Week 12 - Part 1 - Foreshortening
My biggest lesson of year 27…
This week was a busy one, and a deep one. So we’re gonna tell it in two parts…
Mantra for my 28th year of life?
“If you are not doing what you love, you are wasting your time.”
The drawing tasks for this week were focused on foreshortening.
Foreshortening is a way to render an object or figure to create depth.
When we draw something that’s foreshortened, the closest part will be exaggerated and large, and the bit that’s furthest away will diminish in size. It’s how our eye perceives it.
Often this style of drawing is used in things like comic books and graphic novels because it creates dramatic effect.
After practising the proportions with a few sketches, the first task was to create a drawing from an idea board (where you take elements from a collection of images and stitch them together as a source as you create, rather than starting with a pre-planned source).
Main thoughts:
A dancer tying their shoes is such a mediocre yet captivating ritual.
Always choose violence when it comes to charcoal 🖤
I’ve always been drawn to ballet dancers, I’m not sure why, maybe it’s a wish that I could dance myself 🤣
But I also just find the practice beautiful - maybe it’s the feeling of organic fluidity…
I loved creating this piece, it was the perfect right-brain exercise before working on the next piece that needed to be more refined.
Next task was to create another foreshortened drawing, but this time with a focus on accuracy and details.
Using the proportion tool I focused on trying to capture the foreshortened stance of the figure.
Graphite pencil first, and then added charcoal to get the shadows and some water-soluble graphite to make some expressive marks.
My fave 😋
After a mentor meeting last year, a big conversation point that stuck with me was how artists are prophetic.
I’ll be honest, I’ve never been someone of faith, but I do like to think that things happen for a reason and I know that our subconcious mind influences all of our decisions in life.
A question that has often played on my mind is how to choose my sources for artwork…
She explained that when an artist feels it in their gut, when they just really want to paint or draw something, it is because they are trying to communicate a message.
‘Just paint whatever you are drawn to, and figure out why later, there’s always a reason’
Throughout the last year, I have spent a lot of time focusing on myself; healing old wounds, rewiring the way I view the world and figuring out what matters most to me.
Something clicked earlier in the year when I realised that for most of my life, I had been carrying a big ball of negativity and self-loathing, and it was controlling me from the inside out.
I was hurting, and lived life through a lens that was really unhelpful to me. But I was so used to it, I didn’t even realise.
It was affecting my happiness, and my relationships, and was holding me back from fulfilling my full potential.
But when I created this piece, I was already really starting to see positive change in myself from putting in the work to change the way I viewed the world.
I had opened my heart and mind, surrounded myself with people who understood, focused on resources that would help undo this unhelpful mindset, and really started putting myself first.
When I sat and looked at this finished piece, I took a moment to figure out why this was the image I was most drawn to when I chose my source.
It made me feel powerful, hopeful, and in control. I felt his passion, his discipline and courage.
That was it. The message I was supposed to communicate…
“We all have two lives. The second begins when you realise you only have one. I’m not wasting any time.”
It’s really in your own hands, no one else’s.
Main thoughts for this week?
Stop allowing yourself to fall into that victim mindset, stop allowing external pressures to form your opinion of yourself, stop making decisions that aren’t true to you.
Stop living your life without passion and purpose, just because ‘it’s easy’ or ‘comfortable’.
Stop believing that stupid voice in the back of your head that is a result of unresolved, bottled-up emotion.
Decide what kind of life you really want…
And then, say no to everything that isn’t that.
Rise up, take back control. Let’s do this together 🧡
Life is too short.
I’m not wasting anymore time…
‘Ascension’, 2023
16” x 23” / A2 size - Graphite and charcoal on fine grain drawing paper ✨
You can watch the creation of ‘Ascension’ here.
Stay tuned for part 2 next week, where I create 3 limited palette paintings, and these paintings might have been my favourite yet 😍
Like what you saw today? Both pieces are available, and in print form too 🧡✨
Want to catch up on previous blog posts? Don’t forget they are now all available to read here 🥰
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