Visual Research and Initial Drawings

I began my drawings over the Christmas holidays by researching shape and pattern. I liked the idea of folding and fabric manipulation, so looked into using these ideas and reinterpreting them as 2D drawings. The photograph below shows one of my initial drawings where I have tried to show the 'folds' on a piece of paper in drawn form. I've used black ink and water as my media. In my last unit I did some work with ink and water but didn't use it further, so am keen to look into using this technique more this unit.

Other drawings I produced concentrated on line quality and the patterns that can be made from them.

 I began to collect visual research to aid my next drawings and progression of ideas. I took a variety of photos around the center of Manchester concentrating on shape and pattern. I looked first at the shapes the skylines made with the groups of buildings with different heights and widths.

I then looked at surface pattern; on buildings and roads.

Following my tutorial before the Christmas holidays, it was suggested that I look at a book called 'Earth from the Air' by Yann Arthus-Bertrand. It solely contains images taken from an aerial viewpoint in great detail, of various different landscapes around the world. I was fascinated by this. I particularly liked the images where patterns had been created by the landscape. The idea of an irregular pattern is what interests my about this book and is something I want to explore further. Below are a couple of images that caught my eye.

Lumber Yard in Port-Gentil, Gabon

                                              Dyers' Workshops and Vats in Fez, Morocco


Shape and pattern is what I am predominantly looking for in my research, though it is also colour that catches my eye in some of these photos. Though at this point, I have decided to take my attention away from colour and use a monochrome colour palette when I am drawing, to help me refine my ideas more easily.