Wednesday 28 October 2015

Snowy Cottage


As I've mentioned in previous posts, when working with pen & ink I'm currently experimenting at achieving a good tonal range and shading without using too much cross-hatching, if any. In addition, a couple of posts ago, in a comment about one of my drawings,  Keith referred to 'lost and found lines' and this has also been on my mind as I'm not sure I've ever understood exactly what is meant by 'lost and found lines', though common sense sort of suggests what the term means.

Yesterday I came across a photograph of a small snow-covered cottage and, while thinking about how it might be drawn using pen & ink, realised that it was a great subject to work with both zero-hatching and 'lost and found' lines. Of course, the secret to drawing snow is more about what you don't draw than what you do.

20 comments:

  1. Hi John.
    Fantastic Snow painting mate. As all your drawings are. All the best John.
    Vic.

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    1. That's very kind of you Vic, thank you very much. All the best.

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  2. Such a gorgeous scene and so skilfully executed John. It gave me great pleasure in seeing it. Thank you.

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  3. This is outstanding as is the canal drawing in your previous post !

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    1. What a lovely comment Jane, thank you very much. ;-)

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  4. This is fantastic. You do such a beautiful job of creating the different value contrasts and textures. That's so hard to do with pen, I think.

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    1. Thank you very much Katherine, I really appreciate that. ;-)

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  5. I have caught up on your drawings, which are excellent. We should all draw more in my opinion. And love the snow scene. You really have caught the softness

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  6. A great drawing, John. I love the 'lost line' of the roof, great idea.

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    1. Thank you Judy. I am very pleased with how that 'lost line' turned out. ;-)

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  7. You've made it! Now you're drawing your own way and with feeling; really excellent stuff, John you've broken away from ruler straight edges into a flowing technique. I particularly like the way you have let the trees define the edge of the roof rather than a drawn line, masterly.

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    1. This is a lovely comment John and coming from someone as masterly with the pen as you are means a great deal. Thank you very much.

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  8. Excellent work John, and the top of the roof is a perfect example of 'lost and found'; the snow stands out against the sky and appears whiter to me, even though there's no ink line separating them.

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    1. Thank you very much Keith ... and thank you for the previous comment that set me thinking about 'lost and found lines' in the first place.

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  9. Oh you did some great stuff since last visit here :)

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    1. Thank you very much Cattis, and how lovely to see you here. ;-)

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  10. I love using lost and found edges. When the tone in one area of an object matches the tone of the surrounding area, the edge between the two areas simply disappears and the two areas appear as one shape. So I suppose if the sun was hitting part of a roof and it was so bright that it was the same tone of the sky, that roof edge would become invisible and blend in with the sky... Of course you know all of this, but for the benefit of those that don't, it's worth explaining. Its a beautiful drawing John :0)

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    1. Thank you very much Sandra. It's not something I'd thought of previously but I suspect lost and found lines are even more common in monochrome images than in coloured ones. We never stop learning as we march onwards and upwards. ;-)

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