UNIT 7 Reportage Drawing

Reportage drawings are really quick drawings of what you can see in front of you, this form of time based media is a more traditional method as it just uses paper and pen (or any other media you may use at the time) rather than using any technology or optical illusions. The purpose of reportage drawing is for you to record whatever you are looking at for example if I were to catch a bus I may produce several drawings of my view from the window at certain intervals during the journey however I would have to look once and draw it quickly from memory as the bus is constantly moving. For this workshop we were asked to complete several tasks that were slightly different to create a series of reportage drawings.

For the first task we were asked to do thirty second drawings of each other, we could either draw full portraits or just focus on certain aspects. I found this task incredibly hard as I am used to taking my time therefore throughout the five drawings for this task you can see I started off big and barely completed an outline therefore I began drawing smaller so I would have more time for details however towards the end I gained more confidence as I became accustomed to drawing quickly and

drew the last couple sketches a little bigger. For this tasked used pen as it is a media I am comfortable and confident working in.

For the second task we were asked to complete five continuous line drawings of the objects around us, each drawing was thirty seconds and we had to use different media when possible. I used pencil to draw an empty cola bottle, blue felt tip to draw a box of pencils, pen to draw my phone and a green fine liner to draw the hair of one of my classmates. I found this task easier as I built up my confidence in the first task therefore my drawings were fairly sized and I managed to complete all five drawings. Although I found it easier and quicker to do continuous line drawings.

For the third task we were asked to choose an object on the table then draw it five times however each time you must turn your page and use a different colour. Each drawing is to be completed within forty seconds. I choose to draw a goats skull and I drew it rather large so that I would fill the page by then end of it, I found this task the easiest because not only was I confident with drawings quickly on a larger scale but I found an easy way to draw the object on the first turn so that the rest of the drawings would be simpler and look identical to one another to some extent.

In my own opinion, reportage drawing isn't something I would do again simply because my style of artwork is more detailed, something that has a lot of time put into it whereas reportage drawing is fast paced, therefore this is a weakness for me. However, reportage drawing is very effective in completing its purpose therefore if I were in a situation where it is needed I would happily oblige to making a thirty second sketch otherwise I would leave reportage drawing to those who are more suited to a fast paced style of work.