Back to the basics

This morning, I jumped out of my bed. "It's 9.30am already! Oh no, I was late again!"

It has been a long, long time since I overselpt. Quite angry with myself because I need to attend my first day of design workshop by 9.45am. I had no choice but to take a cab down. I waited for 10 mins there's no cab at all... usually I have no problem flagging the cab. I had no choice but to go to the nearest taxi stand.

When I get into the cab, I was complaining to the cab driver about can't find any cabs on the road. Guess what he says? He told me that they cannot anyhow align or pick up passenger from the road anymore. I was so pissed, if I can walk to the taxi stand, i might as well take bus or mrt. Why must i still take a cab? Taking cab is for the convenience sake and not to pay extra money to get pissed off by the government stupid rules...

Anyway, when I reached there, the class has started for 30 mins already. Thinking to myself that I will not let this stupid incident affect my mood. I really enjoyed the class today. It's really back to the basic - Still life drawing!

I hated still life drawing, thanks to my pri and sec school teachers. They gave me F grades for most of the works I have done. Till now, I'm still very puzzled is that why did I choose to be a designer because designer needs to draw quite well to a certain extend. Perhaps the challenge of finding how to do it right is my motivation as being a designer. OR god choose the tough job for me hahaha :P

But this time round is very different from what I have learnt, instead of using pencils, we are using charcoal. First time doing it. It's kind of fun because I feel like I'm turning myself into a curious kid. Back to learn the basic drawing techniques. There are 3 types of drawing techniques: the pure contour, the blind contour and the cross contour.

The pure contour : Drawing basic outline to separate the object and the space. Learning how to manipulate of the lines.

The blind contour : By looking at the object and draw without looking at the paper. This is to train to observe the object.

The cross contour : Drawing in circular motion to form the object. This is to train to draw the object in proportions.

It may seem easy, however it requires alot of concentration, observation and drawing skills to draw out something decent. The most difficult contour is the blind contour. Without constantly practising, you wont be able to master it. Learn how to draw without looking at the paper. I can feel the misery for the blind when they lost their sight. It's really a pain and helpless when you can't see at all.

First day workshop is just experiment of using charcoal. A really good charcoal artwork must have a spectrum of darkest black and the whitest white in it. Just like photography, must take note of the shadows and highlights. It's a black and white painting. You really got to get dirty to do some work, esp colouring the shading and highlights for the objects. I got myself so dirty with my hands just like a kid playing in the muddy sand. Hahaha and I love it!