richard allman's weekly drawing group blog

Texture: Rubbings

14/2/2020

We were looking at different surface qualities and made lots of experimental rubbings from a huge variety of surfaces - having seen examples by Max Ernst particularly. It was not so much direct drawing but more making decisions about what was underneath the paper, and we found very rich qualities that could never have been drawn deliberately. We then composed these into either abstract images or suggestions of animals, birds etc.
click a thumbnail to enlarge image...

Mark-making: Bicycles

7/2/2020

We were using a variety of tools to make different marks with ink (sticks, card, rolled-up paper etc.) Each tool made a unique mark.
A group of bicycles was the subject, the texture and energy of the marks was more important that strict accuracy.
click a thumbnail to see the whole drawing...

Self Portraits (2)

31/1/2020

As a variation from last week with features, this time we were ignoring the identifiable features and just looking at patches of tone.
We worked from high contrast self portrait photos, but upside down so that the features weren't obvious - drawing what we could see rather than what we knew (for example, most had only one eye visible!)
click a thumbnail to enlarge...

Self Portraits - fragmented features

28/1/2020

We looked at Cubist portraits. Individual features were drawn separately, from different angles, on different coloured paper and in various media, and then collaged together in a fragmentary way. Drawings were then made from the collages.
Click on the thumbnails to see the whole drawings...

Complexity and Mondrian

19/1/2020

We looked at Mondrian's deliberate progression from landscapes and trees, through various processes of distillation to his late black grids with primary coloured rectangles. Everyone then chose one of two complicated collections of objects, first trying to suggest the complexity of the whole and then moving on through simplifications to very simple monochrome collages.
Click a thumbnail to see the whole drawing...

Vegetables - Enlarged!

13/1/2020

The idea here was to look at very different vegetables - their sculptural form, structure and texture - and draw them several times larger than life. They then seem to take on a different identity, sometimes with surreal undertones, sometimes appearing like foliage or having abstract qualities that we want to develop.

Quick Figure Drawings

7/12/2019

These were all very quick (max 10 minutes each!) with lots of different poses, approaches, media etc: wrong hand continuous line (bound to be 'inaccurate'), straight lines only, using a mammoth piece of uncontrollable charcoal and a 1" house painting brush with ink. We also recorded four steps of walking movement which were collaged together after.

click a thumbnail to enlarge...

Dazzle Camouflage and Op Art

29/11/2019

This was all about perception - how the eye reads what we see.

Dazzle camouflage on ships was intended to break up the form and confuse the enemy. We first worked from a group of objects, decorated with black and white patterns - looking for just the black shapes rather then the forms.
Op Art, on the other hand, creates form and generates energy by apparently simple black and white patterns, so we experimented with this on flat, 2D paper - some of which was then folded.

Click a thumbnail to enlarge...

work in progress...

results of our 'Op Art' experimentation....

FORM, SOLIDITY, MODELLING on a large scale

26/11/2019

These gloves, boots, skulls etc took on a dramatic, dynamic, sculptural and larger-then-life quality by using various ways of modelling and exploring the textures...

Pattern

16/11/2019

We discussed pattern as a repetition of shapes, so looked for these in this group of materials and kitchen objects. As with Matisse particularly, the objects almost disappeared amongst the patterns, perspective was almost ignored by tipping up the surface, the solidity of the objects was not emphasised and in some cases a Cubist multi-viewpoint was used...

Compose Your Own Drawing

8/11/2019

This time everyone was asked to compose their own subject, rather than having one provided - a bit like music. Inventive, experimental...... and lateral thinking, drawing with shapes, patterns and lines.

The first project was to create a paper sculpture from the two strips of black and white paper provided, and then do a drawing of it.
The second was to make quick gestural marks in ink on squares of paper, then make a collage from them using random placing, cutting and 'design decisions.' Then a drawing from the collage...

work in progress...

Irregular formats

1/11/2019

Irregular shaped paper was the order of the day here. We picked odd shapes and aimed to somehow fit in our composition, from a complex pile of objects. Should the objects fit the shape of the paper or contradict it....? It was maybe the opposite of cropping - or doing the cropping before doing the drawing! Click thumbnails to enlarge...

Deconstructing Charcoal

18/10/2019

Today we used only charcoal, no other materials (except a bit of water and candle wax here and there.) The idea was to explore how many different sorts of charcoal marks could be made, including using stencils, scraping and scratching, making charcoal dust with sandpaper and creating 'charcoal drypoint' on scratched paper...

Bamboo: Drawing with scissors and gestural marks

11/10/2019

Two contrasting approaches to a bamboo subject. First, we were drawing with scissors, cutting freehand shapes of positive, negative and linear shapes relating to the bamboo. Some then added drawn marks with charcoal etc. Secondly, gestural charcoal marks of the same subject.

Glass and distortion

4/10/2019

We started off by looking at how glass really just distorts the background. Then developed this into distortion of text and the fascinating abstract images that can be found by zooming in on small parts.

White objects - line and then tone

29/9/2019

At first we did continuous line drawings of the white objects, without taking the pen off the paper. Then the idea was to add patches of mid tone and black where applicable to describe a bit of the form - without being too literal.

Review of the Year 2018-19

19/8/2019

Here's a review of the projects we did over the last year - have a look back to see more examples of each...

Please note that the new term starts at 3.30pm on Thursday 26th September 2019.
If you are interested in joining please contact Richard via this link... contact page.

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Double Header

31/3/2019

Two projects today. One was everyone 'drawing each other drawing', and these then fitted together to try to show the activity of a drawing studio.
The other was collage - drawing, or composing, with bits of found objects that each have their own drawing characteristics (line, tone, texture, shape, pattern etc) - after looking at Kurt Schwitters.

Part One...