The Drawing Club

(Fogra 29) Job:11-41057 Title:Drawing club Handbook

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20 The Drawing Club

(Text)

The Flamenco Dancer, china marker on paper,

Mike Greenholt

The Grave Digger, ink on paper,

Ronald Kurniawan

lines and detailed areas, much like long pauses between notes

followed by faster flurries.

Tones and value gradations in a drawing can feel a lot like

chords played on the piano or sung by a chorus because they

both communicate as a group of elements working together

harmoniously. Individual notes played together form a chord

that resonates harmoniously.

Drawing is like music

A song is a collection of carefully orchestrated sounds and

notes that communicate to us audibly, and a drawing is a collec-

tion of marks on a surface that communicate to us visually.

Lines in a drawing can feel a lot like individual notes in a

song. The way a line guides your eye as it outlines a form feels a

lot like how individual notes can guide a melody. When I draw

with contours, it often feels like an instrumental solo. I can

feel the composition being laid out with a combination of long

Barbarella, pastel on paper, John Tice

Lines in a drawing can feel a lot like individual notes in a song. The way a line guides

your eye as it outlines a form feels a lot like how individual notes can guide a melody.

(Fogra 29) Job:11-41057 Title:Drawing club Handbook

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21

(Text)

The Flamenco Dancer, china marker on paper,

Mike Greenholt

Chapter 1: What Is a Good Drawing?

Well-executed crosshatching in an ink drawing, for example,

is a series of individual lines that carefully overlap each other to

create a harmonious tone or value.

We have all done drawings where the values become muddy

and confusing. The marks weren’t working together and looked

like how a chord might sound with one or two incorrect notes.

Rhythm and tempo in music feel a lot like gesture in a

drawing because the sequence of marks in a drawing, like notes

in a song, can dictate fast or slow movement and the path your

eye takes as you view the drawing. I always tell my students that

your eye responds to the mark you draw. You draw a mark fast,

and your eye reads it quickly. You draw a slow, careful mark and

your eye slows down and studies it. Consequently, loose gestural

drawings usually feel up-tempo to me, while detailed drawings

often have a slower, more introspective pace. However, both

fast drawings and slower, more-studied drawings can have great

rhythm because they both probably started as up-tempo sketches.

The Grave Digger, ink on paper,

Ronald Kurniawan

lines and detailed areas, much like long pauses between notes

followed by faster flurries.

Tones and value gradations in a drawing can feel a lot like

chords played on the piano or sung by a chorus because they

both communicate as a group of elements working together

harmoniously. Individual notes played together form a chord

that resonates harmoniously.

Lines in a drawing can feel a lot like individual notes in a song. The way a line guides

your eye as it outlines a form feels a lot like how individual notes can guide a melody.

(Fogra 29) Job:11-41057 Title:Drawing club Handbook

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