Traditional Drawing - Week 25

Week 25 - Urban Landscape - Medieval Architecture

·         For this week, we had to produce a drawing of an urban environment depicting a medieval building.

·         Medieval drawings are notoriously detailed, but they followed consistent styling rules across most buildings of the era, so the structures of the building can be broken down in a comprehendible way.

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Reference:

·         I chose to draw the beautiful cathedral from my city of Worcester, which can be seen clearly from the bridge crossing the River Severn.

·         I was worried this reference would not feature enough urban aspects however the location of the cathedral mean that this is the best angle to view it from and it shows the developed water’s edge pathway.

Reference

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First Version:

·         I created a photoshop document to work out the perspective lines for this piece, and then translated that information into the perspective on my piece. I kept exclusively here to using pencil, and thought that overall, the piece looked quite basic.

·         I tried applying the scribbling technique to the trees on the piece, which I think both did and did not work. It did work in that it showed the forms in a gestural way, but it made the piece look quite scruffy in comparison to the detail added to the cathedral.

·         I did not have any confidence in this piece other than in the shapes I sketched out, so I traced my initial sketch and then began my second attempt to the piece.

First Version

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Final Version:

·         Since we were reaching the end of the term, I wanted to experiment with medium more. To do this, I decided to go for a medium I had used before with some success, alcohol markers and biro pen. This technique allowed me to create flat areas of layered value like in the trees more successfully, and to make the area I want developed to become more obvious and a point of focus.

·         The biro pen helps establish the mid ground of the piece, because the areas without then become the fore ground and the background around the pen. I enjoy using biro for buildings like cathedrals, since the medium works well for creating detail on the walls and towers. It also shows to the viewer what is meant to be man made and what is natural in the drawing.

·         If I were to do this again, I would have tried applying some pen hatching onto the trees and foreground elements along the river like the walls to further establish the depth of the image.

Final Version

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Final Conclusions:

·         I am unsure which of the two in the end was more successful/applicable to the brief, however I wanted to show some diversity in my portfolio this term and thought that this different medium choice would do well in making my skills more varied.

·         If I were to do this again, I would have more confidence in my abilities with the first attempt to the piece. I think with more time that piece could have been strong on its own, however I am happy with the pen work on the tower in my second piece.