Here are recent drawings of two old jars I thought would be interesting because of the reflections and transparency. They are relatively quick sketches on grey paper with only three colors - black, white and blue.
Later, looking at the drawings, I thought they needed some small enhancement. Taking a cue from some earlier figure drawings with added backgrounds, I added a simple orange line around the jar - just enough color in contrast to the blue to give it a bit of life. It worked beautifully! You can see my Photoshopped re-creation, background removed, on the left.
There was just enough zing in that single line, so did I stop there? Of course not! If a "touch" of color is good then more of the same would be better. Right? That over-large background rectangle was the next step, and as far as I'm concerned, it's much too much. (and a bit high behind the jar in any case!) Lesson learned - so in drawing the jar with scissors below, I was more judicious and that restraint paid off in a much better color balance.
By now you've probably noticed something else!
I started out thinking that capturing the jar's transparency would be a major factor in the drawing's interest but by inserting the virtual orange without it showing through the glass, that lack of color in the jar works against us. I should have had an actual strip of color there and worked to render it in the original drawing. Oh, well - another lesson!
P.S. I've just been re-evaluating this post (9-21-16) and now find the drawing with the larger orange rectangle the more satisfying in it's color balance! Hmm, what happened there? A year older I guess!
"Creativity is allowing yourself to make mistakes. Art is knowing which ones to keep." Scott Adams
"Art, like morality, consists of drawing the line somewhere." G. K. Chesterton
No comments:
Post a Comment