Woodland pencil sketch

[Danté]

A colour pencil sketch on A4 220gsm off white paper photographed in natural light, unedited aside from sizing for posting.

[delph_ambi]

Love the pathway and the soft grassy banks. Technically, I think you should have gone for less colour saturation in the further trees and more variety in the 'leaf' shapes to give more of a feeling of recession. It's a very complex subject, which I wouldn't be sure how to tackle, but luckily my art teacher is covering this (techniques for depicting foliage) in next Thursday's lesson, so I may have a few more ideas then.

[Mic]

Hi Dante,

This is my very favourite of yours to date, it has a very beguiling appeal - lots of warmth and depth. I feel invited in. Really like it.

Mic

[marten]

A great composition! I love the flow of the trees and the one tree in the foreground to the fence in the background giving depth to the drawing. Very warm and pleasing to the eye.

marten

[JohnLott]

Simplistic, yes; but the quality of light and dimension achieved is really v. good.



J.

[Danté]

Delph_ambi, Many thanks for the reply and for taking a look at the drawing. I get what you are saying about the resolution of the trees as they become more distant. I didn’t fret over it when drawing as the picture is meant to be viewed from a short distance so I kept things fairly simple like with the foliage which could have been drawn as a few hundred smiley faces in various colours and shades and still work at the desired viewing distance. The leaf colours used here are pretty much indiscernible shape wise and I wanted the light effect without spending days on an A4 quickie.
You are spot on with your critique here, but there is a point where approach becomes subjective and I think you know that: had I wanted to spend time crafting each individual leaf I could have done so. I can paint foliage in a way which works fine so I know how to represent it using a brush, something I’ve a reasonable bit of experience of. I’m discovering pencils and enjoying them immensely, just pick one up and draw, no messing around and I’m loving that aspect of using them so will gradually get to grips with how they work with my subject matter.


Thanks Mic, I almost named the picture “Your Choice” as there are a few routes that one could follow and each is quite different in where they appear they might lead in respect of terrain. Landscapes are familiar territory although I’ve only really used oils or acrylics and a very occasional water colour rendering to create the pictures, hence I am struggling with pencils which I intend to practice with until I feel happy with the results.

Thanks Marten, although I’m perfectly happy to have my work torn to shreds it’s a real boost to know how the picture comes across in what I wanted to achieve with colour tone and the approach to the forms, much appreciated.

John, Yes the light is where I concentrate when doing this kind of picture. Perfect form is nothing without colour and tone, I do very much lean towards impressionism when approaching landscape pictures which are meant to work when one views from a distance, I’m influenced by Turner, Monet, Constable, Van Gough, along with a few others whose work I have studied for many, many hours. Incidentally I live a 15 min drive from where Constable once lived which is right in thick of what many of his paintings depict. Always, much appreciated feedback.

Many thanks

Danté