My neighbour recently moved out of the area. She'd been here many, many years but we've only known her since we moved here, almost 5 years ago. I thought it would be nice to do her a drawing of her bungalow as a memento of her time here. I popped outside with my camera and took a photo to use for reference. It was a gorgeous sunny day and the sun was shining brightly.
Though I was initially quite pleased with my effort, the more I looked at it, the less I liked it. At first I was unsure why but then realised it was because of the shadows. The reference photo was taken on a very sunny day with strong shadows and, as usual, I stuck too rigidly to the reference. Those dark angular areas were spoiling the shape of her house.
Unfortunately for my neighbour there were some delays with her move but that afforded me the time to do the drawing again. This time I used our old friend 'artistic licence' and I imagined the house without the shadows. That left too much white paper so I decided to draw in the brickwork, which I don't normally do other than a few small sections hinting at what might be there. Doing so has separated the house from the white of the paper and allowed the shape of the building to have more depth and dimension.
I was much happier with the second version so that is the one I gave her, and she was delighted. I'll be really interested to hear how you all view the differences, and which of the two you prefer.
The second is excellent and perfect for the neighbor. I like the windows in the first and like the freshness of this for a personal drawing with the bricks just indicated.
ReplyDeleteJo, my apologies to you and Joan, for some reason my replies have not come through. You're right that the first one has a much fresher look to it. I just wish I hadn't been so heavy handed with the shadows.
DeleteI like the second one more. The shadows on the first one were too stark against the white of the house. The brickwork on the second one is excellent. I'm sure your neighbor will treasure this!
ReplyDeleteJoan, my apologies to you and Jo, for some reason my replies didn't come through. I think I can get away with drawing all the bricks as this drawing is more architectural rather than art.
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