Groups of objects(Exercise)

Choose at least 6 objects of different sizes and shapes to create a still life. I took out some of my household things that are of the same sort then took some photos of them.

I have arranged these objects in various different poses which I like to draw. After this I have chosen some to arrange as still life. I have chosen one to draw as my still life the rest I may just sketch in my sketch book later as other still life drawings.

I first liked the still life which had the mug hanger and tea pot. I tried a attempt on my sketchbook. The curve of the hanger is not accurately drawn.

Then I have chosen the still life as below to practice as this exercise.

I decided to do this because I found sketching the curves in the previous picture so difficult I decided to do a picture with more different shapes. There are lots of different shapes in this picture from the banana to the teapot to the straight lines of the book and boxes.

Stage 1. I used sketchbook with a 6B pencil with long lines to cross over all the objects to let myself understand where are they/how big are they and how tall/how wide/front or back to the next object. For example, the English breakfast tea box is horizontal but the Yorkshire tea box is vertical. How much wider is the top box than the bottom one? How far from the Yorkshire tea box to the book? Also where are the tea mug and tea pot and how far are they are in relation to the objections behind.

When I was 19 and learning the basic sketch and I do remember the tutorial of “整体，整体，再整体” which is meaning our first thinking is “entirety, entirety and against entirety”.

Step 2. After last attempt I got the memory of the objects in my mind. Then in this sketch I need to accurate relate their shapes and perspective in relation to each other.

In this stage, I need to improve their shape and scaling relation. As I learnt to compare the relative sizes of the objects as I draw them, but I drew the mug bigger than it is so it is nearly the size of the tea pot. Also with the cakes the front one should be bigger than the back one.

After the attempts above I am going to use charcoal to practice on a A2 size newspaper.

Directly moving onto the newspaper I lost scaling relation again. The breakfast tea box is shorter than it is in reality in the picture. I could not draw the plate and the banana in this image is the main problem.

At last I moved onto another legacy paper which my father in law used at in the 1960’s. It is not white and it is pale yellow but very strong and a good stuff.

I have done their structure drawing. As I haven’t properly sketched in about 20 years I know I need more practice to get back my skills.

The problems I have found:

1. The breakfast tea box is right way in perspective but in the whole picture it has been enlarged.
2. The Yorkshire tea box is sloping a little bit with the book.
3. As for the overall picture, the left top of the mug should be closer to the Yorkshire tea box but I can’t draw it any bigger.  Should I  draw the tea box a bit narrower? Also to match the other side the mug’s right hand side need to been swollen a bit.
4. The plate right down in the corner need more curve on it.

I try to fill out some details. The breakfast tea can open on the top and the fabric around the objects.

But how can I expressive their weight? How can I show the two boxes and the book’s texture? How can I show the chinaware’s shine?

In next exercise I will practice the shadow and the tone. I wish I can find out some more skills to resolve the above questions.