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Secret of Drawing #3

In this episode of The Secret of Drawing, All In The Mind, we are introduced to multitude of different artists and their work. I especially enjoyed how the artist’s works were described, in terms of an overarching theme that suggests that these pieces are a looking glass into their lives to describe human emotion. The first artist that caught my eye was James Gilroy. Gilroy was a satirist from Britain who visualized the world in a darker light. He had a tendency to make shaky marks on the canvas to elicit a yearning to be real/alive. I was especially impressed by his ability to convey a variety of moods, and that he was considered insane at the time of his feature painting. Another artist that caught my attention during this video was Sarah Simblet. Sarah. is an art instructor at Oxford University who was praised for her curriculum which focusing on traditional techniques, like drawing from models. Her agenda is to free the mind from any inhibitions, which usually result from age. She wants her students to regain the ability to draw from a place of carefreeness, or from an expressive instinct that is sometimes lost with age. Reflecting on Sarah, I really liked her teaching model. I think that she is doing noble work by trying to rediscover a fire in students which may have fizzled out over time; and also I appreciate her flexibility with students, allowing each pupil the ability to draw in a way that feels natural. The last artist that I will discuss is Raphael: a renaissance artist whom could be considered the greatest draftsmen of all time. His featured piece, debatably his greatest drawing, stood at 8m long and 2m high. It was an astonishing piece which elicited cohesiveness, harmony, and balance. I really appreciated his originality and how technically sound his drawing was. Additionally, I really liked how this piece was composed, comprising the landscape with all of the greatest minds our world has seen: a true piece of art.

 

Reflection on Perspective Drawings:

Overall, I found this module on perspective to be the most challenging for me in comparison to the other modules we have worked through. That being said, I do believe that myth work does fulfill the criteria of the assignment(s) in terms of using and understanding perspective. I think it could be agreed that there has been a progression in my use of perspective and depth in each of these three drawing that we were assigned to do. Furthermore, I similarly believe that my composition layout had substantial progress in terms of how I portrayed my work and what I included in each project. I believe that my strengths for this last project was adhering to architectural strategies and displaying straight lines (which I used a straight-edge for this final project) which, to me, allowed for greater success. I think that overall I could do better with staying consistent to the vanishing points which would ultimately provide a better piece of perspective work.

 

GE Assignment First Draft:

Jose Guadalupe Posada’s journey began on February 2, 1852, where he was born to his mother, German Posada, and his father, Peter Posada. During his early life Posada lived in Aguascalientes, Mexico, where he was a peasant on the social hierarchy. As he began to develop, Jose showed great promise in the arts. This was in part a result of his relationship with his brother, Cirilo Posada, who was a schoolteacher for youngsters. In fact, it is documented that Jose aided his brother in copying either religious cards or biblical imagery for Cirilo’s students. When he was of age Jose was admitted into an arts academy where he studied under Antonio Varela; although, he didn’t stay enrolled for long, which was a testament to his preference of teaching himself.

The self-taught artist entered the workforce soon after, where he stumbled upon as role as a lithographer—someone/artist who prints from a flat surface treated so as to repel the ink except where it is required for printing—in a small printing shop in Trinidad Pedrozo called El Jicote Illustrado. While there he was tasked with developing illustrations for the local newspaper firm. This is where Jose would finally make a name for himself as an esteemed artist. (Continue)…

Works Cited:

Jose Guadalupe Posada Biography: Annex Galleries fine prints. (n.d.). Retrieved February 19, 2021, from https://www.annexgalleries.com/artists/biography/1908/Posada/Jose

José-Guadalupe Posada: MoMA. (n.d.). Retrieved February 19, 2021, from https://www.moma.org/artists/4707

 

Perspective Readings & Videos w/ Bullet Points:

• All representations in perspective start from the point of view (PV) of the observer, which is also the same height as the vanishing point (VP).
• The vanishing point (VP) is always located on the horizontal line (HL) on which converges the vanishing lines (VL) of the drawn subject.
• Errors can accumulate from a variety of different sources when drawing in perspective. Predominantly, artists make mistakes from a lack of understanding the laws of perspective, freehand inaccuracy, or even slips.
• Regardless of the type of perspective drawing, the vanishing point of any subject is dependents on the direction in which the observer is looking.
• In a drawing which calls for two vanishing points—perhaps an angular perspective drawing—the two vanishing points remain on the horizontal line, but don’t correspond with the point of view.
• A perspective drawing with three vanishing points refers to a drawing that has a respected tilt in regards to the picture plane, which doesn’t coincide as in the aerial or ground view. This is achieved with the drawing having no sides/edges parallel with the picture plane.
• It is a common tactic used by painters to use oblique aerial or ground perspectives to achieve visual sensations with their compositions. Oblique perspective is usually practiced to distort objects and emphasis contrast.

 

GE Assignment Research:

List of Artists:

  • Albrect Durer
  • Van Gogh
  • John James Audubon
  • Charles Burchfield
  • Jim Shaw
  • Maggi Hambling
  • Bridget Riley
  • Jose Guadalupe Posada
  • Louis Wain

Top 3:

 Albrect Durer — Albrect was a Renaissance man, and you can absolutely get a sense of his genius from his artwork. What really fascinated me was profound emphasis on detail and line work. Whether his artwork is heavily involved or directed at a specific subject, he always stays consistent with attentiveness to the subject matter.

Van Gogh — Vincent Van Gogh emerged as one of the influential impressionist artists of all time. Prior to this assignment I had some background on who he was, and personally his Starry Night has remained one of my favorite/curious artworks. I especially appreciate his wide range of color usage and his organic drawing style.

Jose Guadalupe Posada — Posada was a Mexican artist who became an incredibly influential artist through is unique illustrations. Looking through his artwork was very interesting to me. I specifically enjoyed his redundancy with skeletons, which I appreciate considering his heritage. His black and white style was another aspect that resonates quite well with me and my drawing style.

 

Value, Reading, Bullet Points and Drawing:

  • Choosing darker paper mediums and allowing these to act as a dark value in a drawing, instead of solely relying on your drawing tools (ex. pencil) is a good tactic to make good use of value (scheme).
  • For many people it becomes difficult to visually conceptualize more than nine values in a drawing, hence why artist consider the nine—step value scale when crafting.
  • There should be an emphasis on using the white of your paper to expose the brightest/lightest value in a drawing.
  • Values/value schemes have the potential to elicit certain moods in a drawing: lighted values often times depicting more airy moods, whereas darker values can give off a more gloomy impression.
  • There is a tendency for amateur artists to leave out the darkest values in a drawing, usually as a result of their inexperience.

 

 

The Secret of Drawing: 

Before viewing this documentary I had no idea how involved the fundamental practice of drawing was in our day-to-day lives. To me, drawing was just a hobby or something to preoccupy my wondering mind. However, this documentary aided me in understanding that drawing is much more than an art form; instead, it is the grounds for visualizing and solving the mysteries of our natural world, which was all made possible with the analysis of instrumental characters whom had extraordinary impact on this practice.

Among the individuals mentioned I had specific interest in a few: Francis Wells, Leonardo da Vinci, and Cassiano dal Pozzo. Francis Wells is a heart surgeon, but this doesn’t exclude him from implementing drawing into his medical practice. Before surgery Wells actually engages in sketching, or rather blueprinting, where and how he will make incisions on the patient. And even after the surgery Wells immerses in drawing –varying in mediums, such as a patients’ blood– to further understand and share scientific discoveries. For me, this came as a huge surprise. Initially, I never anticipated that one might go to such lengths to adhere to such precision; although his use of blood as ink was quite odd and disgusting (to me). I applaud his meticulous approach to healthcare and his obvious knack for drawing, his technique and approach to his craft allows for noticeable parallels with my next person of interest: Leonardo da Vinci. Da Vinci was, without a doubt, the most curious artist I came across during this documentary. Prior to this video I had some basic knowledge of this Renaissance phenomenon. At his core, da Vinci was an artist, but his genius manifested into so much more. Drawing in realism became his outlet for pioneering basic understanding of human anatomy; which (to me) is one of his most commendable actions towards humanity, especially considering his lack of knowledge in the science realm. Moving on, my final person of interest during this documentary was Cassiano dal Pozzo. Pozzo was an artistic patron who commissioned, debatably, the most important collection of scientific drawings to help comprehend our natural world. This became known as the Paper Museum. Reflecting on Pozzo’s operation, I argue that this compilation is one of the most important connections between art and natural science; and even more importantly, I think that this museum is a foundation on what we would consider modern databases. As an individual it is obvious that Pozzo refused to shy away from his civic duties as he harbored his love for art and his curiosity for understanding our world, and I commend his efforts. I believe that drawing is the most fundamental forms of comprehending sight, which is an ideal that I think Cassiano and I share.

Overall, I think that this documentary was a great tool in comprehending the true weight that drawing has in our natural world. This production brought things into the spotlight that I initially never considered (ie. connections to science and other aspects of everyday life). It’s obvious now that drawing is the backbone to our quintessential understanding of what and how we perceive life/our environment.