The Cornell Lab Bird Academy › Discussion Groups › Nature Journaling and Field Sketching › Giving Your Drawings Depth
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Looking at negative spaces has probably made the biggest impact in my drawing. I think switching to a harder lead may help (currently using 0.5 mm HB .. may switch to an "F" or an "H"). BEFORE: AFTER:
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Still too afraid to lean in on the picture.
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When creating depth I find that concentrating on negative space, and shapes is really important . However, shading with the side of my pencil the way that I would do in “chiaroscuro” exercise works best for me. So I always lean on that technique. I find hatching and cross hatching very difficult even though I like the look in drawings . I guess it’s something I really need to practice to add variety. I recently tried using a pencil or small ruler to judge proportion . I’ll carry a ruler along in my art tote now. I use to guess for my proportions.
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I found this difficult to draw . Honestly , I had to keep referring back to the video . I caught a fragment at a time in order to complete the drawing. The moving feather details were hard to follow. I tried to capture as much as I could . This duck is only shades of gray but the feathers are really awesome in action.
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So much harder than it looks, but so fun to draw
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I enjoyed this! I found myself thinking about the similarities of this bird to the Carolina wren - a bird I see often in my bird feeding area. It's one of my favorite birds because of its overall delicacy, perky tail and rich rust coloring.
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Your drawing is really great! I like how you made the feather texture look so soft.
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Feels like a complete make over... lots of erasing...and the bill...and I have gotten to know the marsh wren a lot better...fun! b
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My gesture drawing was a bit of a wild exploration. Today's drawing more controlled. I still didn't 'get it', but it's fun to try!
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Proportions seems a bit of a challenge in my sketching. The challenge lies not solely in measurement, but more in that when as adjustments are made to correct, other areas and angles begin to be thrown off. Here are a couple that I got mostly correct.
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I tend to want to draw in sections and I need to remember to try and focus on the shapes and then refine from there. the negative space and proportion skills are so useful but I always get deep into the drawing before I realize I forgot to use them. all of these tool have really been helpful!
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Enjoyed this, but it was tricky distinguishing between the darker coloured fur and shaded areas. More practice!
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I found the exercise so helpful. The use of negative space and relativity really helped improve the proportions as did the mark makings and shading. I think it will be a useful tool to do quick gesture drawing but then come back and refine. And to give myself the permission to erase and improve upon first sketches.
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Went ahead with the bird in demonstration. I tried to follow the information but will need practice.
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I feel like I didn't refine so much as totally redraw, though I suppose I worked from the base negative space I'd captured pretty accurately in the gesture drawing and worked from there, but I basically erased the entire original gesture drawing. Still, pretty happy with how this one turned out.
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When I started with the quick gesture drawing of a still object timed I found that much easier and I liked it better than trying to capture the moving image. I found the Pintail Duck impossible for myself and gave up. The Mourning Doves at the feeder were ok because they sat long enough to get something on the paper. When I refined both the Wren and the Coyote original gesture drawing I was pleased to see that the proportions were not too bad. With the Wren I could see right away that the space between the head and tail ( the negative space) was not large enough and I corrected that distance. Over all I got the head a bit too big for the body but decided to leave that as a reminder to myself. The bulrush and the bill were out a bit and I corrected that. A few other corrections were needed too but they were obvious and easy to change. I liked doing it this way. I used all the techniques you have taught us, first the quick gesture drawing, measuring the negative space between parts of the object, using my pencil to gauge proportion and slant, the shading teqnique for depth, short strokes with my pencil......I also used all the same techniques with the coyote to refine and I could refine more, I think the head is a bit small but it wouldn't take much to enlarge it a bit. Using negative space is very useful for me. When I use it to refine, I can see at a glance where I need to refine.
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Shading and texture are coming more easily - though I always feel I am drawing with lines that are too dark. I need to "lighten up!" Also, proportion seems to be getting better. I find gesture drawing with moving objects really difficult. I captured a gesture of the pintail from the video and then went back and refined it with the video paused. It was great practice.
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I'm finding the negative space and value techniques are really helpful. I am worried that I won't have anywhere near enough time in the field to capture enough information to fill in detail later, once the subject has moved on. I guess with practice comes confidence!
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Yes this was pretty interesting. But tedious. I wasn't sure I had the attention span but I kept going and completed the pix. As true as I tried to be with the interior lines, they are still wonky but look ok anyway.
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Certain shading techniques now seem suggested by the the subject, for example, hatching for the markings on the wren's tail feathers or stippling on the cattail reed. The negative space concept (ingrained by the upside down drawing) was very useful in getting proportion and shape of the wren to reed areas. My biggest downfall is with rapid gesture drawing (my third attempt at a one minute wren yielded woefully inaccurate proportions). There seems to be inadequate time to hold out the pencil to measure and still get the shapes and essence down. Hopefully it will improve with practice. In my refined drawing the wren appears to be more in profile than the photo depicts. Perhaps a problem with the eye position or shape or the beak or neck shading...?
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