Cartwright Hall: Classical interiors

The layout of this drawing was chosen after careful consideration if the hall's interior and how the various different shapes within it, complemented each other in the best possible way to create an interesting balance of weight, depth and attraction. This scene, of the staircase, which in some ways reminds me of an old castle interior contains various textures and elements that draw the eye. The cup, the stairs and the walls all have different materials that make them but they all work together to allow for a better finished piece.

Looking at the idea of symmetry and the rule of thirds, this scene was also chosen for it's various angles and perspective lines such as the way the two halves converge on an imaginary line in the central distance and how the staircase and it's banister help to give a sense of depth and volume to the lower floor and itself. One issue is that of the ceiling and its angle. Due to the slant on it, it makes the picture look slanted and this optical illusion is an annoyance of the picture.

Elsewhere though, the addition of smudging and tone also help to add to the overall idea of depth and volume with smaller, more detailed designs having been added to areas of the pillars which emphasise the building's architectural precision. There is a nice variety of shapes in this composition as well such as in the square windows in the centre, the rounded edged cup in the centre foreground and the arches in the left and central background all of which help to ensure that the scene has a point of interest in every third of the drawing. Pencil was the chosen medium for this as it allowed for the effective representation of those sharp boxed lines around the stairs and pillars. Starting with a lighter 2H for general mapping and sizing, before moving on to a B for shading and relining the piece was the best method that I thought would capture the architectural realism of the hall.      

Finally, the lighting in the room came from the window, with a small amount of light coming in from the left and right sides of the image. This added to the composition but made it more difficult to fully capture some smaller element near the base of the window. Overall though, this drawing has worked with various levels of success. There is a clear sense of balance and depth but there are certain issues in the way the perpective works on the tops of the pillars. They were angled slightly off of where they should be but it isn't a major issue and doesn't draw the viewer's eye away from the overall drawing.