 |
| 8/12/22 Green Lake neighborhood |
A Paris architect I follow on Instagram (kiwon.05)
recently shared some sketches made with an intriguing method that I had not seen
before. Hatching is the main technique, but I could see no visible contour
lines (here’s an example). Other hatched drawings look like they were
made in the traditional manner, but the ones that had caught my eye were
unique. I asked if they were made without drawing any initial contour lines,
and he/she confirmed that they were. [Head explosion emoji!]
So intrigued and inspired was I that I practiced a few times
from photos (labeled as such in this post). Then I made several sketches from
life, beginning with simple, single objects. Using colored-paper Uglybooks
is a good tactic because white highlights help to identify areas that might be
too abstract with black ink alone. The method was easier with straight-edged
objects like the trash can; hardest was the model John during life drawing.
 |
| 8/10/22 photo reference |
I thought the house rooftops (color sketch at top of page) would
be easier than they were – I kept forgetting to leave white spaces for the
edges of the gables. I started to hatch a tree, but I’ve learned from previous
sketches that I don’t like the look of hatched foliage in my messy style.
Instead, I decided to do the trees with watercolor pencils in my usual method.
The vehicles were surprisingly easier than the houses!
I started wondering if this technique was similar to direct
watercolor (painting without following an initial contour drawing), at least in
principle. In the case of painting, it’s about identifying shapes without outlining
them first. I have some experience with this concept using brush pens for extremely short life-drawing poses, which requires painting only the shaded
side of the figure.
Contour-less hatching seems like it should be the same
concept, but somehow it’s much more challenging to draw a series of lines
without boundaries than it is to make brush strokes. Arghh! What an enjoyable,
torturous brain buster! Masochists R Us!
 |
| 8/10/22 photo reference |
 |
| 8/10/22 photo reference |
 |
| 8/10/22 photo reference |
 |
| 8/11/22 Gas Works Park |
 |
| 8/11/22 life drawing |
 |
| 8/11/22 Space Needle from Gas Works Park |
 |
| 8/12/22 Green Lake neighborhood |
Wow! this has to be the next challenge I do! It reminds me of several drawings in Judy Martin's Encyclopedia of Colored Pencil Techniques. See page 41, Gymnast, in the section of Hatching (go figure!). I tried to replicate just the head one time. Now I have to try just one color (or two if white included) of something I see.
ReplyDeleteThis may be my Inktober focus this year!
DeleteThis is an interesting way to do hatching. I think the ones on the green paper are the most successful for some reason. I really like the boat and the tree next to it.
ReplyDeleteThe tree in its planter turned out great! What an interesting technique, especially for soft forms like foliage.
ReplyDeleteI think it's easier with forms with hard faces and edges! But it's all challenging!
DeleteI'm drawn to the green paper series, too! Well done!
ReplyDeleteThanks, and good to hear from you, Mel!
Delete