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A couple of takeaways from last Saturday’s Zoom meeting for this class. First, a suggestion to make marks simpler – horizontal and vertical. Done. It creates less noisy masses.
Obviously this is some kind of wetland. I sort of made it up. It’s missing a focal point. I should have done that, but this is sort of dashed off as we are soon to leave for a birthday party and I would like to put on my frippery!
Journey by Paper 
Have a fun party!
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Thanks, Fraggy! It was great. No elbow bumps or sitting out in the drizzle to be safe (from Covid, but not pneumonia!). Good to see family all together.
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Good advice about the strokes, reminder noted. And oh if I could just never do a sketch of something that is amazing to see but without a focal point I would be so happy, but alas it creeps in.
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Focal points can make or break a picture. Some of the ones I have noted are very simple – a telephone pole or the back of a traffic sign!
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Hi N,
Looking at this, I start out in the dark areas on the far left and far right, then my eye is drawn down the left side of the image through the midtones. Then it goes to the darkest wedge on the left and is led towards the center due to the triangularity of the dark line on the bottom. Then my eye is led to the very lightest area in the center-left (did you use an eraser to lighten it? the contrast is great), and back around up and left to the light open area behind it, and finally to the isolated dark area that looks like a rock or dark reeds, to me. The trees induce directionality heading toward the reeds, as well, while the overall entry to this path is on the left side of the composition.
People used to tell me about stories that didn’t have a good ending (like a lot of Japanese ones as I was growing up) — I’ve always struggled with endings, myself. I would think that to many (or most) your “ending” in this image is just fine. There is directionality here, and a “story” if you will, even if it isn’t intentional.
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Wow, Haruna! What a nice post and thoughtful insights. You are right – it is a marshland with mostly grasses. I added the trees because I felt it needed a bit more height. The bright white areas are just the paper – I worked hard not to use any pencil over them.
It’s interesting about Japanese stories – and other fairy tales, too – because they so often do not have happy endings. Today, that is all we seem to want, rather than realizing the journey is what is important and to take each moment as a gift from the now. Drawing and artwork, and many other things, are like that for me. I see them as steps to the “end” – no matter what it is. And steps must be taken now – some thought of the future – thoughts of the past.
Thanks so much for your comments. Really made my day!
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