Draw a complex still life with a dynamic composition.
Guidelines
- Set up a still life of five or six objects of varying sizes, shapes, and textural and pattern complexity. Use all of the skills you have sharpened during the semester to develop your image.
- In planning your still life, objects must be chosen not just for their interest, but also for shape, value, and texture. The objects must be arranged so they complement one another: dark against light, smooth forms next to ones with varied or complex surfaces. The element of drapery must also be included.
- Place some objects in the foreground, some in the middle ground, and some in the background. Using your knowledge of atmospheric perspective as a guide, overlap the shapes to create varied intervals and interesting negative spaces.
- Looking through your viewfinder, try different arrangements before picking the final version. Try out little drawings in your sketchbook to help you decide on the best composition.
- Remember, lighting enhances your composition. Experiment with your light source before beginning to draw to find just the right arrangement. Light from a window may be fine for a while, but this source of light will move over time. The most effective general lighting comes from above, slightly in front, and to the side of the arrangement. Make sure your lighting helps describe the three-dimensional quality of your objects.
- Are there objects of varying size and character? Are both regular and irregular shapes or objects represented in your composition? Harmony is important for your final arrangement of objects, but some variety can make your drawing interesting to look at. The way you make marks can determine the type of texture. Using a pencil, practice in your sketchbook make a variety of marks creating the illusion of different textures.
- It is not necessary to laboriously draw every detail of a surface to disclose its identity to the viewer. A few indications of textures with intelligent editing may be sufficient. For example, you do not have to draw every cable stitch to characterize a cable-knit sweater. In fact, it is often better to suggest a textural pattern over a part of a surface and allow the viewer’s imagination to carry it across the whole form. The drawing can be very detailed where the fabric is illuminated by the light source and a line can be used to suggest only the broader details if the fabric turns into the shadow.
- Finally, you may want to make the still life more personal. Consider the meaning of the objects so they tell a story about you—an “un-self portrait,” if you will. A self -portrait is a picture a person draws of his or her own face but an un-self portrait can be a drawing that contains objects that tell a story about you.
- The objects can be things you like, or they can depict things you like to do. If you like to read, play a sport, go shopping, garden, bake, fish, or dance, what objects might you decide to include in your still life to make it meaningful to you?
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