Experimentation: Ultraviolet Drawings, Mum
I tried the drawings with the project again, only using photos with one subject because I feel that will work better. I initially started out drawing a picture of my mum when she was a lot younger because I felt like it would offer an interesting drawing and allowed me to play with texture and shading. However, it's hard to establish any form of shading or texture with the ultraviolet pen and because it appears inverted under the light, it doesn't work out that well anyway. I think a line drawing will work better and though it won't have the more realistic quality (if it can be considered more realistic) that I wanted, it is more aesthetically pleasing and gives the necessary detail without too much.
I was unsure about using photos of people at the start as I didn't really want the setting pinned down to anyone in specific for fear of causing offensive or unnecessary drama. My project is about families in general rather than any specifically so I didn't want to disclose any names or faces but now I think the drawings will add another element of family life rather than making it personal.
I talked to one of my tutors after doing the drawings and she recommended trying out different styles by: drawing over photos, seeing how many lines were absolutely necessary to convey a face, continuous line, layering images, taking out the features, alternatively drawing only the more notable features and so on. I'm going to carry on experimenting with style until I find one that works the best with my project and communicates exactly what I want it to.
