Day 23 of our 30 day January Challenge was a drawing class trick from Fran O’Neill. The purpose is to trick artists into describing surface and surroundings that have as much interest and presence as the stuff that’s sitting on and in front of it. The most common response to this kind of exercise is “how the heck do I draw a white wall?!?” In short, you find a way across it.
Here are some of my favorite descriptive empty scenes:
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The urge to fill in empty space with an object instead of describing the surface or space itself is sometimes too much for artists to ignore, and there were quite a few drawings that had an object plopped in. Below is my favorite drawing as the artist posted it, and then with an edit from me, so we can see how strong and captivating the drawing is without it.
Original drawing, artist’s name unknown
Doctored in Photoshop by me
This drawing was posted to Padlet without a name. If this is your drawing, please forgive me for altering your original. Contact me or post below so I can credit you, and so that I may send you a token of my appreciation for this beautiful drawing.
[vc_row type=”in_container” full_screen_row_position=”middle” scene_position=”center” text_color=”dark” text_align=”left” overlay_strength=”0.3″][vc_column column_padding=”no-extra-padding” column_padding_position=”all” background_color_opacity=”1″ background_hover_color_opacity=”1″ column_shadow=”none” width=”1/1″ tablet_text_alignment=”default” phone_text_alignment=”default” column_border_width=”none” column_border_style=”solid”][image_with_animation image_url=”7670″ alignment=”” animation=”Fade In” box_shadow=”none” max_width=”100%”][vc_column_text]Find a stone you can comfortably hold in your hand. Without looking at it, spend a few minutes exploring it with your hands. Close your eyes. Feel the weight of the stone, the …
This prompt produced an exceptional number of great drawings! Day 16: Create something using crosshatch. #crosshatch If your work is here, please tag yourselves in the comments on this blog page and include a link to your website or social media. Your post won’t show up immediately because we have to make sure you’re not …
[vc_row type=”in_container” scene_position=”center” text_color=”dark” text_align=”left” overlay_strength=”0.3″][vc_column column_padding=”no-extra-padding” column_padding_position=”all” background_color_opacity=”1″ background_hover_color_opacity=”1″ width=”1/1″][vc_column_text]Raphael Soyer (December 25, 1899 – November 4, 1987) was a Russian-born American painter, draftsman, and printmaker. He is identified as a Social Realist because of his interest in men and women viewed in contemporary settings which included the streets, subways, salons and artists’ studios of New York City. He also wrote several books …
[vc_row type=”in_container” full_screen_row_position=”middle” scene_position=”center” text_color=”dark” text_align=”left” overlay_strength=”0.3″][vc_column column_padding=”no-extra-padding” column_padding_position=”all” background_color_opacity=”1″ background_hover_color_opacity=”1″ column_shadow=”none” width=”1/1″ tablet_text_alignment=”default” phone_text_alignment=”default” column_border_width=”none” column_border_style=”solid”][image_with_animation image_url=”8549″ alignment=”” animation=”None” box_shadow=”none” max_width=”100%”][vc_column_text]Several years ago I took a few Chinese Ink painting classes from Kiki MacInnis and Bang Jin Sun at Pratt. I learned about several styles of traditional and contemporary ink painting, none of which …
30SAL Faves: Set the Stage
Day 23 of our 30 day January Challenge was a drawing class trick from Fran O’Neill. The purpose is to trick artists into describing surface and surroundings that have as much interest and presence as the stuff that’s sitting on and in front of it. The most common response to this kind of exercise is “how the heck do I draw a white wall?!?” In short, you find a way across it.
Here are some of my favorite descriptive empty scenes:
The urge to fill in empty space with an object instead of describing the surface or space itself is sometimes too much for artists to ignore, and there were quite a few drawings that had an object plopped in. Below is my favorite drawing as the artist posted it, and then with an edit from me, so we can see how strong and captivating the drawing is without it.
This drawing was posted to Padlet without a name. If this is your drawing, please forgive me for altering your original. Contact me or post below so I can credit you, and so that I may send you a token of my appreciation for this beautiful drawing.
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This prompt produced an exceptional number of great drawings! Day 16: Create something using crosshatch. #crosshatch If your work is here, please tag yourselves in the comments on this blog page and include a link to your website or social media. Your post won’t show up immediately because we have to make sure you’re not …
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[vc_row type=”in_container” scene_position=”center” text_color=”dark” text_align=”left” overlay_strength=”0.3″][vc_column column_padding=”no-extra-padding” column_padding_position=”all” background_color_opacity=”1″ background_hover_color_opacity=”1″ width=”1/1″][vc_column_text]Raphael Soyer (December 25, 1899 – November 4, 1987) was a Russian-born American painter, draftsman, and printmaker. He is identified as a Social Realist because of his interest in men and women viewed in contemporary settings which included the streets, subways, salons and artists’ studios of New York City. He also wrote several books …
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