Keys to Drawing - Chapter 8

Keys to Drawing - Exercise 8A
6 March 2014
Charcoal on Paper
39cm x 55cm (15.5" x 21.5")

Chapter 8 of Bert Dodson‘s Keys to Drawing is called Drawing and Imagination. It is the last chapter in the book and Bert picks up some of the topics he has touched on in previous chapters. The main theme is creativity and he offers suggestions on how you can kick-start your imagination.

The chapter does not have the same set of structured exercises as the other chapters. The project for chapter 8 is to explore a theme in six drawings. Bert says:

"Make lots of drawings over a period of time on a particular subject or a particular approach to a subject. Paradoxically, when you narrow your focus this way, you widen the potential for discovery."

He suggests six possible themes, but offers the option of creating your own. I’ve elected to draw 6 charcoal portraits of Elaine.

I’ve chosen to draw portraits of Elaine because of the challenge of drawing faces and because Dodson emphasises the importance of revealing something of your self in your drawings. I suspect that for many people a drawing of a loved one will be more intimate and revealing than a self-portrait.

The picture at the top of the post is the first drawing of the six. It took about four hours spread over four evenings. I am planning to draw the rest over the next six months and I will post them as they are finished.