Drawing

One way to create an active composition that lures a viewer is to start with a variety of shapes and sizes for the subject matter. Including a range of sizes of each of the primary geometric forms that make up every object that we see: cubes, sphere, cylinder, and cones, will help us create that interest in an arrangement. Begin this by identifying which categories you see around you.

This picture shows a small collection of household objects that are cube-based. Take a look around your home, and you will find a wide variety of sizes of objects that are cube-based. Some will have rounded edges, sloped sides, and concave areas but will still be dominantly cubes or slices of cubes and can be lit with form lighting that accentuates their volume. Most human-made objects are cube-based shapes.

All of these objects are sphere-based. Some are a little squashed, some have protrusions, some have extreme texture, but they all have the characteristic of a sphere when identifying the core shadow that helps show the volume. Many organic shapes are sphere-based.

Next look for cylindrical shaped objects. Depending on their vertical or horizontal orientation, they can help create height, diagonals to promote directional flow throughout the composition. They can be vessels to hold something and, like cube-based objects, can be used as pedestals to elevate something.

Look for cone-based objects in the kitchen, in decorative items and nature. Objects that are cone-shaped, having diagonal sides can be used to direct the viewer's eye path into the center of the composition from either the top, bottom or sides of the composition depending on how the narrower end of the cone is placed. You will find many vegetables and fruits that are cone-based.

These objects can be analyzed as combinations of primary forms. For instance, the doll’s head is a sphere, the body is cube-based, the limbs are cylinders, and the feet are partial spheres. These intricate shapes can be added as accents or focal points in a composition.

This final image – a kitchen themed arrangement - is an example of active composition. You can see that the top line and bottom line of the objects are varied, creating dynamic flow through the picture plane. There is overlapping, showing depth and volume of the subjects. A variety of the four primary geometric forms have been represented: the book and egg carton are cube-based, the eggs and spoons are sphere-based, the can is cylinder based the pear are cone-based, and the pitcher is a combination of cones and cylinders. A wide range of apparently different sizes can be seen: The eggs and spoons are small, the can and pear are medium, and the book and egg carton are large. Some objects have been used in combination to create height. There is a contrast of values in the objects and what’s behind them, creating figure-ground separation. Different values have been used for figure-ground separation. Additionally, the objects are lit with form lighting, emphasizing the three-dimensional form.

Tips from the SLC: Still Life

Remember when we talked about breaking buildings down into geometric shapes. That also holds true for your still life assignment. Sometimes when we look at an object, we focus on details of objects within the still life before we capture the overall composition of the grouping.

Start with breaking down your objects into basic shapes and make sure the perspective is correct before you focus on the surface or decorative elements.

During tutoring, we often see student drawings surrounded by a sea of blank paper. Or drawings where the student started drawing on one side of the paper and then ran out of space before they finished filling in their still life. You want your drawing to engage the entire page and have a dynamic composition. The easiest way to accomplish that is to do a quick gesture drawing outlined in the Week 1 videos.  

Remain aware of the proportions of your objects. Using your pencil or your finger you need to constantly check the size of one object against the size of the other ones and then transfer those proportions to the paper. Light grid lines can also give you reference points to check size and proportions against.