Brief
The brief was to make an objective (technically accurate) drawing from a pre-defined list of subjects.
Keywords from the brief:
- Visually explore
- High degree of visual accuracy
- Technically controlled
- Use marks to describe texture
- Vary line quality to suggest contours
Objective illustration
The subject I selected was ‘shoe’.
I chose to draw a trainer because it is visually quite complex and made from several synthetic materials/panels allowing me to explore different mark making.
What I learned from the exercise
What went well
- I think adding the photograph of the subject above the drawing in this page causes an interesting tension and raises questions about what objectivity really means. As a viewer I find myself shifting from one picture to the other making quality judgements by comparing the accuracy of the drawing against the photograph.
- It’s impossible to be truly objective. I found I had to make choices all the time about levels of detail and what to leave out to make a successful picture.
- The trainer was an interesting drawing challenge. I found the laces were the fiddliest most time consuming bit to get right.
- I think the variety of marks in the drawing are quite successful in communicating the different materials used to make the shoe.
- I thought using a Rotring pencil throughout would be limiting but actually it was possible to achieve a good tonal range; from black to light grey.
What I would do differently/better
- I was toying with the idea of using pen and ink with a fine nib. It would be interesting to explore how to represent the different textures using this approach. I think I would need to have been more inventive using this alternative approach.
Illustration 