Having determined what the drawing will be taken from, I print it on an 8.5 X 11 sheet that becomes my reference from this point forward. In future posts I'll delve into the compositional approaches I'm using for this project. It helps to have some rules at times, and with 10 drawings in play, these guidelines will work to give a unified "voice" to the pieces.
The next step takes me to the drawing table, photograph in hand, where I lay down a sheet of light trace paper. On this paper I "lay out" the drawing, a process of taking the rough composition done on the computer and tuning it to become what will be the finished work. I use drafting tools - a parallel rule, set squares, french curves, and bow compasses, together with freehand sketching to draw the final composition on the trace paper as a line drawing. This is a trial and error stage that refines the ideas I had when the photo was created. Note that there's no tracing going on here - "trace" paper is just the name of the medium I'm working on. :-)
This is the finished layout for the first drawing:
It's a lot like an initial draft for a term paper: You'll see light lines all over this drawing that are evidence of the roughing out nature of this part of the process. I don't use a grid, although you'll see lines that may suggest that to you. This project uses the Golden Ratio as a basic compositional rule and the lines represent patterns that follow this rule. Elements of the drawing appear at key intersections and positions in accordance with the proportions of the ratio.
In the next installment I'll use the layout drawing to begin what will become the finished work on watercolour paper.
Thanks again for dropping by!
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