Project Form: Exercise - Essential Shapes

This project is about thinking of the figure in terms of basic shapes . This exercise involves blocking in the basic shapes of the pose (a seated pose). Also looking for receding planes and planes which are parallel with the picture plane. The instructions also suggest continuing to measure proportions using a measured unit such as the head. 

15 Mins from life: Pencil and drawing pen

On the first attempt I got lost with the proportions again. I must not have measured accurately because The legs are too short. Initially in pencil I drew an ellipse for the head. A slightly tilted rectangle for the upper torso and an ellipse for the belly. I used cylinders for the arms and the legs but I found this awkward as it are them seem stiff and clunky - the real arms were curved not cylindrical. I went over in drawing pen picking out what I thought was the best line to join these shapes and convert the basic shapes to a more human shape. The upper half of the body and head are OK but the legs are too short and the perspective on the chair is off so it looks as though it tilts forwards like a rocking chair.

10 mins from life. Pencil and drawing pen

On the second attempt, the general proportions were somewhat better. Again I started with a rectangle for the upper torso. An ellipse for the belly and another for the head. Cylinders for the legs and arms. I struggled with the foreshortening of the left leg and ended up with a strange unnatural-looking shape on the left thigh. Also the Chair legs are too short. I went over the basic shapes with a drawing pen to make the figure. 

10 mins from life. Pencil and drawing pen

On the third attempt I drew some reference lines to try to avoid making the figure too wide. I used basic rectangles for the torso and an ellipse for the head but I didn't literally draw cylinders for the arms and legs I just drew reference curves in pencil then I overdrew in drawing pen.  I think this one has the better proportions of the three but all of them suffer from being rather stiff. The lines drawn do not have the beautiful fluid quality of for example blind contour drawings. This is a result of all the measuring and scrutinising which has reduced the fluency of the mark making. 

My model had very limited time available so I was forced to use some photographs for the remainder of this exercise. I sued some of the poses from "Anatomy for Artists" by Sarah Simblet and John Davis (DK Publishing 2001).

10 minutes from photo. Water-soluble
coloured pencil

10 minutes from photo. Fountain pen and
washable ink with water brush

10 minutes from photo. Coloured pencil

I found measuring and identifying shapes easier from the photographic images because I was already dealing with two dimensional shapes on paper. I found more triangles and ellipses and trapezoid shapes. I didn't really find any truly cylindrical or rectangular shapes. The male muscular figure was lake a large inverted triangle with his broad shoulders and narrow waist. Although the poses are deliberately set up to make an interesting composition there is something very static about these drawings.