Contour Drawing Practice
Today I worked on the week 2 assignment for the Sketching Now Foundations course offered online by Liz Steel. The assignment was to set up a still life with three objects – one with straight edges, one with curved edges, and one free form or textured.
Contour Drawing Setup Photo
I set my objects up on a seamless white background and lit them with a single light from the left side.
I like to do a warmup drawing before I begin. This time I thought I’d use my iPod Touch, set the clock’s timer for three minutes, and draw with my finger in the Sketch Club app.
iPod Touch Drawing Warmup
This is a good option for doing warmups. It gives me a chance to explore the subject and warmup my sketching muscles. It also has the advantage that I don’t have to waste space in my sketchbook doing a preliminary drawing.
I used a Strathmore Bristle 11 x 17 inch (27.9 x 43.2 cm) 300 series pad of paper. It’s a nice smooth heavyweight paper great for pen and ink. For exercises like this I like using a large sheet so I can compare and keep all the drawings in one place.
I drew with my favorite little fountain pen the Kaweco Sport with an extra fine nib which I bought from Jetpens.com. Yesterday I figured out how to fill the pen’s international short cartridge (it doesn’t have a converter) with Noodler’s Bulletproof Black ink using a small syringe. It worked great. I love this little pen. It starts every time, flows well (doesn’t skip) and makes both fine and bold marks depending on angle and pressure. Perfect for sketching.
Today I sketched sitting down at my tilt top table. I prefer standing up like I did yesterday. It feels confining to sit.
My hand/eye coordination is getting better with practice. I really enjoyed getting lost in the flower shapes. I managed to describe their shapes pretty well without looking at the page. I can see using this technique to make a very respectable quick sketch on location with maybe a splash of watercolor.
Jim
