Throughout semester 2, we have been drawing and painting still-life photos of fruit. This is inspired by Dutch still-life painting which we looked into at the start of the semester. We photographed fruit in front of a black background with light shining directly on top of it. We then used carbon paper to trace a brief outline of the fruit for guidance, we then experimented with colors and mediums and then got into drawing and painting our final product.
Did you meet targets throughout the project?
We had lots of targets to meet in order to finish our final product on time and in a good manner. We had to make sure we kept on track with every activity to have enough time to draw and paint. We had to take photos of fruit and print them out with correct measurements, we also had to test out pencils and paints to see what colors best matched our reference. It was harder to finish the painting in time as the details of the fruit took more time and were harder to use paint. Although we might have been times where we had to work quickly we managed to meet all our targets. I would probably aim to start painting a bit earlier though so I would have more time for the details.
What skills did you acquire? How did you develop your design?
I learned a lot of new things about painting and drawing. I mainly acquired these skills through the worksheets and just asking questions as I went along. I learned a lot about the layering of pencils during the drawing as the paper was black and the pencils were hard to show up. During the painting, I had to be very patient to let the paint dry so that I could go over it so I didn’t mix colors together. I developed my painting as I went along by just always testing colours and making sure they look good. We also did a lot of preparation before.
What worked? What didn’t? How did you resolve issues with materials?
Lots of things worked out well and I had many successes especially with my drawing. My drawing worked well because I had a plan of attack and I referred a lot to my reference photo. When painting using the hairdryer worked well to help dry the paint quicker. Things that didn’t work included using the medium that stopped the paint from drying; I thought it actually dried up my paint and didn’t help much. I resolved this issue by waiting for the paint to dry and then painting over it. For the drawing, I also used a blending pen to help blend the colours together better.
The success of final work
My final drawing looked quite realistic which I liked especially my orange. I also think my background looked nice because I shaded it slightly. The painting didn’t look as realistic but it still looked like my reference photo and like an apple. Overall proud of both.
