One of the assets of this blog - which started 20 years ago - is there is a very considerable archive of past posts - some of which have been very popular indeed.
I've just come across a post which highlights what were the 10 most popular posts in 2011 - after the first five years of Making A Mark.
During this period I did regular "big projects" on specific topics - and these are reflected in the most popular posts
Below are the top five posts - with the links to each blog post embedded in its title.Tomorrow I'll list the next 5 posts in the top 10
I've extracted a short piece of text and an image from each one - so you can get an insight as to what the post is about.
CAUTION: Given the age of the posts some of the links embedded in the post will no longer work as websites have died and been wound up.
1. 10 Tips for How to Sketch People
Drawing and sketching people is an invaluable way of developing a wide range of artistic skills.
I've been drawing people for very many years - family, friends, people in cafes and restaurants, life class models - and other artists. People often tell me how much they like the sketches I make of people I come across on my travels with a sketchbook - which I find a bit odd as most rarely have faces!
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| Cheers Boston! (sketching fellow travellers at Logan Airport, Boston, USA September 2006) 8" x 10", pen and sepia ink and coloured pencils copyright Katherine Tyrrell |
2. Van Gogh: Drawing media and techniques
Drawing Media:
- Pencil: He employed pencil for preliminary drawings and then combined it with ink. He often worked with a carpenter's pencil. He liked to press hard and often worked on wet paper.
- Pen and ink: Van Gogh had a remarkable gift for pen drawing and graphic technique.
- Most of Van Gogh's pen and ink and brush drawings (such as the one above) are executed first in pencil first. He then inks/bruhes over the pencil marks once he is happy with them.
- some of his pen and ink drawings are drawn without any preliminary use of pencil
- During his visit to Arles in 1888, Van Gogh discovered the reed pen (made from local hollow-barreled grass, sharpened with a penknife). It changed his drawing style. He created some extraordinary drawings of the Provençal landscape, including a series of drawings of and from Montmajour (east of Arles) , in reed pen and aniline ink on laid paper. The ink has now faded to a dull brown.
- The Van Gogh Museum is conducting research into pigments and drawing inks in use in the period 1888-1890 and comparing this to the inks Van Gogh used [UPDATE: See the Research Results REVIGO: Paintings - which also comments on inks]
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| Trees with ivy in the asylum garden, 1889 Vincent van Gogh (1853-1890) Saint-Rémy-de-Provence, May-June 1889 pencil, reed pen and brush and ink, on paper, 61.8 cm x 47.1 cm Credits: Van Gogh Museum, Amsterdam (Vincent van Gogh Foundation) |
3. Composition - Principles of Design
This post forms part of an introduction to the elements and principles of composition and design and follows on from yesterday's post about the elements of design.It's an overview. More can be written about each and every principle - and has been!
- Good composition doesn't happen by accident. A quick reminder. The analogy which I find helpful for remembering which is which is to compare the elements and principles of art and design to the ingredients and method of a recipe. Cookery and composition have quite a lot in common!
- All the elements are ingredients - they are separate and need to be combined effectively to produce a successful outcome. Each ingredient gets to play a major or a minor role in the eventual outcome. This, in part, is dependent on the quantities employed and, in part, on the nature and intrinsic power of each ingredient (think garlic and chilis!).
- It's the particular way that they they are combined - using the principles of design - which enables a successful outcome. The same ingredients can for example be combined in a number of different ways (think of recipes for eggs!)
