Keys to Drawing with Imagination – Shading

Coastal Path Trees - Six Years Ago
Shading
Keys to Drawing with Imagination
Ink on Paper
21cm x 29.7cm (8.3" x 11.7")

Exercise 5 from Keys to Drawing with Imagination by Bert Dodson is about shading. The instructions are to copy or trace some doodles from the Building Blocks exercise (see Keys to Drawing with Imagination – Building Blocks), then to add light, shade and cast shadows. I started from scratch because my doodles from the previous exercise didn't seem very suitable.

Interestine
Shading
Keys to Drawing with Imagination
Ink on Paper
21cm x 29.7cm (8.3" x 11.7")

I’ve never been a great fan of crosshatching, so I used this opportunity to embrace it by trying to emulate some artists whose crosshatching I enjoy. In the drawing at the top of the post, I tried to channel the style of Ian Sidaway (Ian Sidaway Fine Line and Ian Sidaway Studio). These trees have appeared before when I painted them from the same photo 6 years ago (see Fast and Loose).

Tommy Kane's Lemon
Shading
Keys to Drawing with Imagination
Ink on Paper
29.7cm x 21cm (11.7" x 8.3")

The sketch of the lemon is based on a video by Tommy Kane - Tommy Kane on How to KrossHatch. While I was drawing it, I realised I’m not getting on with my new fountain pen as well as I would like -  Elaine gave it to me last Christmas. My old pen happily glides across the paper applying ink evenly, but this new one is scratchy and doesn't deliver the ink smoothly. This might be because of the different ink I use in it, but I think it is because the nib is not properly worn in. I’m trying to remedy this by pressing down too hard when I use it - which will hopefully speed up the wearing in process.

Keys to Drawing with Imagination – Silhouetting

Kiss Me Quick
Silhouetting
Keys to Drawing with Imagination
Ink on Paper
21cm x 29.7cm (8.3" x 11.7")

Exercise four in Keys to Drawing with Imagination by Bert Dodson is another 2 parter. Both assignments start by drawing a cluster of shapes. In the first exercise you keep a uniform(ish) distance between the shapes and fill them in with black. In the second exercise you make all the shapes touch in at least one place and then fill in around them.

Gone Fishing
Silhouetting
Keys to Drawing with Imagination
Ink on Paper
21cm x 29.7cm (8.3" x 11.7")

Both designs remind me of souvenir tea towels from seaside towns.

Keys to Drawing with Imagination – Building Blocks

Alas
Building Blocks
Keys to Drawing with Imagination
Ink on Paper

The third exercise in Keys to Drawing with Imagination by Bert Dodson is about Building Blocks. The first assignment is to create doodles using marker dots, stubble (short dashes) and stipple (dots). The second is to draw improbable structures made of bricks, stones or blocks.

Eiffel Tower
Building Blocks
Keys to Drawing with Imagination
Ink on Paper

I wasn’t enthusiastic about my drawings, but they led to a deeper understanding that doodling can mean different things at different times. Sometimes it’s a diversion, sometimes it’s focused more on experimentation than results, and sometimes the same techniques can be used in a more controlled way to refine a doodle into art.

L'Elephant
Building Blocks
Keys to Drawing with Imagination
Ink on Paper

Peter Draws creates excellent doodle art and has an entertaining on-line presence. Shortly after finishing these exercises I watched one of his videos - Dots for Days ... Intricate Stippling Art - which includes the advice:

Don’t do stippling if you are in a hurry. Place each dot as its own little dot, intentionally, slowly. It’s its own thing. Its own little drawing.

Since this revelation I’ve been creating much more satisfying doodles. I’ve a bit of a backlog to post over the next few weeks. Work continues to eat into my art time and this blog is suffering as a result.