Drawing Week - Day One

In the first week of the course, we were forced to loosen up out drawing styles through producing a series of images in unusual and creative ways. On the first day of drawing week I was in the main studio, the first thing we were asked to do was to drink a glass of water in silence for five minutes, it was a very strange experience, yet suprisingly enlightening. It allowed me to really take notice of my surroundings and actions and also the processes which goes into this simple/everday task, such as the weight and shape of the cup, the sounds from outside and the feeling of the water in my mouth.

The second task we did was the partner up with the person beside us, we were asked to take it in turns looking at the other person for five minutes, then once the time was up they vise versa, the looker would become the one being looked at. At first I found this experience extremely uncomfortable, however, after a while it became easier. I also discovered it was much easier to look at someone than to be the person being looked at. When being looked at, it is very difficult not to feel paranoid and worry about what the other person is thinking. This task, though an odd experience was also very interesting, it shows how, when drawing in the past I havn't really taken time to study a persons face in detail, and if we don't take the time there are often small quirks and unique aspects of a persons face which we can miss.

Once we had finished these two exercises we were asked to collect a piece of A1 paper and a piece of charcoal. Upon the paper we had to create a variety of lines, ranging from soft and aggresive, slow and fast, dotted/ broken and many others. Here is my finished sheet.

Next we were asked to close our eyes, and draw our face with our writing hand whilst feeling it with our other free hand.

Towards the end of the day we were asked to produce a series of drawings using various parts of our bodies, the first was created by attatching a piece of charcoal to the end of each finger using masking tape, then producing drawings of our hands. Rather stupidly I attatched the charcoal to my left hand, therefore ended up having to draw with my left hand, thus making the task a little more difficult. However, I actually liked my finished drawings, as by using my left hand I was able to loosen up my drawing style a little more than I probably would have done if I had used my right.

With the next lot of drawings we had to be creative in the ways we wanted to produce out images, many people were creating devices and attatching the charcoal to their heads and ears, I ended up attatching the charcoal to my arm, drawing with my mouth, and drawing from a height.