DRSB - a flower

Just in time for spring, this next lesson requires a flower. It is best to pick a flower that has buds as well as the open flower, and leaves. We are still working with line drawing. You will be rendering this 3 dimensional, complicated object, to your flat surface.

Pick your flowers and set them standing up in front of you.
Use your viewfinder in front of the flower. Remember to close one eye to flatten the image.
Draw the image with an erasable felt tip directly onto the viewfinder.

On your drawing pad, trace the middle vertical and horizontal to match the viewfinder.
With your #2 pencil, transfer the main points on the plastic plane to your paper. Remember to use the edges of the viewfinder as well.

Set the viewfinder aside. Look carefully at your flower. With your #4 pencil, redraw the edges.

Erase the crosshairs. Sign and date.

DRSB- working with a grid

I mentioned on the Yahoo group this morning that using a viewfinder and a grid for drawing is not cheating, and has been used for professionals for eons.

I am posting some photos that I found in a book I was reading yesterday: 59 Studio Secrets of The Graphic Artist. It's an old book, pre-computers.

It had this set of pictures with a grid, and I thought it'd be a nice addition to the DRSB. This is NOT part of the course. But you might find it handy. You can click on the pictures to enlarge them and read the text.



The secret of the grid is to make sure that you use the same proportions on your grid and on your final paper. Otherwise, you'll get distortions big time.

Arlene asked a very valid question: do you draw ON the grid like you do in the DRSB course? You could do that too, indeed.

In the DRSB, she has you drawing directly ON the viewfinder first, to get the initial drawing first. This is a teaching method.

On this one, the person is sharing with 'professionals' so you just use the grid as a guide. But if your model is going to move, you might want to draw on the grid for sure.

I've used that method in the past for newspaper drawings and from books, never on real people.

Once again, this is NOT part of the course, it's a bonus from your friendly hostess. You do NOT have to construct an intricate grid if you don't feel like it, and you don't have to ask your family or pets to start posing for you in the back of a grid.

But you could have fun. It'd certainly enhance your drawing skills. Since it's not cheating.