Week Eight: Composition, Perspective

The past 8 weeks have been awesome!! Everyone has improved BIG-TIME since your first lesson. You've learned about lines, shapes, patterns, texture, form, and space. You put it all together last week to create wonderful compositions while looking at drawings by Vincent van Gogh. The overall goal of the lesson was to sketch accurate guidelines for the large shapes that break up the space of the composition, then finish with darker contour lines and tones. You explored ways to use bold pencil strokes to show textures and form. Everyone did an excellent job of working in perspective, giving realistic depth of space to your drawing.

Lesson Reference Pictures:

Road in Etten by Vincent van Gogh (1853-1890)

Auvers-sur-Oise by Vincent van Gogh, sketched late in the month of May, 1890

We have lots of exciting new things to learn for our next 8 weeks. I look forward to seeing continuing students as well as new students March 20th. Keep drawing! --Rob

Elvis

Excellent composition, Elvis! You've done a wonderful job of showing the angles of perspective of the fences and road leading into the distance. The angled lines that show the buildings are very well drawn. Very good job of drawing accurate guidelines, then finishing with darker contour lines. I really like the lines that form the trees, especially the trees to the right of the composition. Excellent job of overlapping the large trees in front of the building, to the right of the composition.



So awesome that you completed the second van Gogh sketch! Fantastic job in accurately capturing the perspective of the road and trees. You did a good job of comparing the scale of the figures and trees in the background to those in the foreground. By drawing the trees and figures smaller in the background you've given lots of depth to your drawing. The way you drew heavier lines for the trees in the foreground is a great way to make them look closer. I really like how you show the form and texture of the trees and the road.

Check out the progress you've made since your first lesson! All along, you've shown an excellent ability to look at things, then draw them. Your diligent practice in making accurate proportions, realistic textures, and natural contour lines is really starting to shine. You have a nice touch with blending tones... we'll develop this skill further. You're also showing an excellent start with exploring how to use stronger lines for texture and accurate contour lines, especially in your van Gogh sketches. Practice combining lines and tones, like you did in your drawing of the wood, shown below. Keep up the great work!

Shaylah

Beautiful composition!! You've taken the time to include lots of details from van Gogh's sketch, and to draw accurate proportions. Excellent job of showing the perspective of the walls and road leading into the distance. I really like how you started using stronger lines to show the form of the trees and grassy areas of the road. You did an excellent job of using lines to show the contrast of the textured wall and the shadows of the grass on the wall. You did a very good job of showing the contrasts of textures and tones of the vines in the garden area. The angled pattern of lines, where the ground of the garden meets the wall, is well-drawn. Overall, the entire composition is very accurately drawn. The wide variety of lines and subtle tones creates a lively rhythm that makes your composition very pleasing to look at. The way you used stronger lines and sharper details in the foreground grass adds more depth to your picture--nice touch!

Compare the picture of the fish and crab you drew in the first week with your van Gogh drawing. Wow, what a difference! I know you did lots of study sketches in the earlier lessons to gain control of your drawing hand, and it has paid of for you--BIG-time! I think the biggest improvement has been in your ability to draw accurate guidelines for proportions, then finishing with confident outlines and contour lines. I think your dog drawing, shown below, was a major breakthrough in drawing realistically. Your van Gogh sketch shows a big step in exploring how to use lines to show the texture and contours of things. And you're beginning to experiment with gray tones, too. We'll work to develop these skills further.

Gage

Terrific composition, Gage! You've done a great job of including details for the buildings and foliage. Excellent work on the angled perspective of the walls and road. I like how you used a variety of heavy and thin lines to show different tones and textures, especially the overlapping trees and building to the right, and the garden area. The textures and shadows of the grass in front of the wall are well drawn. The way you drew the darker grass in the foreground, to the left of the road, and lighter grass in the distance is an excellent touch for showing depth.

Look how far you've come since the first lesson! You've got a bold drawing style that has improved with each lesson. By taking the time to draw accurate guidelines and proportions, as in the dog picture shown below, you've made great strides in drawing realistically. Keep developing the technique you've started in your van Gogh drawing by using a wide variety of lines to show the form of things. I'd like to see you develop your line work, maybe combine realistic (representational) drawing and your abstract style, shown below.

Leif

Whoah! You took the time to draw guidelines, then finished with darker contour lines, creating a wonderful composition. Excellent job of including the details of the buildings and foliage, especially in the garden area. You did a great job of using darker lines to show the shadows of the grass on the wall. Very good use of cross-hatching, a variety of lines, and light and dark tones. Good job of showing the angled perspective of the buildings and walls. I really like the lines you used for the large tree that overlaps the building to the right.

Big improvement compared to your first lesson, Leif! I think the van Gogh drawing was a major breakthrough for you--everything you've been learning about drawing came together. You took the time to measure proportions, then focused on combining lines and shapes to form a composition. I'd like to see further development of your shading, like you did on the egret, shown below. You've got an excellent foundation to build on.

Jared

Excellent composition, Jared! You punched through to a whole new level of drawing on this one. I can see that you took great care in drawing accurate guidelines and included the details for buildings and foliage. Great job of drawing the angle of the walls in perspective and in using a wide variety of lines to show textures. I really like how you drew the darker lines for the shadows of the grass against the texture of the wall.

Big, BIG improvement over your first lesson! The control of your lines has steadily improved with each lesson. Your van Gogh drawing shows a marvelous step in combining what you've been learning into a complete composition. Use your van Gogh sketch as a launch pad for learning more about drawing. Keep practicing drawing the form of things and adding shading, like you did on the egret, shown below. Maybe try drawing some skateboarders or surfers. You're on the path to drawing realistically.

Keeley

Excellent drawing Keeley!! Even though last week was just your second class with us, you drew a wonderful composition. You jumped right in and concentrated on drawing very accurate proportions, especially the challenging perspective of the walls and road. In particular, the garden area to the right of the composition is very well drawn. I like the variety of lines used for the vines and ground in the garden area. Excellent job of drawing lots and lots of lines for the tree overlapping the building to the right. The contrasting lines of the shadows of the grass against the wall are very well drawn.

You've got a very good start. I'll help you catch up on some of the lessons the other students learned as we move into the next eight weeks. I'd like to see you further develop your keen sense of proportions and line work.

Craig

Excellent start in drawing your composition! I know that you became ill and were unable to finish--hope you're feeling better! You did a very good job of carefully drawing the guidelines for the buildings and the large tree. You got a great start in drawing the perspective of the wall and buildings.

Your van Gogh drawing shows a BIG improvement over your first lesson! You've steadily improved the control of your line work as well as drawing things accurately. I think your biggest improvement has been in your ability to draw accurate proportions, as shown in your drawings of the egret and dog shown below. Keep focused on drawing accurate guidelines and developing your line work.

Michael

You've made excellent progress in improving your drawing skills! With each lesson, you've shown improvement in controlling your lines and your ability to draw what you see. The difference between your first lesson (car and dino, shown left) and the realistic proportions shown in your dog drawing are amazing! You've improved a lot in drawing accurate proportions. You've developed a nice style of shading, too. I think your breakthrough was the contour line drawing of the rock, shown below. The angles of the surfaces and contour lines are very well drawn! Keep building on the skills you've learned in your lessons to draw realistically. It would be cool if you used your skills and interest in video games to draw some pictures.

Ricky

Ricky, the progress you made from your first lesson of the fish, to your line drawing of Picasso's two men, to your drawing of the egret is awesome! Your ability to look at things and then draw them improved dramatically with each lesson. I think the Picasso sketch helped you to improve in drawing outlines and contour lines more accurately. You did an excellent job of drawing the form of the egret! I know you got a good start on drawing guidelines and proportions of the van Gogh picture. It would be great to see the completed drawing. With concentrated effort, you can take your ability to draw contour lines to exciting new levels of drawing realistically.

Jaime

You've made excellent progress, Jaime! If you compare your first lesson in drawing the basic shapes of the fish, to your drawing of the egret, you can see lots and lots of improvement. Your control of lines and ability to draw accurate proportions improved steadily. The lesson on positive and negative space (rocking chair, shown below) was a big step towards drawing more realistically. Keep it going! Practice drawing guidelines, accurate proportions and confident contour lines. Keep up the excellent job of inventing cool compositions like your abstract drawing shown below.

Hilda

Awesome to be working with you and the SLV Sketchers! It's wonderful how you've jumped in and worked on the lessons, too. I don't have your very first lessons, but I know you've been excited with the improvement in your skills. The positive/negative space lesson (rocking chair) helped you a lot in drawing realistically. I think a big turning point for you was the drawing of the dog. Using the grid lines and taking the time to measure proportions has taken your drawing skills to a new level. You have an excellent eye for drawing the form of things and shading (dog and dino, shown below). We'll be developing those skills further.

Patty

Simply awesome drawings, Patty!! Your participation in the weekly drawing challenges has really helped the students work harder in achieving the best possible results in their work. You've got an excellent eye for drawing very accurate proportions, wonderful shading techniques, and draw textures REALLY well. The contours and textures on your dino are amazing! I think your abstract drawing (shown below) may have rekindled your artistic desire to draw more often, and it had a huge influence on the students' creativity for that lesson, too. Your drawing of Leonardo's craggy old man (shown below) challenged you to take new directions in your line work. Look forward to working with you again!

Vincent van Gogh Reference Drawings

Road in Etten by Vincent van Gogh (1853-1890) chalk, pencil, pastel and water color



Auvers-sur-Oise by Vincent van Gogh, sketched late in the month of May, 1890 pencil, pen, brown ink



Click on pictures to enlarge for viewing