POV: Shapes with different meanings

If you checked my article about light interaction in our environment and found it either to be too boring and science based, or simply too far from the idea of creating visual art, you`ll propably enjoy this blog much more. And it might be that after this it will start to make sense or perhaps tickle some interest and you read it with a different perspective.

Before this I wrote a blog about our sensory system and how it effects how things appear to us. It´s a fundamental thing to understand to be able to overcome some of the complications and challenges in the process of starting a drawing. There are alot of things we can simplify just by understanding a bit of these two subjects.

We draw shapes.

Whether we demonstrate them by outlining or shading. It does not matter, we create shapes. It is more important to understand what is the meaning of them. Are we presenting shadows, objects, time, conditions or movement. Or how about our feelings. To have the ability to consciously choose between them is all you need to create something extraordinary with your art. Create geometrical silhouettes, above them some fluffy outlines and it will instantly give you an image of a city skyline, even without putting any defining shapes of windows or details.

Throw splashes of vibrant colors on a canvas and it will instantly give you a feeling of excitement, pull some of them in the same direction with a brush and you created illusion of movement. Follow the rules on how shadows and shades appear and it will give you a realistic appearance of the subject, almost like stopping the time on a single frame. The illusion is what ever you give to it. That is the power of visual art, and once you pick up that pen or brush, it is your superpower.

Only thing you need to do , is to make the decision what meanings shape will have. Think about it before you start. And try to be spesific with them, you can play by the ear as you make progress, but with my experience, I would dare to say that it is much more effective at the end if you already have a clear idea what your intentions are. Drawing and painting happens in your brains, the physical part of it is just moving material to create shapes.

Let´s look at few examples from my works, just to point out how I explore the shapes. For the past 4 years I have been playing discgolf. I am fascinated with the ability to throw the disc far and accurate, but especially hooked on one spesific part of the throwing process. The split second when you accelerate your body to the max and the disc leaves your hand. As I watched the pro´s do it, I began to notice some points of interest in the process. They accelerate so fast, that their skin begans to move and flow, all around with the muscles. So I began photographing them during the competitions.

The images to me are fascinating, it is only that one frame out of 20, that will capture that movement when the maximum speed occurs and how it effects the body. So it was quite natural that as I looked at the photos, I saw them as reference to recreate the image and try to find a way to express the impact of the speed of the throw.

Here is the charcoal drawing of Väinö Mäkelä.

With this I was still trying to figure out how to capture the movement, and made a decision to keep the effect more subtle. Playing more with softer blur instead of going crazy with abstract elements. Generally I followed the most simple rule on creating the shades. Thinking about what materials are involved and what type of interactions there are. The fabric of the shirt absorbs alot of the light and in a way is solid matter.This means that most of the lighter shades we see in there, depend on the ability to reflect light. So I started covering those areas completely with liquid charcoal, to be able to add light to them with lighter compressed gray charcoal and white chalk. Recreating values in a similar way it happens in reality. In the shadows, as mentioned before, the lighter values are based on the materials ability to reflect light, and in the light, the shades appearance is based on the materials ability to absorb light, so those parts were created by adding darker values on the paper. This work depends more on giving the shapes a realistic appearance.

Another drawing example is the one I made of Eagle Mcmahon. Before this, I had already made several drawings so I felt more bold to play with abstract elements. Since my childhood, I have been a huge fan of comics, and I always found it to be fascinating how movement is described in the most simple ways in comics. Few lines correctly placed here and there ,create a massive impact on the drawings. If we take a look at the beginning stage of this drawing, we can see similar attempt with the brush strokes. The second image shows the progress closer to being finished.

Another example I would like to share would be the portrait of Dave Grohl. Creating some chaotic movement around the face, really does seem to magnify the moment of the scream. It creates more energetic feeling to it. Another benefit that you get with these abstract ideas, is how little details you need to do in the face. More importantly, you can actually ruin the entire work if you finish and polish everything that is in there. Most of it will distract the viewer from the original idea, that is the expression of that spesific moment. For example, I did not draw the teeth, I left them as simple blocks.

Last example that we look, is the portrait of Jimi Hendrix. It is important that as you play with these elements, you evolve it further with each work. I already had a desire years ago to find a way to combine watercolor/Gouache with charcoals, I just could not find a way to effectively use them together, it always seemed to be a little off. But as I started this, I had already built a more confident relation to my process and my vision had much more clarity. I was able to treat each element individually, combine them together in a cohesive way.

Drawing happens in your brains. It´s more about the thought process than how you are holding the pen in your hand. So stop overthinking about techniques and start thinking about what you are creating.

Shapes with different meanings.

Sincerely

Mikko