Winchester Musings

Yesterday was a day well spent, sketching in Winchester. Once the capital of great Britain, now instead a very charming touristy kind of town. Complete with decorative Tudor shop fronts, and impressive statues of past kings tucked away in small corners of the main marketing streets.

One sketch in particular I would like to share, was drawn inside Winchester cathedral (much to the amusement of passers by) and took about half an hour. 

It was an odd experience for me. Having been on an animation course now for a year my style of drawing, particularly in the sketches, has changed a great deal. I used to be very Tonal. Block in the values first with rough shapes rather than work at details. Very much in the same way that a painter approaches a blank canvas. 

However I now have become rather fussy, and obsessed with getting good line quality in my work too, as well as depth. This Winchester sketch I would say is a particularly prominent example as it is the first time I have used this technique in architectural drawing. (Before hand I worked very loosely and quickly, trying to capture essence rather than realism). As this sketch, done last year from Beaulieu In the New forest, shows. 

It still manages to impress me even now how within this way of working depth in a picture doesn't have to be tonal at all. Just the thickness of a line and the hardness of a line tells you where it is in space. 

I am not sure what style I prefer however, and I think at the end of the day it doesn't really matter. If you leant something new and you enjoy it, does it matter whether it is rough and ready or fine and detailed. 

I enjoyed this, and I learnt a lot not only about the space inside the cathedral, but about drawing too. So all is good with the world once more 

All The best

Graeme