Project 1
Exercise 2 – Experimenting with Texture
This task was both useful and testing at times. Recreating textures with extremely fine details or repetitive drawing patterns can become tedious, however, I found that with perseverance a really effective portrayal of a particular texture could be created in either a simple or an abstract way, dependant on what that texture is.
To begin, I’ve always thought that the wooden panelling of my bathroom door looks similar to the markings of a tiger, and on closer inspection I noticed much more than what I thought were just lines of differing tones of wood. The darker parts of the patterned wood are made up of tiny circular markings and fine lines, creating the darker hue. I recreated this particular texture using a variety of B, H and HB graphite pencils. For the darker sections of the wood I used a dab of water on my finger to smudge the pencil markings so the difference in the colour of wood was subtle but noticeable.
The texture of a loop knit cardigan was my least favourite to draw, as it seemed that my many attempts to recreate my interpretation of it didn’t turn out as I had intended. Again, I used a variety of B, H and HB graphite pencils to create this texture, drawing the endless layers and loops of wool. This was not as simple as I had assumed it might be. In hindsight, I think the texture would have been far more effective if I were to use coloured paints, chalks, or even pastels to better define the shades, layers and shadows within the material of the cardigan.
For my third experimentation I decided to depict the texture of a smooth, rubbery leaf. I thoroughly enjoyed creating this texture as it was an interesting one to create, and proved the perfect opportunity to try out a number of drawing utensils. I used a variety of HB and B graphite pencils, charcoal sticks and small amounts of water to smudge the charcoal for the parts of the leaf that were either darker in colour, or in shadow. The dark shade of the charcoal created a greater degree of contrast between the light and dark areas of the image, which better displayed the natural creases and grooves of the leaf than if it had just remained a simple pencil sketch.
For the final texture, I included a frottage example of the brick wall in my bedroom using a charcoal stick. I began by rubbing the stick first one way, and then the other way across the paper. This technique is incredibly effective when creating a textured piece of artwork. The effect that it formed was really interesting and it is definitely my favourite piece of the four. Through the use of frottage I am able to see quite clearly parts of the wall that are rougher than others, the grainy feel of the brick, and the tiny details and markings upon each individual brick in the wall.
Jesy Gilkes 