lid
I think I drew the perspective of the box the way it should but there is something wrong with the lid.
Trying with a slanted piece of paper it seems to me that the vanishing point should be in the left lower corner. But drawing it that way it looks as thought something is wrong.
Maybe it’s just because it is a very large box.
A bigger problem is that the size doesn’t seems the match the box. The left side of the lid is the same length as the width of the box but it seems shorter. On the right side the lid seems shorter and is shorter.
Of course the importance of the intersecting lines is that you find the right rear corners by having the lines from the front corners to the vanishing point intersect. I’ll do the drawing tomorrow.
Practicing perspective part of a chair
The perspective of the part of the chair seems alright. The only problem is that I didn’t draw it to proportion. As a result it looks as though the right side of the chair is larger then the left side.
Looking at my drawing I just figured out how to calculate the proportion for the hind leg. I’ll try it tomorrow.
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by Henk ter Heide on Sunday December 9, 2007
Finding that technique is as important as knowing how to look.
The last few weeks I’ve been drawing assignment out of the book “Drawing with the right side of your brain”.
Although I tried to draw what I saw I wasn’t satisfied with my last drawing of my chair. It felt like something was wrong but I couldn’t put my finger on it.
Green chair
Obvious one thing that has changed in this drawing is that there are two instead of one ornaments under the armrest. In my last drawing I drew only one because I didn’t have room for the second. The problem was that I couldn’t figure out why I didn’t have room.
Hoping it would give me more room I drew this chair with a thinner pencil then last. I also thought about how big I could draw the chair to use as much of my paper as possible.
It turns out that under this angle the chair is almost diamond shaped. I tried to incorporate that knowledge in this drawing. But as you can see I drew the chair a little to big.
While I was drawing I figured out what the problem was. I’m sitting so close that lines that look parallel aren’t. The two armrest face in slightly different directions. The top line of the top pillow isn’t parallel with the bottom of the lower pillow.
At the beginning of the year I did a drawing course. Among other things we where taught about the disappearing point. That is the point where all the lines seem to cross. To judge in which direction a line goes you can run your pencil in a parallel line.
A second lesson we learn was the importance of estimating the relative size of the different parts of your object. Which you measure by closing one eye and holding you pencil in front of you object. So all and all an artist waves a lot with his pencil.
Much more then I like to do.
And then, off course, there is the fact that I want to draw the pictures in my mind. It’s quite impossible to wave my pencil in front of an object in my memory.
This drawing shows that although it is a good thing to learn how to look at your object it’s also important to know what you should expect.
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by Henk ter Heide on Friday December 7, 2007
Learning to draw the real shape of an object.
Tonight’s drawing isn’t one of the assignments of the book but something that I tried for myself.
I’m right in the middle of a very long and theoretical part about composition. Although it is important and I certainly learn from it. It seems to go on and on.
A few months ago I tried to draw a kind of topographic face. That was because the pictures I remember are in 3d. But drawing topographically turned out not to be much of a success.
According to the book a lot of people have problems with the fact that they know that the object they try to draw has a shape that is very different from the shape they see.
Chairs have a sitting area that is big enough for your bud. Not that thin line you’re looking at. But if you want your drawing to look real you have to draw what you see and not what you know.
To help figure out what the shape of an object is, the author introduces negative and positive space.
Positive space is what’s left of the door after Bugs Bunny has run through it. Negative space is the shape that is gone.
(Although to me it seems that should be the other way round, but that’s just me.)
Looking at the positive space it should be much easier to figure out what’s the true shape of an object under the angle you see it.
Actually I should have drawn a gray shape with white around it. Gray for the shape of the chair and white for the surroundings. But I liked it better to just draw the chair.
Negative chair
The only thing is that although it a reasonably nice drawing there is something wrong with it and I can’t figure out what.
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by Henk ter Heide on Monday August 6, 2007
BAVO RNO
Tomorrow I have a apointment at BAVO RNO. That is an organisation that helps people with autism to find a suitable job. At the moment I’m working at the sheltered workplace Promen in Gouda who also should have given me a suitable job but instead they have me doing unskilled labor.
Mind numbing job
When I say unskilled I really mean very stupid work. At the moment I’m one of a two person team cutting ends of rubber to size. Last thursday I had a headache and worked with my eyes closed. Still my work was of such quality that nobody noticed.
Sadly that’s more due to the stupidity of the job then to my skills.
better job
Three months ago I did an intake interview at BAVO RNO. They told me about a methode they use to figure out what kind of work you’d like to do. Then they school you (if nessesary) and help you find a job.
I’m hoping I’ll be able to get something that involves a little programming.
In any event I should be getting work that pays a little more. Which hopefully will mean that I can work fewer hours and spend more time drawing and writing for this blog.
Reading about art
The only thing I remember from my art history lessons in school was that they were very boring. But since I’m doing a site about drawing and art I though it would be a good idea to read a bit about art.
Luckily the library has a large collection.
Although I’ve only just started I’m already finding that art history isn’t at all like I remember. Maybe I’ve changed but it’s very interesting to read about all those famous painters.
As a sort of bonus I’m finding that reading about art is giving me all sorts of idea for drawings I could make and techniques I should try.
Van Gogh
One of the painters I’ve been reading about is Van Gogh. It seams that the famous story about him that I remember from school isn’t true. The one about him painting for his whole live without ever selling a painting isn’t entirely right.
He did sell some painting and, more important, he was reconized by is peers as doing ground breaking work. It’s just that not everybody liked the work he was doing.
Chair with pillows and blue t-shirt
One of the funny things I read about Van Gogh was that when he was in an asylum he just went on painting. Lacking other subjects he did many paintings of the furniture of his room.
After reading that I realize something that I never thought about.
I tend to think of my furniture as very common because I see it on a daily basis.
But actually there are only a few people who have ever seen my furniture. Which means it’s as good a subject for a drawing as anything I could arrange.
Chair with pillows and blue t-shirt
Less perfect
I came across the website of a Dutch painter living and working in Wales. He has a vague style of painting. It’s just as though you looked through the wrong glasses.
I wanted to do the drawing of the chair in that style but although I couldn’t, it did help me. Instead of trying to get every detail perfect I tried to capture the chair as a whole.
Featured at See me draw
This is by far the strangest site I’ve come across up till now.
Apparently Scott Wade has very dirty cars which he uses as canvas to draw.
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