Drawing 1, Part 2 Observations in Nature, Drawing Fruits and Vegetables in Colour, Using Markers and Dip Pens

For me this was a stressful exercise that took me over two weeks to complete. I initially wanted to focus more on dip pens and ink for this exercise but it was a mediu I would continue to have problems with.

I started with markers as I already had a good choice of Kurecolor Markers, with a composition that consisted of vine tomatoes, bananas and an apple however I failed miserably looking down at the apple at that angle plus I didn’t have the right colour for the apple.

Using Markers First Composition

My second composition consisted of a red pepper, bananas a rose apple and plum tomato set on a back drop of two different coloured materials used to make monks robes; but then when I drew the composition in markers on the watercolour paper there was too much red in the picture and the colours weren’t brilliant enough for me.

Using Markers or Dip Pens – 2nd Composition

Composition in Marker Pens

I setteled for a simple composition made up of the bananas, red pepper and lemon that I managed to find in an international supermarket as the Thai lemons are very small and green kind of like a lemon/lime hybrid.

Using Markers or Dip Pens – Final Composition

Firstly I drew them in marker pens which wasn’t too difficult but getting the colours right before putting pen to paper was almost impossible as the markers reacted differently on the watercolour paper especially when layering at this stage I wasn’t really looking at the shadows and light formations of the surface of the pepper and just added a bit of depth with a dark blue which didn’t work well enough for me.

Chosen Composition in Marker Pens

I finally got round to using dip pens and at this stage I felt like packing in. Firstly I started with liquid water colour which did not stay well on the pen nibs I made several attempts which all got binned before going out to look for higher quality watercolour paper that wouldn’t get saturated as easy and some proper drawing inks.

1st Attempt with Ink and Dip Pens

My first attempt with dip pens, ink was a disheartening mess and I was trying to work out what I was doing wrong, inks were running into each other and the paper was still getting saturated. Realising that I wasn’t giving the inks on each object enough time to dry before adding different colours I decided to have another go.

2nd Attempt with Ink and Dip Pens

My second attempt with ink and dip pens was an improvement but I decided that I would use markers on the final piece as I could capture the reflected light and shadows on the pepper a lot better with different coloured marker pens and so started work on my A4 piece,

Final Drawing on A4

I did use a bit of ink on the final piece with a lemon yellow was over the lemon and a dark wash for the shadows which was a bad decision and a couple of ink splashes finished it off. The final piece is not brilliant but I do feel it is an improvement to the earlier drawings and I think I did really well to capture the patterns on the peppers surface.

Drawing 1, Part 2 Observations in Nature, Drawing Fruits and Vegetables in Colour, Using Hatching to Create Tone

For this exercise firstly I was to select some pieces of fruit and vegetables and draw each of them individually in my sketchbook in a medium of my choice paying attention to the shapes or planes that make up the objects outline.

I decided to use colour pencils for this exercise as I needed more practise and have yet to get used to blending. I initially chose an onion, a cucumber and some strange Asian mushrooms for my composition but all that was to change.

Then I was to write my thoughts and ideas next to the sketches including some notes about tonal values and ideas about the arrangement of a composition and use a view finder to crop some of the shapes in different positions.

Using Hatching to Create Tone – Initial choice of objects

As a view finder I used my camera sometimes looking at a photo of the composition you notice things that you wouldn’t notice with the naked eye. It took me at least two hours to decide on the composition and what fruits and vegetables to change and the angle from which I would draw from, trying my hardest to stay away from similar layouts to the compositions I had used in earlier drawings.

Using Hatching to Create Tone – Orange, apple and dragon fruit

I swapped the Asian mushrooms/toadstools for an orange and an apple as I could use them in different positions and together with the onion the three spherical objects looked great with the cucumber. They also picked up the reflected light from the pink cloth that I decided to use as a backdrop very well.

On an A3 sheet of paper I lightly sketched the outline of the objects with a 2H pencil and began to hatch working on the cucumber first but not finishing and then moving to the other objects to see how the cucumber looked against them this helped me decide on tone and colour of the cucumber being the more awkward of the 4 objects.

Using Hatching to Create Tone – Finished Drawing

After working on the other 3 objects I came back to the cucumber which I had to reshape a little bit with an eraser. I’m quite happy with the finished drawing I think the composition fills up the picture plane quite nicely, and I think I did quite a good job with the hatching which I think is more fluid than anything I have done before. Probably the most difficult part of the drawing is the props I used the slightly transparent cloth and the straw basket.

The only think I am not satisfied with really is my photo skills and will try and get a better photo to send in for assessment.

View more Drawing fruits and Vegetables exercises on my my Drawing 1 working log

Drawing 1, Part 2 Observations in Nature, Still Life, Check and Log

What aspects of each drawing have been successful, and what did you have problems with?

Still Life Group Using Line

I drew this drawing from scratch without sketching in pencil first in this aspect I think I did really well. However I found it very difficult not to start hatching to depict tone and so I probably went overboard on the pumpkin but I feel that it was better to but too much effort in than two little.

I was also dissatisfied with the pumpkin because the actual surface wasn’t as rough or bumpy as what I made it out to be in my drawing. In both drawings.

Still Life Group in Tone

The only problem I had with this is I should have chose a composition that used up more of the paper. I also could have been more adventurous with the subjects that I chose. Apart from that I think I did really well with depicting tone and none of the objects look out of place.

Did you manage to get a sense of depth in your Drawings? What elements of the drawings and still life groupings helped create that sense?

This is one thing I did not have a problem with with the Still Life Group Using Line exercise I did this by placing the tallest objects at the back. With the Still Life Group in Tone I looked down at the group from an angle.

What difficulties were created by being restricted to line or tone? 

Like I said earlier sometimes it was very difficult not to cross the fine-line between drawing with line and hatching.

See more on my Still Life exercises on my Drawing 1 Blog

Drawing 1, Part 2 Observations in Nature, Still Life - Still Life Group in Tone

After the last exercise 'Still Life Group Using Line' this exercise sounded like it was going to be a breath of fresh air and indeed it was...

Still Life Group in Tone

I started with a bit of a study to firstly get the right composition for this exercise and then to try out different colours so I could find three colours that would give me three different tones for this drawing. I feel like I cheated on this exercise as I chose objects that could be drawn easily enough with just three colours, a yellowy green banana, an apple and two green bananas but I just started a high fruit diet the week before and I used objects that were at hand.

Like it instructed me in the brief I screwed up my eyes to take a look at the dark colours only and lightly sketched them in and then chose a different colour to sketch in the mid tones, then another for the light tone. On completion of the initial sketch I decided that my darkest colour was too light and so changed it for my final drawing.

Still life group in tone

I changed the composition of my final drawing slightly so I could depict the full form of the apple and I'm glad I did. The final drawing took me less than two hours going at a really steady pace and I am really satisfied with the completed drawing and my choice of colours, It would have been nice to apply a fourth colour though and also maybe a variation in orange and reds.

The one thing I am not happy with is the amount of blank space I left on the paper but I tried to make up for this by shading with my darkest colour.

Drawing 1, Part 2 Observations in Nature, Still Life, Still Life Group Using Line

In the brief for this exercise I was to set up a still life group out of objects at my disposal, either objects that naturally connect together or deliberately contrast. For this I did a supermarket shop and purchased onions, a big chunk of knobbly Asian pumpkin and a red cabbage thinking about three objects that gradually went from rough to smooth.

I had to think about the following questions: 'How will I treat the objects?', 'How will their connections be clear?', 'How will I capture the differences between the objects?', 'How do the objects relate to their background? and 'How will I reference the colour in the group in this drawing?.

Then with these questions in mind I had to select a medium such as pen and ink, marker pens or fine black pen and A3 paper and begin to draw; which is exactly what I did. I wanted to use pen and ink for this drawing as I have kept delaying it but when i saw I would be using them in the next project I decided to use a Rotring 0.3 drawing pen.

My objects had already been in the fridge a couple of days so they wouldn't last long once I took them out and my SD card for my camera kept locking due to me removing it too often so I had to work fast as I couldn't get a photo to work from in case I didn't finish before evening came.

Still Life Group Using Line 1st Drawing

There was no drawing this out in pencil first for me, I wanted to do start as I meant to go on and and put my Rotring drawing pen to paper. I started on the outline of the three objects together rather than drawing them individually then when the outline was complete I finished the shape of each object individually.

From there I started on the lines of the onion which were fairly simple and while I worked my way around the onion with a variation of light and dark lines (applying different pressures) I thought about how I was going to approach the different objects. Working from right to left I tackled the red cabbage next and it was extremely difficult; trying to view the patterns as a whole and then working on the lines individually was enough to drive me crazy.

The pumpkin was the next obstacle and because this was a still life group using line I had to exaggerate the texture of the pumpkin at certain parts where there was no real pattern at all. It looks like I have tried my hardest to depict tone here but actually I wasn't thinking about tone at all. I was just trying to complete the surface of the pumpkin with as many different line as possible, squiggly lines, short strokes, anything that came to mind.

The cabbage leaf on the right of the drawing was probably the most difficult object in this drawing and was very difficult to draw without hatching to depict it's smoothness which I wasn't very successful in doing so.

Then when I finished the composition I ruined the whole picture by doing some stupid speckle background and so I decided to have another go.

Still Life Group Using Line 2

This time I tried a slightly different angle and the finished drawing was cleaner but there are a lot more things that I am unhappy with. For one I don't know how the cutting board got so out of shape the cabbage leaf didn't turn out that great and the pumpkin surface was a little too exaggerated but certain parts of the pumpkin surface turned out a lot better.

Drawing 1, Part 2 Observations in Nature, Detailed Observation - Check and Log

Which drawing media did you find most effective to use, for which effects?

For me I love pencils I've been developing my pencil skills more and more on this course and I have got to the stage where I am doing less and less smudging and more and more hatching using my pencil at different angles with different holding techniques. I really think I did well depicting the tone of the wood and especially the bark in the 'Getting Tone and Depth in Detail' exercise. However I was very happy with my stippling with the Rotring drawing pen on the 'Stipples and Dots' exercise, not only being able to depict the tone of the leaf but also it's texture.

What sort of Marks work well to create tone and texture?

I used a variety of hatching to depict the texture of the tree branch with sporadic hatching to depict the bark and fluid lines and hatching to show the stripped wood all these marks worked really well. I thought I had chosen the wrong type of subject for the stipples and dots exercise but I think I showed the texture of the object really well with dots and patterns of stipples to show creases in the dying leaf.

Did you enjoy capturing details or are you more at home creating big broad brush sketches?

I must admit that capturing details with stipples and dots was a bit tedious but I am delighted with the finished drawing and I really enjoyed working on the tree branch in the first exercise so I can probably say that I am more at home capturing details.

Look at the composition of the drawings you have done in this project. Make some sketches and notes about how you could improve your composition.

The composition and the angles of the subjects that I chose were thought about long and hard before embarking on these exercises, I feel I chose the best compositions that I could to not only capture the full beauty of the objects but to fill the paper.

View my full Drawing 1 Learning Log

Drawing 1, Part 2 Observations in Nature, Detailed Observation - Stipples and Dots

For this exercise I was to pick another interesting object and use A4 cartridge paper and a ballpoint or drawing pen. Then use a stippling effect, dots and and a variety of marks to create a drawing of depth and interest.

Exercise - Stipples and Dots, Finished Drawing

After my research on Eliot Hodgkin I took a walk through the very small park area opposite my school and took some photos of leaves with my mobile phone so I might use them later. When this exercise came up I went back into the park to grab some dying leaves to take home.

Exercise - Stipples and Dots, Leaf Subject

One particular leaf caught my eye as it had some great lines and at the time was half green half brown, so took many photos during the change from green and brown to completely brown and also tried the leaf at different angles, for my drawing I picked out the one above.

I can't say that I love stippling as it is a very slow process and this exercise took me about three hours over two days to complete and since my first assignment was handed in quite slow I'm trying to keep up momentum.

I used a Rotring 0.3 drawing pen and began as I did with other exercises, drawing the light tones by spacing out the dots  and then going back over for the darker tones with more dots. I used a variety of mark making techniques which included stippling, dots, really short hatching and lines and for the creased patterns of the dying leaf I drew the dots in tracks close together and then went back over with more dots.

Exercise: Stipples and Dots Finished

View my learning log for Drawing 1