This text is also a testament to the efforts, accomplishments, and critical feedback of the many students who regularly and enthusiastically tested the pedagogical soundness of the material. The term design drawing brings to mind presentation drawings used to convince the viewer of the merits of a design proposal. However, skillful technique is of little value unless accompanied by an understanding of the perceptual principles underlying these techniques.
Seeing creates the images of the external reality that we perceive with open eyes, giving rise to our discovery of the world. It is capable of providing a stable, three-dimensional perception of the moving, changing images that make up our visual world. Drawing encourages us to pay attention and to experience the full range of visual phenomena and appreciate the uniqueness of the most ordinary things.
By promoting a heightened and critical awareness of the visual environment, drawing also nurtures understanding and improves our visual memory. This type of drawing is essential for the initial and developmental stages of the design process. A drawing can never reproduce reality; it can only make visible our perceptions of outer reality and the inner visions of the mind's eye.
The choice of one over the other depends on the purpose of the drawing and what we want to communicate from the subject.
Drawing from Observation
Despite the subjective nature of perception, sight is still the most important sense for gathering information about our world. In the process of seeing, we are able to reach out through space and trace the edges of objects, scan surfaces, feel textures, and explore space. The tactile, kinesthetic nature of drawing as a direct response to sensory phenomena sharpens our awareness of the present, expands our visual memories of the past, and stimulates the imagination to design the future.
1 Line and Shape
We construct these lines as we do in view, to create a sense of the shape's existence in space. In the following chapters we will explore the use of line in conveying light and shadow, texture, and the internal structure of form. For now we are concerned with the role of the line in delineating edges and contours – the most common form of pictorial representation.
Place the tip of the pen or pencil on the paper and imagine that it is actually touching the subject at that point. Place the tip of the pen or pencil on the sheet of paper and imagine that it is in contact with the same point on the subject. Focus all your attention on the contours of the subject and draw a series of blind contour drawings.
Instead, pay attention, feel and register the different nature of edges and contours as you see them. Through the series of closely spaced transverse lines, the shape of the object will be revealed. We are conditioned to see the shapes of things rather than the shapes of the spaces between them.
Drawing something upside down forces us to be less concerned with its identity and more focused on the shapes of the contours and spaces we see. Use a sharp, soft pencil or fine-tipped black pen to focus on and draw the shapes of the negative spaces created by the overlapping chairs. Use a sharp, soft pencil or fine-tipped black pen to focus on and draw the shapes on the paper surface you see inside and between the paper clips.
While none of the faces of a cube appear square to the eye, we may tend to draw one or more faces as squares. As we draw the edges of the positive shapes, we must also be aware of the negative shapes we are creating. The grid allowed Dürer to transfer specific points or line segments to the subject on the picture plane of the drawing.
Finding the center of the frame is simply a matter of using the viewfinder's crosshairs. We then transfer this angle measurement to the drawing, using as a guide the edges of the drawing surface that correspond to the horizontal and vertical reference lines.
2 Tone and Texture
Vision is the result of the stimulation of nerve cells in the retina of the eye, which indicate patterns of light intensity and color. The visual effect of each technique varies according to the nature of the stroke, the medium and the texture of the drawing surface. Regardless of the shading technique we use, we must be fully aware of the tonal value being achieved.
Because tonal value is expressed primarily by the relative ratio of light to dark areas on the drawing surface, the main characteristic of these techniques is the spacing and density of the lines or dots. When displaying the darkest values we must be careful not to lose the white of the paper. Blur the ends of the strokes to reveal curved surfaces, a texture gradient, or subtleties of light and shadow.
The multidirectional nature of hatching also makes it easier to describe the orientation and curvature of surfaces. We can vary the shape, density and direction of strokes to achieve a wide range of tonal values, textures and visual expressions. Tonal values shift as a surface moves away from a light source, with intermediate values occurring on surfaces tangent to the direction of light rays.
The clarity and tonal value of shaded surfaces and cast shadows give clues to the quality of the light source. Side lighting casts one side of the subject in shadow and casts shadows in the opposite direction of the light source. Feast your eyes and focus on the shapes and tonal values of shadow areas and cast shadows.
Within each group, the tonal value may vary to express the nature of the surfaces, but the overall value mapping should remain clear. The range of tonal values used in the drawing affects the weight, harmony and atmosphere of the composition. Visual texture is a representation of surface structure that differs from color or shape.
In fact, the physical texture of the drawing surface gives a visual grain and texture to the drawing itself. Repeat the above exercise, but this time move very close to one of the overlapping edges.
