Thirty Squares

 

Quietly and without social media hashtags, I just completed 30 days of 30 compositional studies – all using the square. Prompted by Mark Alan Anderson’s blog post about squares and my previous 30-day compositional challenge a few years ago, this self-challenge turned out to be surprisingly enjoyable and instructive!

I was pleased by this attempt to abstract an interior scene
so that I "saw" the man as a compositional shape instead of a portrait.

I was afraid I’d tire of the square or find it too restrictive. To the contrary, I found it challenging but also versatile and accommodating – no need to decide whether my composition would be in portrait or landscape orientation. When I spotted a view with potential, I just held up my pencil in one direction (either vertically or horizontally), then turned it 90 degrees to see where the square border would fit.

One unexpected outcome was that the challenge gave me opportunities to examine “nothing” interiors to look for compositions that I wouldn’t typically draw. For example, while visiting Greg at Aegis, I often make quick portraits of residents, but they are usually just “floating heads” on the page. With compositions in mind, I detached the face or person and tried to see it as nothing more than a shape, just like the angles of walls or other inanimate objects.

This composition is one of my favorites of the whole
challenge. I could make a painting out it -- if I were 
so inclined, which I never am. ;-)

Another surprise was that the restriction of the square often forced me to crop something in my full view (like half a head or part of a chair), which has always been a challenge for me: If I see the whole thing, I feel compelled to draw the whole thing. These studies were excellent practice in training my eye to create an edge, even if my brain could see the whole.

Finally, I also realized that due to the portrait orientation of my daily-carry Uglybook, I often sketch on the top two-thirds or so of the page. Then I can use the remaining lower space to write journal notations. That’s a square sketch!

Bonus: The small studies were the ideal graphite pencil wannabe testers.

You’ve seen many of the 30 compositions along the way when the sketches were part of other stories. Shown are the remaining studies that weren’t shared earlier. Only two were done from photo references (as noted); the rest were done on location. (A few observations and insights in the cutlines.)

Photo reference

Typically I would draw the whole head of this woman, but the square forced me to see a better composition by including only part of her head.

Photo reference

Not to flatter myself, but I thought this one seemed rather Hopper-esque!