Week 3: more shape, form, plus a start oChristineV a:n EDGES...

A lovely mix of work today. The good progress we are making this term will set us all up very nicely for our main projects which we will be starting in a couple of week's time. Here is tonight's gallery (comments now added - see below each picture):

Andy: excellent observation of shape with good line quality on the edges. Your best drawing yet! The ink used for the outer edge of each leaf is effective stylistically. On the next one try to use pencil with varied line weights to compare techniques. 

Andy: good design/composition. Like the full use of the whole sheet taking the colours to all the edges. Much stronger. Try to add more information to the edges of the face and hands - look again at photos to get shapes of the hands/fingers. 

Caroline: lovely bold start. Very good early tonal values on the lower two leaves/background. Complete the background tone next and before you develop the leaves further. This will help you see what the tone values should be as you develop the whole plant.

Dot: a great start. Good bold and clean shapes. Get all the ground colour work done first then develop the blending of the colours in each petal. Paint there background shapes with bold colour and blending to create textures in the background - trust your imagination.

Ella: a beautiful drawing with such good attention to detailing. The edges are wonderfully executed as is the impression of movement on the surface of the feathers. I cannot suggest anything for you to do as this looks finished. Well done! 

Graeme: a lovely drawing. Very good use of imagination and good clean lines to ensure each shape is clear. Try looking again at insects to increase your memory of the unique shapes, edges and textures of these creatures - it would be really beneficial to you to do some further studies from photos on the iPads in class.

Graeme: good use of the whole sheet. It's early days for this painting but it looks promising!  Look again at hands of guitarists to tighten up the drawing/shapes/angles of the hands/fingers. 

Jed: a good start and though its just at the beginning this looks like it will be a strong painting/colour study/exercise for you. Keep this simple as this will help you to learn how to use the medium as well as give you some good practice in use of colour. Nearly everything you learn using pastels will transfer to acrylics.

Jeff: a great painting. Like the contrast of using greys for factory to contrast with the warm and rich colours in the foreground. The smoke is especially good with soft blending conveying the movement and texture off smoke. 

Rebecca: a great colour! A good start so keep going as it will be worth it. Leave the pink flower as it is for now and add in the rest of the picture. Keep everything simple and bold for now then later, when all the white paper is covered in pastel colours, develop more complex blending of the colours.

Waseem: a lovely intimate study of the leaf. Your edges are really terrific and your tone work is strong.  To finish this off well, use a small rubber, slowly and carefully, to erase the smudging around the leaf edges - this will not only clean the white paper it will help you to sharpen the edges of each leaflet. 

Yvonne: a really well observed study. It is early days but this is going to be such a good drawing if you focus and take your time/carefully use line weight to tease out the subtleties of the plant. Try adding a larger version of this part of the plant in the background so the three stems appear in front or leave it as a simple graceful drawing of three stems. 

Yvonne: great little study. You have really captured the subtle patterns on the leaves. I will show you how to take this a bit further - remind me in class next time!! You must keep up making these small studies in your sketchbook as it is paying you huge dividends.