What to draw?

What to draw? 

Still life

Are you having trouble figuring out what to draw? Finding a subject isn't always easy.  Here are some ideas for drawing and painting with object or still life. You can use these ideas to develop your technical skills and practice drawing techniques, or to explore your ideas through art. There are many ways to use an object or still life to tell a story or evoke a feeling through your drawing. Whether you are drawing a simple, single object or a complicated object, this kind of drawing allows you complete control of your subject.

Traditional Still Life

The traditional set-up of a still life - draped fabric, a bowl of fruit, jug, bottle of wine, or a vase of flowers, usually combines a variety of textures, patterns and shapes to allow the artist to show off their technique, and to delight the viewer in doing so. Probably the hardest thing is getting a pleasing arrangement! It's really easy for a traditional still life to look boring. Probably the most common mistake is flat lighting, though the consequences of that depend on how you handle the picture. A shadow box or dark background, combined with a single light source, does much to create interest. Or, you can heighten colour and look for an interesting viewpoint, as in this example by Luxembourg post-impressionist Nico Klopp.    

  

 

 
 

Contemporary Still Life

Contemporary is a pretty broad ranging term these days, but in this context I'm thinking about looking for new materials, crisp design and clean, hard lighting. Forget vintage, heirloom or traditional. Go for modern clean-cut looks (skip the postmodern cultural eclecticism), urban grungy metal or sterile plastic with fluorescent light. Arrange a few stainless steel utensils on a black background, and do a tonal study in graphite pencil, or look for plastic objects with interesting cut-outs and moulding. Machine-made objects can be tricky - a flexi curve ruler makes smooth curved lines easier to draw, but you won’t be allowed to use it in the exam. The contemporary look is hard-edged, clean, crisp and unromantic.

 

 

 Vintage Still Life

Arrange some kid's toys, especially wooden ones, and old storybooks. A single object cropped in close, or a group on a window-sill can look great. Rocking chairs, old kettles, ball of yarn and knitting pins. Add pattern with checked fabrics - floral if you have the patience for it - and look for worn surfaces, rust and peeling paint. Try a charcoal or pastel drawing. Create a permanent 'coffee stain' by 'stamping' with a coffee mug and sepia ink, and spatter some over the paper. Add some crumples. Cream coloured paper and sepia ink or pencils, or a muted palette, can all add to a vintage feel. Alternatively try cream or off-white paper with the just-faded bright reminiscent of vintage magazines and posters.

       

 

 

 

 Narrative or Illustration

There is a strong narrative tradition in many forms of art. The artist arranges the subject so that the viewer has the feeling of walking in on a story - one that is in progress, has just happened, or is about to happen. A bloody knife, a broken object, historical items and photographs, clothes on a chair - objects can be loaded with meaning. A traditional narrative painting will usually be full of figures with dramatic gestures and action. In still life, the objects need to communicate for you. Imagine the protagonist (main character) in your 'story' has just left the room - perhaps in a great hurry! What is left behind? The most successful examples are when you manage to hint to the viewer without being too obvious or illustrative.