Visual Communication – Week 1 (19 April 2013)

 

During our first lesson of Visual Communication, we were taught about shapes, lines, and proportions. Mr Victor guided us through the session. Initially, some of us were worried as we do not possess artistic skills. When Mr Victor flashed us a picture of Heffalump and Kungfu Panda and announced that we would be tasked to draw the two cartoon characters, I was quite taken aback as I am one of those who is not artistically-inclined. However, I tried my best to keep up with the lesson and draw the images systematically.

 

We were taught to identify the basic geometrical shapes present in the pictures and sketch them out. We then added the details and refined our drawings using the shapes as a guide. It was a useful method as we could gauge the angles of our pictures. It took me three attempts to outline the image of the panda as it was difficult for me to gauge the proportion at first. After about 20 minutes of work, most of us completed our drawings of Kungfu Panda and Heffalump. It was a tough start, but we learnt a useful tool which is to use basic geometrical shapes as a guide for our drawing.



My first attempt to draw the image of the Kungfu Panda
on the left by using the basic shapes as a guide. 

The original picture of Kungfu Panda 

Heffalum was drawn using basic shapes as a guide as well.

             

The original picture of Heffalum

 




Fortunately, the second task was easier than the first. I chose to draw the figure in the middle. Putting the skills taught before into consideration, I managed to complete the drawing within a shorter time. However, Mr Victor commented that the image I drew was not proportionate and it was different from the original picture. I edited my drawing and the results of my work can be seen below.  





An image of the figure in the middle

Original picture of the figurines



We then moved on to learn about lines. This time round, it was a paired activity. We had to sign on an A4-sized paper, exchange our signatures with our partners an attempt to copy the drawing with the original picture being inverted. As we progressed, I noticed that I became more aware and put the spaces and thickness of the lines into consideration to copy the signature as accurately as possible.

Yan Feng's original signature.                                               My copy of Yan Feng's signature.



 

The fourth task was one of the toughest. Looking at a picture of a rose that was held upside-down, we had to copy the image of the rose from bottom to top. We spent the most time on this task, but it was a fruitful attempt as I was satisfied with the results.

The original picture of the rose.

Final image of rose drawn by me.








After getting the proportions of the drawings wrong several times, we finally learnt how to gauge the proportions of the images using the ‘Pencil & Thumb’ method.  It was a very useful method, as I finally learnt to divide the page and make fewer mistakes in proportion while drawing the image. The outline of the dog below was completed at home due to time constraint in school.







An outline of the image of the dog on
the left.

Original picture of the dog.

Finally, we approached the last task which was a very fun one. We had to draw an outline of our partner’s bodies, bearing in mind that we have to utilise all the methods taught. I am actually grateful to Yan Feng for posing simply so that I would have an easier time trying to draw an outline of his body.

Yan Feng posing for the picture.

An outline of Yan Feng's body.





Besides learning about the methods mentioned above, we also learnt about negative space. It is a way of creating an image by not using definite lines. This method is used by organisations and advertising companies to create a unique image of their own. During the 4 hours, we learnt to draw using the methods taught. Although it was tough at first, the methods taught were useful in helping us improve on our drawings. It took a great deal of perseverance to complete each of the drawing, but our hard work paid off and it was evident in the improvement seen on our subsequent drawings.