Open College of the Arts – Tutor report
Student name Patricia Karsten
Course/Module Drawing 1: Drawing Skills Assignment number 2
Overall Comments
First of all thank you for submitting project 2 in a very well organized manner. This helps us both to refer to the comments with the particular exercises in mind. Secondly, as an overview a thorough attempt to try out all the exercises with a bold approach. Your learning log is very detailed and goes beyond what is suggested; it displays your enthusiasm and commitment. However, do not be too negative with your skills. I know you have found this assignment challenging but this allows you to focus more. It may be a good idea to look at other students work on the OCA website from the same course.
I understand your aim is to go for the Creative Arts Degree and that you plan to submit your work for assessment at the end of this course. From the work you have shown in this assignment, and providing you commit yourself to the course, I suggest that you are likely to be successful in the assessment.
Feedback on assignment
Exploring coloured media: The first project is done with a vigour and aggression, which is bold and really demonstrates your lack of inhibitions. At the same time your mark making studies are done in different ways such as stippling, directional, ordered etc. and this has allowed for you to be quite free in what you produce. You are looking at the potentials and limitations of the marks, which are particularly shown in the two colour pencil pieces. They have the potential to become pieces in themselves.
Detailed observation: I agree with your comments that the pencil and pen media is not your strongest point to depict textures and lines. They seem unfinished and vague to properly represent the main elements of your subjects. I think with detail you need to have more patience to successfully produce a piece (hence your reluctance to do stippling.) You could have drawn your subject bigger to fill up more space but also using layers you could have added more interesting marks to show more of the form of the subjects.
Still-life: The four pieces are divided into two parts; the coloured pieces are too vague where we lose the form and separation of the individual subjects. They are too expressive to the point that they are foggy or too light to see the definitions. The line drawings however are quite solid and defined and show shape and texture well. Considering in the previous project your line drawings were weak, here you have concentrated more and depicted two interesting still-lifes. It would be more interesting to see some of the expressive colours from the colour pieces combined with the bold marks of the pen.
Drawing fruit and vegetables in colour: Here you have considered texture and they are depicted most successfully in the pastel drawing (lighter version). The darker piece is too flat, as you have not depicted the form of the subject. Try and move your media in the direction of the forms more. The overlapping of colours has allowed you to do this in the other piece. The same goes for the felt pen drawing in the blue bowl. The others do not seem like final pieces but a good set of studies for you to look at the composition. However, I think you could have been more ambitious with the composition, e.g. drawing the inside of the fruit and veg so you can play even more with textures. I agree with your notes, there are empty spaces around most of the studies and to have completed the oil pastel piece on a different coloured surface shows that you have realized this. Again, your work is veering toward an expressive and textural style. Be careful with your measurements as some items are out of proportion.
Project 5: Despite the unfinished piece, a good attempt at three different styles with three different media. Here you are starting to be more ambitious with trying other things. The most successful is the negative space piece; you have managed to capture the outlines well that show detail of the plant without actually adding them in. The background is considered and makes up for the textures eliminated from the plant. I would have liked to see a combination of the colour piece with the pen over the top to add a more solid and convincing piece. You have good observational skills with seeing the complexity of the pants. Of the two larger pieces the pencil crayon is the most precise as it shows a patience and detail. The darker one, a little too heavy and misses out the details. Again somewhere in between would have been better. Here you are concentrating on details away from your expressive style so it is interesting to see where you will go next.
Project 6: This is your weakest project as you have not fully captured the essence of the animals or the accuracy of the anatomy but you have realized this. Next time try and take photos and study the animals and break them down into shapes. So the head might be a circle etc. then add in the details. However, this exercise is useful to work quickly and force you to do quicker studies to release your inhibitions.
Assignment: You have made an appropriate decision in choosing your final subject and well done for preserving with doing multiple studies before tackling the final. There are some interesting textural details depicted in the flowers and the tones of some of the areas add to the form. However, although you spent time on this piece, it could have been worked into more. More layering with the pastel of different shades would have added to its conviction, a stronger light source could have helped you with identifying the tones more. However, a good attempt with the media and the size of the piece.
Sketchbooks/ Learning Logs/Critical essays
Again like your previous assignment your learning log is in-depth and clearly shows your journey of progression. Each project is evaluated well with a true personal self-reflection. You have weighed up the potentials and limitaions of the media you have experimented with and thought about the effects of the piece as a direct observation as well as looking at where it could lead. This has obviously helped with your decisions towards the more final pieces. Your visual language is also demonstrated which goes beyond being descriptive; it is becoming more analytical.
You have researched relevant artists that have obviously inspired you and you have commented on them with your personal opinions based on facts and you are now starting to contextualize. However, there is not enough. I know you said you have not much time to do this but it is vitally important you do to support your progress and demonstrate your understand of the work you do both technically and contextually. The Matt Niebuhr page is very good as it shows the artists work, your interpretations and judgments but also how the work can be pushed into other techniques.
Suggested reading/viewing
Read ‘the important of looking at Artists’ from the OCA website.
The contemporary artists you have looked at shows that you are beginning to open up to more styles. As stated in the previous assignment you cannot ignore what is going on the in art world. Have you looked at the suggested websites and artists from the previous assignment? Your work is improving and you have done some very successful pieces but at the moment it seems that you are lost in taking it further. So look at the artists and sites below and think about how the work from this assignment can be pushed to be more individual and intriguing.
• Linda Weintraub, Making contemporary art: how today’s artists think and work. (Thames & Hudson, 2003)
• Leo Duff, Phil Sawdon. Drawing – The Purpose. (Intellect 2009)
• Arts & artists- www.artresource.com
• Artists – www.the-artists.org
• Art movements- www.artmovements.co.uk
Look at the work of:
• Van Gogh- Particularly his drawings.
• Raymond Pettibon
• Devendra Banhart
Pointers for the next assignment
Reiterated from assignment 1- Start to contextualize your work now by researching and being influenced by other artists. You have started to do this by being informed of the suggested artists and analyzing their work.
Continue to be in-depth with your learning log and documentation of your progress- this is one of your strongest points.
Look back and reflect at your strong points now and see which you can develop to push yourself. In this project you have tried an array of approaches and have followed the assignment well. A substantial amount of work, which shows you are progressing well and delving into more unsafe areas. Well done.
Tutor name: Diana Ali
Date 22-10-2012
Next assignment due 31-12-2012