Chapter
5—Drawing
Introduction: Drawing may seem basic
(and is often dismissed as being a tool used only in preparation for other
forms of art), but it is an art form, and like any language or art, must be
practiced frequently in order for the artist to remain fluent. This chapter explores drawing as its own form of art and its
connections to the development stages of works of art in other media.
The different tools and media for drawing are examined. Quotations about
drawing by artists such as Giorgio Vasari, a Renaissance artist and writer,
Alberto Giacometti, a 20th Century Artist and Salvador Dalí, Spanish
Surrealist Edgar Degas, Realist inspiration for the Impressionists, Henri
Matisse, Post Impressionist, Camille Pissarro, an older artist turned Impressionist,
and Santiago Calatrava architect of the Athens 2004 Olympics Arena, lend
insight into the importance artists place on drawing as part of their artistic
lives. In A Closer Look – Life, Death and Dwelling in the Deep South,
and A Closer Look – Paper Dolls for a Post-Columbian World, the
relatedness of drawing as an activity in life is exemplified.
Chapter 5 – Why Read It? Why is it important to
know about drawing techniques and materials? Beginning with this chapter and
through Chapter 11, the text guides you through artists’ processes and
materials for a wide variety of art forms, including printmaking, architecture,
and even glass blowing and fiber arts. Now that you’re prepared to look at art
using the tools from Chapters 1 through 4, you can gain even more insight into
a work of art by understanding the artist’s process and decision-making, and
the materials used to make it take form.
Drawing is one of the most basic of art making
methods, as well as being one of the most eloquent and revealing. Many art
exhibits now include working papers and preparatory sketches by artists whose
main works are in another medium. When I was an art student, I went with
friends to Denver, Colorado, to see an exhibit called “Treasures of the
Vatican.” Although I was very impressed by all the ornate medallions and incense burners, ecclesiastical manuscripts
and saintly relics, one image impressed me most—a page from the open sketchbook
of Gianlorenzo Bernini, the designer of the piazza leading up the front
of St. Peter’s Basilica Church in Rome, Italy. I had never before fully
understood the intention of his design, until I saw a tiny sketch showing the
rhythmic colonnade and oval design drawn as arms extending out from the
otherwise gigantic and formidable scale of the façade and gently pulling people
toward the entrance and into the “body” of that impressive cathedral.
From the charcoal and
mineral markings of prehistoric caves to the deceptively child-like drawings by
Cy Twombly, drawings offer a common way for people to express feelings, ideas, and plans for the
future. Understanding drawing is another key to understanding and appreciating
the amount of conceptual work an artist has to put into his or her life work
long before a finished work of art comes into being or is exhibited.
Like keyboard to a musician, drawing, to a
visual artist, is an essential element to the creative act of making art. Many
people are too intimidated to keep drawing as adults, perhaps because of some
derogatory remark made by an instructor or an ignorant friend, but drawing belongs to everyone, especially someone who wishes
to explore intention in their ideas.
Understanding
Concepts: You may have begun sketching to enhance your note taking
in art
class. Perhaps you have always used drawing to help express or remember your
ideas, or maybe drawing is something you haven't done since you were a child.
Your concepts of drawing might range from stick figures and outlines of
objects, such as houses or trees, to fully rendered life-like images, or perhaps
to computer assisted drawing. All of these
fulfill the definition of drawing, which is, basically, putting marks on a
surface.
When people think of art and drawing, they
usually think of the admired talent of someone
able to create the illusion of a three-dimensional object on a flat surface,
such as 19th-century artist Pierre Paul-Prud'hon (see La Source,
image 2-37) or the Renaissance and Baroque artists, such as Michelangelo
or Bernini (see Chapters 16 and 17). As you will see, drawing has many different
ranges, from very realistic to completely
non-objective, from lyrical to mechanical, and it is a very personal form of
art.
1. Go to an art supply website such as DickBlick.com or Daniel Smith & Co.
and explore some of the materials mentioned in this chapter. Some sites have samples of drawings as well as instructions
for how to use specific materials. You may be experimenting with one or
more of these materials later in the Enhancing
your Observational Powers exercise
or for a class assignment, so take some notes.
•
Charcoal
•
Pencils
(can you find Silverpoint materials?)
•
Chalk
or Pastel
•
Conté
Crayon
•
Pen
and Ink, Washes
2. Look
through the captions of three drawings found in other chapters of the text.
Check Chapters 1 through 4 and 12 through 22, looking at images ranging from
the Prehistoric ones at Lascaux to the contemporary works of Willem de Kooning.
What materials were used
in each of these?
A.
Drawing: Materials
listed:
B.
Drawing: Materials listed:
C.
Drawing: Materials
listed:
Making Connections: Learning about drawing
puts you in touch with artists' working methods
from the inception of an idea to the completion of a work of art. Many exhibits
of artists' works now include sketchbook pages and preparatory sketches of
their works, so viewers can gain insight into the process of creation
the artist underwent, alterations made, and thematic developments, as well as
the final work itself.
1. While you are learning about drawing in
this chapter, look ahead to Chapters 9 and beyond.
Learn more about the drawing methods of the artists mentioned in this chapter. Choose
three from among the following: Jan van Eyck (Chapter 16), Michelangelo
(Chapters 9, 16) Leonardo da Vinci (Chapters 1, 2, 3, 16), Giorgio de Chirico
(Chapter 20), Georges Seurat (Chapter 19), Eugène Delacroix (Chapter 19), Edgar
Degas (Chapter 19), Honoré Daumier
(Chapter 19), or Jackson Pollock (Chapter 21).
• Notice how the artists related their ideas
through making marks. Take notes on how their artworks relate to methods and techniques
mentioned in this chapter
A. Artist: Drawing
Methods:
B. Artist: Drawing
Methods:
C. Artist: Drawing
Methods:
2. A Closer Look –
Life, Death, and Dwelling in the Deep South introduces the work
of Beverly
Buchanan. She is a sculptor, but here her drawings and sculpture are connected with the livelihood of Ms. Mary Lou
Furcron and her daily maintenance of her home.
•
How do the works created by Buchanan relate to the
photos of the shack and its appearance?
•
How does the profusion of color and gesture in her drawings
contribute to the overall
effect achieved?
• Are there parts of the image that become
more distinct after a second look?
3. A Closer Look – Paper Dolls for a
Post-Columbian World examines
the art of a very outspoken Native American artist, Jaune Quick-to-See Smith.
Her work does not seem to be created with
the intent of impressing the viewer with her artistic talents at recreating the
natural world and its splendor; rather her work is laden with messages, of a somewhat
harsh, cynical, or angry nature.
• What are some of the features of Smith’s
drawings that put them in the “message-oriented” category?
• How does the way she has drawn these figures, animals, and
objects compare with that of Rembrandt van
Rijn, Honoré Daumier, Adrian Piper, and others in this chapter?
4.
Consider what one of the quotes from this chapter means
in relation to that artist's style.
• Do a little research using the Internet on
one of the artists quoted
in Chapter 5: Vasari, Giacometti, Dalí, Miro, Degas, Matisse, Pissarro or Calatravas.
Artist
quoted: Style
of Art:
[Start Box]
Notes:
[End Box]
Taking Notes: Remembering individual
artists and their drawing techniques and styles will play a role in your note taking for this chapter. Be sure you are
noting for each work of art discussed in class what medium is used or if
it is a multi-media or mixed media drawing. Recall if the drawing is a
preparatory sketch—a plan, or a form of "shorthand" for the artist to
get down his or her ideas—if it is a complete work of art in itself, or if
perhaps it’s both!
Your instructor may spend
time showing drawings and works in other media by the same artist to trace the
development of ideas and stylistic similarities between that artist's drawings
and other works. Be sure to note works that are related in this manner, as you
may need to rely upon your ability to recognize these similarities later in a
test.
Over 20 vocabulary terms
throughout the chapter apply to ways of seeing and drawing. Find definitions within
the chapter and other sources that give you a good operational understanding of these dynamics of drawing. Many
who teach drawing see it as a key to learning to observe life as an artist, so
these terms apply to ways of perceiving the world for an artist and, of
course, for a student such as yourself.
Preparing for
Tests: Essay questions pertaining to drawing could ask you to
address differences or changes made from an artist's drawing to a finished
work, or perhaps to focus
on a drawing as a work of art within a theme the artist is pursuing. Different techniques and media, which improved or altered
the way artists learned to draw (such as the graphite pencil with
eraser), could also be a topic for an essay.
Various multiple choice or matching type
questions could pivot around identifying the artist, the title or subject
matter, time period, medium, even the type of support the drawing is on. Sample
questions in Understanding Art website (www.cengage.com/art/fichner-rathus9e),
the Student Test Packet, the ArtExperience Online, for Understanding Art may be useful. As
you get to know your instructor, you will probably be able to tell what kinds
of test questions he or she will create, and focus your studies
accordingly.
Enhancing Your Observational Powers: Educators use the word
"heuristics" to define learning by doing and discovery. Generally
this kind of learning is regarded as more effective and longer lasting than
lecturing or describing. It does require a tremendous amount of time and planning, so many instructors simply feel they do
not have the time to afford students this kind of experience in a busy
classroom schedule.
There is much you can do to create these kinds
of learning experiences for yourself. For the self-motivated student, or a
small group of such students, the limitations of a class period need not be the end of the learning
experience, but the beginning of an adventure! There's no substitute for
first-hand experience!
1. Try it: There's nothing like the learning
experience of trying drawing!
•
On
a piece of your own paper, take a few minutes and quickly sketch an object from memory: a tree, a face, or your hand. You
may use ordinary paper; however, unlined and heavier weight paper,
perhaps larger than notebook size, would be preferable.
•
After
completing this quick "memory" sketch, take a minute to truly observe
that object and try again. Write down notes of all the details you observe before you begin to draw. Draw from what
you really see, not from generalizations.
•
In one corner of your paper, select a portion of the
object you chose to draw, and draw it again, using one of the shading techniques, such as
stippling or hatching, as discussed in the text.
•
Remember, this is an exercise, no one is going to judge
or critique it unless you
show it to someone and invite them to do so.
•
Take note of what you see and how it differs from your
memory drawing. Record your impressions here:
2. Another drawing experiment involves
taking yourself on a sort of self-guided field trip to an art store and observing the different types of materials for
drawing. Some stores will allow you to try making a mark on a test
surface provided next to the product. Some materials are for broad smooth
marks, while others are for precise hard edges. How do the materials feel to
you? Which ones feel as if you would like to try them? Which ones do not appeal to you? If you were to do more
drawing, what kind of surface or paper type would you like to try? Are
there sketchbooks available with a variety of paper types? Record your “Field
Trip” experience here:
Using Sketching for
Note-taking: Now that you’ve had a chance to explore some drawing techniques and some of
the basic materials for drawing, it has probably become more clear how
sketching could enhance your note-taking capabilities, as long as they are
quick, diagrammatic sketches of the overall shapes, figures, or compositional
dynamics in a work of art shown as an image in class. Seeing them later will
help spur your memory of that work when you are reviewing your notes. Each
sketch shouldn’t take more than a few seconds; it doesn’t have to be
elaborate—just a visual reminder.
For example, if you see a
painting in class, draw a simple, stamp-size rectangle similar to the painting’s shape and
put in a few characterizing lines. If you see a sculpture or a work of
architecture, a basic gesture of the shape and format of pedestal (if any) or
site will be sufficient to spark your memory. This reinforces your visual
memory through kinesthetic linking with the note-taking process, so draw even
if you are using the SlideGuide
pages.
Example: The Ecstasy of
St. Theresa (Chapter 17)
[insert UNF-p.39-1
here]
For More
Understanding: As mentioned in Preparing for Tests, you have
resources available
to guide you in your studies. Your text contains many examples of art that
relate to each other in various ways throughout other chapters, as well as a
website (www.cengage.com/art/fichner-rathus9e)
that features a glossary and audio pronunciation guide, sample test questions,
and more.
If
you want to learn more about drawing, perhaps even try it or pursue it further,
use website links to discover artists and materials available with instruction
and possible projects.
ArtExperience Online for Understanding Art:
Check out the video demonstration of drawing under In The Studio and
answer any follow-up questions.
Learn more about the
information and artwork presented in the A Closer Look sections, and use the flashcards
to create a study set of images.
Notes and Links to Remember: