SECOND YEAR ELECTIVE-DRAWING PRACTICES EVALUATION

BA ELECTIVE PROGRAMME.
DRAWING PRACTICES EVALUATION.



In the brief for this elective, I was asked to produce a series of drawings over the four days in session times and in my own private study. In these drawings, I had to show that I had experimented with a range of drawing materials and worked on a range of media. I Was also asked to produce a sketchbook of notes and photographic documentation of work action along with personal evaluations.

I have put together my series of drawings in plastic sheets to create a portfolio of the work I have created over the elective period. I have also produced an A4 sketchbook of research of artists and photographic documentation of my own work. I have annotated my work to help me remember how I went about creating a particular look including which drawing materials I used and what media I worked on. The artists I have researched have produced work that relates to fashion illustrations and silhouettes. Before this elective, I had some good drawing skills I learned from my National diploma Art and design course, but I feel that from my recent drawing practice sessions that I have been able to refresh these skills.

I researched eight artists in my sketchbook. These are artists that I found inspiring to me and are relevant to my fashion course. I like the artists that use a model and create silhouettes such as Kara Walker. Kara Walker is known for her black cut-paper silhouettes. I also looked at some fashion illustrators. I found Bobby Hillson, David Downton and Kenneth Paul Block. I created my work drawings with inspiration from each of these artists. Using the inspiration taken from David Downton‘s fashion illustrations, I produced a block colour image of the model’s silhouette. David Downton usually works with Indian ink but I decided to use a black felt tip pen to see if it would create the same effect. This is my favourite piece of work for the drawing practices elective.

I feel that I have gained some new drawing skills and techniques from this elective which I can reflect onto my other work in future modules as well as refreshing skills I had learned before. I took these new and past drawing techniques from my drawing sessions and created more images in my own private time to add to my portfolio of work. In the drawing sessions, I was encouraged to develop a personal approach using drawing practices, extending previous experience and skills which I feel I excelled in.

The part I found most difficult during this elective was staying focussed in the nine till five sessions. I found drawing the model for this amount of time very tough. Despite this, I managed to regain inspiration in my own time and I produced a good body of work.

Overall, I have benefited from the drawing practices elective. I have been able to refresh and extend previous skills, techniques and processes. I can carry these skills through my second and third year when producing work in future modules.