Vases, Faces, and More Vases

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by Sumi Dey


The Vases and Faces exercise from Drawing With the Right Side of the Brain was definitely interesting! Despite having taken a lot of visual art classes in the past, I've never experienced or tried a drawing exercise with such a strong biological focus. It was pretty fun getting out of my comfort zone and exploring a new way of drawing. 



(Graphite, 8" x 5")
Initially, the Vases and Faces exercise seemed relatively easy after I read the instructions. Carrying it out definitely proved to be more difficult and mind-bending than I thought it would be. 
The first profile took me very little time and I started off somewhat confident. Despite tracing over the original profile and becoming acquainted it, I lost all sense of direction the moment I attempted the second profile. The proportions were very off. I vividly remember feeling a disconnect as I tried to match the two sides. As you can see, we have a pretty disproportionate vase. I do think that the overall exercise makes for a unique end product though, regardless of how uniform the two profiles are. 



                 



 

 (Graphite, 9" x 12")

The Upside Down exercise was just as uncomfortable, if not more! I realized that my understanding of space and proportions is extremely skewed if I'm not able to draw something in a traditional, right-side up manner. I began this drawing from the bottom-half (the legs) and slowly worked my way to the top (the head). While I did have to erase and re-sketch a few times to get the proportions and spacing right (or as right as I could get them), I did feel as though a lot of the pressure in creating an accurate likeness/depiction of an object or person was lifted. Shifting into the right brain was exciting — I was able to focus more on replicating lines and shapes vs. a finger or a jacket. I really came to enjoy this exercise by the end. 



(Graphite, 8" x 4.5")
As I mentioned during the in-class critique, I decided to focus on a small, jade-colored vase from my mother's house for my still life series. It is a beautiful, simple object that contains botanical elements in its design — something I really enjoy drawing in my free time.

I decided to do an initial sketch in graphite to give a baseline feel for what the object looks like. I wanted to focus primarily on creating a realistic depiction, including the shadows created by the natural light coming through behind it. This was also an exercise for myself, in order to become more comfortable with drawing this vase before throwing color into the mix.                        



(Colored pencil, 4" x 3")
 This is where the color comes in! I found an old set of Prismacolor pencils in my room at home that I wanted to experiment with. I wanted to focus on getting as accurate of a color as I could to the actual vase. I feel as though I was able to bring in more detail on the botanical elements of the vase with the colored pencils, giving it more vibrancy and bringing it to life. 







  My third attempt at drawing this object was meant to be more fun and experimental! A lot of my drawing process for this still life assignment was to work with materials that I had laying around at home in New York. I found an old package of fabric pastels (used for drawing on clothing) that I had never used before and felt that it could be interesting to see what kind of effect it would produce on paper. While the texture was ultimately pretty similar to color pastels, I had a harder time manipulating it. With oil pastels, you can scrape a design into the layers of color, which is what I wanted to do to provide more details to the flower petals. Overall, I do like the vibrancy of this piece and it's somewhat rudimentary nature.

                                                                                                         (Fabric pastel, 4" x 3")

By the end of this exercise, I feel like I became a bit more intimately acquainted with this vase! I can actually recall the exact image of it in my mind and most likely draw it from memory at this point. It's interesting to see how repetition can train your brain in this manner.

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