Visiting The Royal Armouries and the Discovery Centre.
Drawing from observation, looking at statues and taxidermy exhibits.
I found today's observational task a lot less stressful than drawing the fast paced city. I couldn't keep up with the previous challenge, but today focused on stationary subjects. I loved how this enabled me to take my time with the drawing and really zone in on the details that the object possessed.
The discovery centre was fantastic! Some people found it quite disturbing to see these dead creatures, stuffed for our viewing, but I found them really beautiful and fascinating to see. Of course, the subject is saddening, but these provided the perfect models for our drawing.
With only an hour to spend scanning over the thousands of bizarre items around the museum, I didn't manage to draw everything that I wanted. I would really like to return and explore further.
I also only had chance to work with pencils in the time I had available, so I'm desperate to see how these creatures would look when worked into with colour and different brush marks.
I was instantly attracted to the taxidermy and the larger animal structures. These models posed a suggestion of the animal's posture and movement, yet stood completely still. Their fur was perfectly preserved (in most cases), yet the beats were not startled by your approach.
Animals and anthropomorphism have had a big influence on my illustrations in previous projects, but never before have I managed to get so close to the animal!
This has changed my way of seeing creatures whilst also bringing an excitement to observational drawing that I had yet to encounter.
I have found my muse in terms of focused, accurate(ish) drawing practice and I hope to continue drawing in this way for enjoyment.
Is drawing still observational when the image becomes patterned and decorative?
Translating the visual information from the fur into organised marks, this isn't what I saw covering the bear's body, so does that mean that it is no longer an observational drawing?
The Royal Armouries contained exhibits surrounding the history of war and battle.
Morally disagreeing with war and violence personally, I found this museum a little upsetting.
The models themselves, however, were intricate and beautiful to look at.
The elephant and his armour, pictured above, was the main thing I drew. I couldn't bring myself to walk away from such a majestic organism.
After today's session, I'm finding observational drawing less of an alien activity. It's not as daunting to get out my sketchbook and just draw than it was on Tuesday. I want to draw and the desire to capture the beauty of these things around me overpowers my resistance to letting people see me fail.
I even found myself willingly showing my tutors and friends what I had drawn at the discovery centre! This was a huge step forward for me, especially with the work being rough sketches rather than finalised pieces. Although these drawings are not completely realistic and I still have a lot to learn about observational drawing, I am so proud of the progress I have made this week.
I want to keep up this challenge of drawing from observation and continue to improve my work through practice. I have shown myself that doing this has made me a better drawer (not a desk drawer, but a picture draw-er!).
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