Summary

The purpose of this assaignment was to help us to develop our observational and drawing skills. Eventually, as a designer, doing a weekly observational drawing will help us to gain confidence when we need to draw out our ideas.

For the drawing exercises it would have been nice to of had more practical lessons as a class (for example set up a still life to draw from) but I coped well by doing it out of University independently.

For the other side of the brief- computer skills- I found it a bit more challenging as I had to follow my tutor, Paul's instructions while also taking screen prints and documenting notes. I made sure at each lesson I documented all what I had done and learnt.

Self assessment EPP

Gantt Chart

 Evidence of a Gantt chart.This is a Gantt chart- a timetable that helps me to organise my 6 weeks of a project. I have done the Gantt chart for my semester 2 assaignment- Design& Materials. On the first week I started research for my power point and on the second week I had finished it and presented it to the rest of the class.  I had drawn and wrote about my design concepts throughout the project up until week 5. Half way through the project I had already started putting together my technical drawings and collecting materials for my model building. The last couple of weeks I had finished my model building and produced a client board. This is a good way to plan your weeks and it helps you to know what you need to submit.

Strawberry

I have finished up with a strawberry and again as you can see, just like the pepper, I have gone over it with the red felt tip and worked into it with a biro pen. This technique gives a bold effect that is eye-catching. What did I learn? The shadow was produced from natural light from the window and when I turned on the light in the kitchen the shadow was of a different shape- the same shape as the strawberry as the light was coming direct from above. I would have liked to have shown the shadow in my sketch as the shadow produced by the kitchen light. Time taken: 45minutes.

Teddy Bear

I like the idea of collages so I used a McDonald's bag wrapper as a page background. This time I've not only drawn the object but drawn what is in the background which is part of a chair, fridge and kitchen drawers. This piece of work took me 1hour and 15minutes. I find having the McDonald's wrapper as the page background interesting as it contains its own images which also look like sketches and adds some colour to my work. How could I improve? Well sometimes things look better when it comes in multiples as there is more to look at, therefore I could have drawn two bears of two kinds and sizes and positioned one behind the other.

Pepper

This is my favourite colour piece of work; the inside and the outside of a red pepper. My colouring crayons were a bit soft so I went over the colour with a red felt tip which made the colour more brighter. After that I still felt that the sketches needed some more working on so I used a black biro pen to work into them and it instantly made the work stand out. Like other sketches I have added a background but with this one I decided to show the surface in which the objects were on- a table - the table cloth. The page just feels like it has to much empty space so I wished that I had drawn the sketches bigger and if I was to do something like this again then I will use pastels as I can blend the colours. But all in all this took 1hour and 10minutes.

Boxes

2 boxes- 45minutes sketch. I thought it would be nice to sketch something simple again. These are two different purpose boxes, one is a fragrance box and the smaller one is a jewellery box. Both of which are made of two opposite materials. It took so long because I kept getting the proportion wrong and even the finishing piece looks as though it doesn't have parallel lines in places and it was even harder because I positioned the boxes on an angle. Just like the coffee, sugar, tea jars sketch I think that this sketch could look just as nice with a background, not necessarily newspaper but another texture/source of material.

Sugar, Coffee and Tea Jars

I feel that this is one of my strongest pieces of work. What do I feel that is wrong with it? As I look at the sketches I think that the jars look a little bit out of proportion. What do I like about this piece of work? I like the way I have used newspaper to represent a background which I have left blank in my previous sketches and to give the work some texture as well. This is my longest sketch adding up to 2hours.

Kettle

Many people might think that a kettle is easy to draw but in my case it was hard to define the materials in which the kettle is composed up of. I sent 1hour and 25minutes on this as I was drawing from a distance and focussing hard on all the detail, light and shadows. I decided to give he sketch a bold cross-hatched background.

Bunch of Bananas

Another 1hour and 30minutes sketch. I enjoy drawing fruits so I sketched a bunch of bananas, I felt that If I just drew one that it would not be as effective. If I was to do this again I think it would be nice to work with colour to express the colours of bananas. And I think showing the table surface too would be a good way to contribute to the sketch.

Salt and Pepper Shakes

From here, I spent more time on my sketches. To compose these salt and pepper shakes I had spent 1hour and 30minutes. The shakes are made from metal and has a shiny and smooth surface texture. The shakes took a lot of concentration to draw as you can see there was a lot of reflected light, shadows and reflected objects to capture. In some aspects I wished that I had shown the light and shadows in a way that wasn't blocked tones and therefore should have smudged more so that the was no straight lines.

A Vase behind Netted Curtains.

While I was visiting family I decided to add to my sketchbook by sketching this vase and accessories which was situated behind a netted curtain. I spent 30minutes on the vase and accessories and 10minutes on the curtain but you can't really tell there is a curtain so I may go over this again using a stronger strength of pencil. I have realised now after that I have perhaps made the vase and accessories too strong which makes it look like it is not actually situated behind the curtain. So in future I can take into account my strength of pencils when it comes to drawing something behind something.

Negative of Living Room Window-sill

This one is just the same as the one below- working with the negative space. However, this sketch took 45minutes to produce which is composed up of a picture frame and a bull ornament from the living room window-sill. What could I have done to improve this piece of work? I could have drawn the ornaments smaller so that the whole picture frame would have fitted on. There is also the possibility of improving this type of work by working into the objects with their correct colours and detail.

Negative of Bedroom Window-sill

In my opinion I felt that I had done a lot of capturing what the object held but not capturing what was around it. What I have done here is used a black biro pen to cross-hatch the background which leaves the objects negative. This is an image of my bedroom window-sill containing a lamp/ wire, the window-sill itself and part of the curtain. I found this type of sketch more easy and enjoying plus the black biro pen and the white negative space makes the overall image stand out and this piece of work took 35minutes to produce.

Duck Ornament and Its Texture

I wanted to try something different and found this duck ornament in my house weaved out of straw with a wooden beak. With this piece of work I have tried to show its woven detail as the majority of it does not contain a flat surface where I could easily identify the light and shade. The line represents the edge of the table in which I had placed the ornament onto. I first added some water coloured paints to the paper as I felt that some of my drawings needed a touch of colour and I have also included the shadow to show that this was an object placed on another surface. I had spent 1hour with this sketch and in some parts I used charcoal to darken the colour which was meant to show where the object stuck out on another level. If I could have found more time to spend on this I think that I could potentially draw each strand of straw in much more detail rather than using lines to show the weave. But as a whole I feel that the image shows what it represents- a duck.

Still life - Statue

I went for a sketching session at the Gallery by my University (Salford). What you can see here is my sketch of one of the gallery's statues. This sketch took a lot of concentration and time effort, however, was a very peaceful exercise. My favourite part is the tone work; how I have captured the light and shade which was absorbed within the statue- especially the lady's body. My improvements for next time would be to use the pencil rule by using the pencil to measure the figure at arms length as I was drawing from a far distance and this sketch looks like I was sitting close by. In total I was in the gallery for at least 1hour and half where I spent a total of 50minutes on this work. The rest of the time I was taking mini breaks to refresh, correcting my mistakes and looking at other peer's drawings.