Drawing From Reference

Hippy Movement

I managed to get hold of a really big book documenting, quite thoroughly, the hippy movement, from the library. I found a lot of great photographs in it and used it extensively as reference material, as well some photos of Woodstock Festival I found online.  Below are my favourite drawings.

I really liked the texture my pro-marker made when it started to run out of ink, it created quite a psychedelic pattern which I felt fitted nicely with the subject matter. I was pleased with where I left this drawing as well, I think I managed to reduce it down to contain all the essential information without compromising on personality.     

I really enjoy working with ink in a loose, messy way, particularly all the stray markings that occur, and the way lines become inconsistent due to the varying amounts of ink on the brush/ dipping pen. I think it helps a drawing retain a human touch and spontaneity.    

There isn't anything I particularly like about about the line quality or the style in which I drew this but I feel like I managed to capture a very genuine seeming facial expression. 

I quite like the composition I achieved using very minimal line in this drawing, and just the use of very minimal line in general. I think I successfully identified the essential information and managed to communicate it in a quite an elegant way.  

I like this drawing because despite being just a singular drawing I created from a reference photograph, I feel like this character has a lot of potential to be developed and have narratives created around/ for him. He looks a little like a super hero because of the cape. I also like the contradiction between him being a hippy but carrying an AK47 (albeit a fake one) but that's just due to the photograph. It's a big reason i wanted to do a drawing of him. 

I like these two characters because of the rough unfinished look of the drawing and my interpretation of the pattern on the man on the right's shirt.

Overall, what I enjoyed the most, and found the most challenging, about this brief was trying to create a sense of personality or character in these drawings in different ways. I feel like although I had some wildly different approaches, they each have their own merits and I am happy with the array of outcomes. I do feel, however, that I could have explored the use of colour a bit more, and perhaps should have done, seeing as the hippy movement is so synonymous with bright, psychedelic colours and patterns. The main reason I didn't was because there is so much to experiment with in that area and i wanted to primarily focus on people and character.