Assignment Two.

I wanted to draw something in the chapel, (which is attached onto the building I live in.) deigned by A. W. Pugin.
I am very attached to this building (I have known it all my life)

I love Gothic and Gothic revival architecture.

My attention was drawn to the carvings on either end of pews, (some are badly broken and damaged, but a few are still intact.)

So, to get an idea of what (and in what way) I was going draw , 

I did a some quick drawings of the carvings I liked best, in my sketchbook.

Various reddy-browns and white chalks on dark brown paper.

Fountain pen and wash.

Fineliner and watercolour.

Whiteboard marker and red watercolour.

Ballpoint pen, white conté and brown watercolour, on light brown support.

Pencil on white paper.

After this, I had a bit of a better idea of what I was doing,

I did so small thumbnail sketches, to help with the compensation.

This was the idea for the final composition. 

On grey paper with blackboard marker, fineliner, white chalk and watercolour.

White support with whiteboard marker.

Later I found this carving (a bit further up the nave,)

I must have missed it on my first look around.

I  preferred this carved creature. 

And so decided to draw this carving, 

but to roughly stick to the same composition.  

(Sorry, not a very good photograph.)

Brief sketch with fountain pen and watercolour.

I chose a"Cool Blue" support,

sketched out the figure in the foreground in pencil. Then washes of blue watercolour.

I had thought about doing the drawing in browns (as the carving is wood) but went for using blue, 

brown can look warm and cosy, I think, and I wanted to get the feeling of the big, cold chapel. 

After the watercolour was dry, I used a three different sizes of fineliner to try and add depth and describe form,

concentrating on hatching marks.

I have been looking at and trying to emulate the work of the artist and children's illustrator Edward Ardizzone, a master of line and cross-hatching.

Edward Ardizzone, sketch of himself.

Then put in the highlights in using white chalk.

I had been doing all of the drawing so-far on sight, (in the chapel)

it was getting dark, so I took photographs and brought the drawing back up to the drawing-board, to try and work up the background from there.

Whether it was, 

that I had planed my original composition from a view further back, or that I was working from photos...

 or that I hadn't really thought enough about how the background was going to look, or all three.

I had great difficulty with the background. 

I wasn't really sure what I wanted for the background,

I had to draw and redraw the it several times.

With hindsight, I should have done a watery wash, (or something,) faded and very little detail, to accentuate the work in the foreground.

I stupidly went over my pencil lines with pen, and then a wash,

it was a mistake to put in all the architectural details (got a bit carried away) plus, the shapes were a bit wrong.

It was too ambitious.

I wanted to get sense of the distance, space and the loftiness of the building, but instead, because the window tracery came out so dark and detailed, it brought it forward and made it look very close.

I decided to try to fade out the strong lines in the background, using pastels and conté.

To a certain extent, it worked...it looks further away, at any rate.

So this is my finished drawing for "Assignment Two."

I am not that pleased with it,

the drawing is too dark, or rather there is not enough variation and contrast. 

I also think the washes of watercolour were too opaque. 

The perspective is poor.

 I think it is over worked too...in some places. 

There are things I like about the drawing, 

I like the light coming through the window,

(I achieved this affect by lightly scraping a white conté stick, on it's side, in one direction, then doing the same with a light blue and a red pastels, trying get the look of light through stained glass.)

I also liked some of the cross hatching on the carving. 

But on the whole, I am dissatisfied with the result of this drawing. 

I want to learn how to really finish a drawing. 

I do all these preparational drawings and sketches,

and often the quick drawings look nicer then the finished piece.

This is something I would like to work on.