This project frightened me because I vividly rememberd how badly I did with the animal drawing project. The moving figure is a real challenge since I have so many difficulties drawing still objects that I don’t know how I might ever succeed in drawing moving objects or people…
Drawing moving people is also a problem of opportunity and self-confidence. I’m not normally the person to sit somewhere and draw other people where I might be observed by passers by. Ideal would be a place by window towards a lively location, but currently I don’t know anything suitable. I’ll probably have to resign to TV or video for this project.
I checked this morning whether TV might be a useful source, but I found this problematic. Typical TV transmissions move quickly and they have cuts every few seconds where they switch from close up to further away, from a single person to a group and back etc. It would be impossible for me to focus on anything particular. I thought of two alternatives:
– Still TV/Live Web Cam where a camera has a fixed viewpoint and just films whatever happens to be on the scene. This would give time to draw the setting and then add moving people as they pass along
– Live TV of someone holding a speech. This will not exactly be a moving person, but there’s a chance that the camera will be held still and not constantly interrupt with cutting through the sequences.
Exercise: Sitting and waiting
I really don’t know how I could do this exercise following the task instructions, other than using photographs or search for particularly usable videos. But then the entire idea of capturing characteristics from moving people is lost. I have no place to go where I could practice drawing like this and I’m too shy to draw in public. I’m afraid, this one’s not for me.
Searching for live webcams
– New York would be great, but I might also change location to have a daytime camera when it’s night in New York
– Image quality of live webcams is generally very low. Enough for locating persons and drawing bold sketches. But some HD webcams are available where image quality isn’t that bad.
– The Times Square webcam is very cool, but tends to be far away from the people. I’d prefer something a bit closer. Maybe a California webcam of a frequented place during daytime?
– At 8 p.m. in New York, it’s early morning in Bangkok. And indeed, there are some webcams in Thailand. They are not abundant in Asia. Unfortunately the quality isn’t very good.
– Australia and New Zealand? Nay… nothing suitable either
– Found a live webcam in London. But it’s night there and the view is quite tilted. I’m finding it not busy enough, with only a passer by every now and then, plus some occasional cars. Might be more interesting during day time
I don’t want to wait until the next day or when some time in the future I find a place where I can draw people. I think for now the most practical solution would be to use photographs from the web. I’d be interested in restaurant views – inspired by the Chocolat Cancing drawing by Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec included for this exercise.
Google image search
– Restaurant: shows mostly the location, no people
– Bar: the same
– People in restaurant: works better! Many crowded places. But typically too many people and too anonymous. I’d like to have something with a more familiar character
– Friends in restaurant: Not much difference
– Friends in bar: focus on people drinking
– Picnic: focus on food
– Friends picnic: seems to work!
The only problem is that these images are still and thus the central idea of capturing something from moving objects is lost.
So I decided to give TV a try and just have a go.
15 minutes later: Basically doesn’t work, it is as I anticipated. Images move too fast and totally unpredictable and drawing from TV is quite unpleasant for that reason. I made two drawings in A5 with 4B pen. The first was a sports commentator who was talking in close up to the audience. But I did not get further than the outline of his head, then the view switched to show him with a colleague. I tried to draw them both but the picture again switched immediately and I only could draw two outlines.
I switched through the various channels and made the next drawing of someone holding a speech. I think this drawing isn’t so bad. But then he took off the glasses and turned his body and so I stopped that drawing. I did a complete search through all the 100 or so public channels I receive, but there was no program slow enough to permit drawing.
My main conclusion from these first attempts is that I cannot schedule this task and that it might be wiser to just carry around a sketchbook and try to draw people whenever there’s an opportunity for the remainder of the course. So I’ll treat this project differently from the others and try to work on it alongside continuing with the next project. I’ll add more drawings to the blog as I make them.
Exercise: Fleeting moments
This exercise entails observing people and drawing later from memory.
How I’m going to work on this project?
I think I’ll write myself a briefing for both exercises and the research point, print it out and carry it around together with a sketchpad for the next few weeks. In view of the nature of the tasks, I don’t think it is possible to schedule the drawing occasions. I’ll have to take them as they present themselves, this will not be neatly ordered according to the sequence of the exercises. So basically I’ll just try to make a collection of people drawings and see where this gets me, with a review in 2 to 3 weeks or later.
Briefing: The moving figure
Aims: Acquiring practice in rapid drawing
Materials: Small sketchpad and supply of different drawing tools, for example ballpoints, marker pens, soft graphite pencils, coloured pencils. Switch between mediums and use more than one if you like
General instructions
– Focus on action not the outline
– Use quick exploratory lines to express the overall flow and movement
– Make notes:
– Your response to what is happening around you
– The reason for a particular movement, why has it caught your attention?
Exercise: Sitting and waiting
– Draw small and increasingly larger groups of people
– Keep up a fast pace of the sketching
– Identify the principal character and draw them first
Exercise: Fleeting moments
– When something interesting happens and you cannot draw right there and then, observe and draw later from memory
– Focus on particular important aspects, for example
o Narrative: the reason for movement
o Focus: interaction around a main character
o Line: the stronges gesture or movement
o Props: Chairs, bags, the movement of clothing and so on
– Focus on the essential, be minimalist
– Try to fill a sketchbook page each day
Research point: Watching people
– Observe closely when you are with other people
o How they stand, what they are carrying, what they are doing with their hands, what their chins are like, the difference between a man’s head and a woman’s
– Do some immediate sketches if possible
– Otherwise, draw later from memory
– Record your observations in the learning log
Well, I think these instructions are too many to keep in mind or follow simultaneously. I think I can retain at a first time that I’ll be out to search opportunities to draw people and if I cannot draw, observe unobtrusively and draw later.
References
Live webcams in the state of New York, USA http://www.camscape.com/North%20America/USA/New%20York/index.html
Times Square live webcam with several different views http://www.earthcam.com/usa/newyork/timessquare/
London, Sussex Garden view live webcam http://www.camscape.com/view/32016