Royal Armouries

Today, the subject of drawing was the architecture of the inside of the Royal Armouries in Leeds. It is full of amazing structures and areas with great vantage points. The space that was chosen for this drawing was located near the centre of the building where most of the floors and walkways converge. The choice to do this as a landscape was wise as it was easier and better for fitting everything into one space. The omission of the knight statue was also a good choice as it took attention away from the overall focus of the picture and in some ways ruined the weight and balance that was attempted for the final piece. The tone and shading seemed to work well as the lighting cam in from above so it was darker to the sides. Due to a lot of cables and paths, the centre of the page seems somewhat crowded compared to the rest of it but this is okay as it is an accurate portrayal of the real architecture.

A major issue that was found was the ability to accurately draw the perspective and vanishing point of the windows on either side. This was partially rectified in some areas by creating a tonal depth to the windows but overall it was definitely one of the more challenging drawings and one that I am not overly pleased with due to my lack of success with these windows.

As a whole composition though, the eye is drawn to the centre and partially omits the windows and forgives them due to the complex nature of the centre middle ground and it's varied use of line, shape, form and depth. This depth was no doubt-ably added thanks to the varied shading and crosshatching which was used for this reason. It was difficult to get a lot of detail into this space but using some instances of rubbing, there was a creating of some areas being more well lit than others. Other than this, the drawing of the chain mail mesh at the lower area of the page helps to put the scale and distance of the objects into perspective. There is a definite contrast in texture between the centre and the outside and this seems to compliment itself. As well as this, the rule of thirds is present due to the various smaller details providing the drawing with points of interest.

Overall, I struggled with the perspective of the windows and it partially looks flat and abstract because of this. It is, however, a learning experience and I hope to take all that I can from drawing in this wonderfully complex architectural environment and rectify my mistakes for the class' next excursion.