Hi all,
this is my first post on drawspace.com, I'll try to follow all lesseons and post result of my work. I readen "How to draw on right side brain" and I have understood a lot on the correct way to see forms and spaces...and usually I use these "guide-line":

Identify bound
Identify proportions
Identify curve
Identify tones
Add details and so on

Thsi is a very complicated process for me if I want to draw a landscape. I feel that I need to learn some techniques to correctly "use" my pencil. If I have to draw a portrait I'm able to follow book istruction, but if I need to apply textures or sketch a far tree, it's verdy difficult.


Any suggestion?


Grazie
Francesco

here is a site that may help you, He has a wonderful book out too that you will gain lots and lots of information from and we are fortunate to have him as a teacher here at drawspace.

sibley fine art

Kay,,, a great site .. I will bookmark this one for sure !! Very informative and great illustration.. Thanks bunches ,and thank you Francesco for bringing up the thread.. Good luck to you .. hope to see your draws soon..

To find the boundaries of a landscape, make up a viewing frame from some stiff card. This is what I use,

Click to view attachment

I made this up about 10 years ago from some mounting board and some plastic film. As you can see, I have divided the viewing area into thirds. This helps to place the focal point. The whole thing only measures about 6" square so it's easy to carry around, but I have found it invaluable in my sketching outside. The last time I used it was on this sketch which I did just a few weeks ago.

Check your link, Steve.

hmm..yep..your link wont open, i get the 'sorry cant display page' error.

Oops! Thanks guys! Fixed it.

steve please explain more how you use that and how it is made ... looks like a interesting tool that I may want to make and use .

Trees are a huge challenge for me .. I find them so hard to do they are boring to me but I have great admiration for those who can draw them .

It's just a viewfinder. I just took this photo from my back garden. It shows the view framed Which I can move closer to me to expand the view, or move it further away to compress it. It's ideal for concentrating the section of landscape that you want to draw/paint. I have added the division lines onto mine to help in placing focal points in the frame. But they are not essential. From this photo, you can see the lines, but I couldn't see them when I took the photo, so there is nothing lined up here!

Click to view attachment


The frame was made from a scap piece of mounting board and a piece of thin plastic sheet. (for the division lines) You could just use a card with a rectangle cut out! A friend of mine who is a photographer uses a mount from a 35mm slide. I've measured the dimensions of my opening, and it measures 3.5" x 2.25". Not sure if that's proportional to the papers I use? But it's only to give me a rough idea of the area I need to concentrate on.

That is very cool .. I think I will be making one of those ...and its much smaller then I pictured.

Thank you .

Landscapes are very different than portraits or still life in that you generally don't want to capture every single detail Francesco. The best way to start with landscapes is to block in values. Squint and simplify - those are good words to remember when dealing with landscape. Squinting removes detail and keeps you focused on colour or value. Simplifying shapes works well, depending on your viewpoint and the medium you're using.

I've been working on seascapes, trees and landscapes lately, both in oils, and pen and ink and find that less is more. In this sketch, I concentrate on values and shapes, not detail. Kim, I'm currently working on a tree challenge. They always intimidate me too, but the best way to deal with that is to just get out there and draw some from real life.
Click to view attachment

The viewer Steve shows is a great tool to simplify or frame your viewing area. After awhile, you can become used to targeting in on an area and ignoring all the other things going on.

The techniques you use for drawing landscapes are no different than drawing anything else. Go outside and study some real landscapes, don't use photographs. Do some studies of shape and value, forgetting detail for the moment. Then go back and start using line and shading to develop the form of the rocks, trees or water. Practice is the key.

Thank you very much...maybe I'm focused on same kind of details as in portraits...and this is wrong. I cannot apply detailed texture on wide landscape...


Grazie
Francesco

Jeanette where is the challenge at ? it sounds interesting and hard lol but I do love a challenge .

Kim, its just something I'm doing with some artist friends.

However we can always do something similar here. The only guidelines is that it must be done from life, not photos and you can use any medium you like.

I think it would be a great challenge ...not only do I not know how to draw trees well but from life ..another big challenge .. I can do a milk carton or a necklace wonder why that is . But to draw trees or rocky cliffs or water and sky are so very hard for me .

This is an interesting conundrum! I cannot for the life of me, draw a decent portrait. But I am quite happy drawing trees or rocks. And here you are the complete opposite! You can draw wonderfull portraits, but not trees or rocks! Wositallabout?

I founf this interesting web site:

http://www.dianewrightfineart.com/


I hope you can find useful info on Landscape drawins


Ciao
Francesco

Kewl Site , Francesco.. A lot to look at .. Thanks ..

Diane's done some tutorials on elements of landscape and has produced a book about it which I have as well. She's a great artist.

I treat every painting or drawing just as if it were a portrait of a human. How this refers to seascape and landscapes is that I ask my self, "How do I feel?" and then I ask, "What is it about this scene that causes me to feel this way and how can I express this feeling in a drawing or with a brush and paint?" The answer to these questions will work for all types of visual art. Is it the power of the waves hitting the rock? Or is it the many various moods of the ocean? Is it the mood and colors of the landscape or forest? What exactly is it that causes me to desire to draw or paint this scene and share my feelings with others?

This process of studying nature and then seeking to reproduce or express the mood that is inspired within us I believe is the conscious mind working along with the subconscious mind or the emotions. Part of it is learned and part of it is intuitive and deep with in us and especially those of us who appreciate all of nature and the universe.

Just my thoughts.

Bobby

Thank you Bobby,
your reply shows me that I'm so far from my objectives. In this moment I want to leran, so the reason why I fell "attraction" on subjects is a question "will I be able to correctly draw? Am I able to draw what I'm seeing?"

When I'll be free from challenging, when I'll be sure and "master" of my pencil, I'll try to figure out what meens "to find mood and inspiratio"...maybe in few years I'll post the result of my "evolution"

Grazie



Francesco