Drawing from observation skills.

Accurately creating a drawing from observation takes a variety and multitude of skills, some art related and others in a broader sense. To accurately depict a "still-life" most preeminently takes an understanding of the set-up, how to draw the objects, and your skills as an artist. Artistically, it takes an understanding of the foundations of what you are depicting and their locations and size (ratio to other objects); the tools that you are utilizing; when and how to use value to depict depth, mood, color, texture, etc.; and many other essential foundations and detailed skills to draw effectively from observation. The other skills, not pertaining to art "specifically," consist of knowing how to focus intensively (for an extensive period of time), the physical ability to stand in one spot for substantial spells of time, and an enthusiasm for the task at hand. To conclude, drawing from observation takes these two essential classes of skills, artistic and those not concerning art, and to the extent utilized, is manifested in the artist's work.

Collaborative Drawing

I have a lot of trouble starting off on most art projects (drawing), and to have other people lay everything out for me was really nice. Although there were some objects and sizes and locations that I originally liked, and were changed by others, coming back to my drawing with the layout of the canvas (sheet on the ground), and the trash bin facing the "exact" direction was really helpful, as I was able to build on these essential foundations, the layout, that I was struggling with (in the beginning). One change that I was not to fond of was the chair and the location of the paper-towel role; the chair was in a completely different direction than I wanted, and a little off, and the paper-towel-role was misplaced. However, because of the marvelous foundations there, I was able to create the chair that I wanted, and relocate and redraw the paper-towel-role.

When editing other's work, I was able to discern mistakes that others made better than my own, which was surprising. However, when I went back to mine, I was able to see what could be changed, more than before which was great.

When I approached someone else's work, I was quite "unforgiving" and did what I thought was best to the drawing, which I normally do not do. I first looked for the major placement, ratio size, and anything else that needed immediate change. After making those changes, I would focus more on certain details, which would save the person time later.

When I came back to my drawing, I had to change the chair and the towel-role completely, but because the mat under everything was proportional and most of the items were placed exactly, it was a much simpler job, and way less complicated. I was also able to see changes that others had done and what I could change a lot better.

Pre-assessment

In class, of the two drawing assignments, the one that I felt was more natural to me was the "imagination" drawing. One reason is because the perspective (depth, size) in the first (Observation) was set, and in the second (imagination), I was able to create my own based on what I visualized and what knew how to do. Another reason, is because I could chose which elements went into the drawing, which ones I was more "comfortable" with, rather than having to draw everything that was in front of me, which meant that I had to draw everything the "exact" way it was.