The main positive of drawing with shape is that you can produce imagery that is both minimal and dynamic in it's appearance. This is particularly useful when applied to commercial work/functional image making.
Some would argue that tone and personality can be lost through this approach to image making due to the fact that it can result in colder, graphic looking imagery. However I don't think this is necessarily the case due to the fact that many established practitioners who create shape driven work produce imagery that is charming, emotive and easily recognisable as there own.
( Olimpia Zagnoli )
( Eleni Kalkoti )
This is often achieved through use of texture, even if only subtlety, as well as being playful with composition, particularity with regards to perspective and character interaction. Both of these methods are easily applied to shape driven drawing due to its minimal nature which arguably allows you to be more free in regards to process.
Eleni Kalkoti and Olimpia Zagnolia can both be seen as examples of this and subsequently I have grown a deep admiration for them as practitioners and absolutely love their work. This is mainly due to the wacky inventiveness that both apply to their images which seem highly dynamic yet easily readable and, when de constructed, are relatively simple. I also find it very interesting that they are both able to achieve this even though one produces very flat uniform imagery and the other's is full of texture. Something to bear in mind when responding to this brief.
Below is Geoff Mcfettridge, king of shape based imagery ( in my opinion) , whom I've already discussed in detail before but had to be included in this post seeing as it is all about shape.
Out of my final images produced for this task (first four images below) I personally like the green and black one the most. In particular I like how the more complex form of the hat sitting within the circle contrasts with the simplicity of the other shapes used. I also like how the textured/patterned shapes such as the lips and top sit next to the flatter parts of the image.
I tried to apply these when creating the yellow and blue images however I feel they haven't worked as well mainly due to bad use of tone. For example on the yellow image the right hand has become lost in the shirt due to the grey ink wash I used being too dark. In much the same way the face in the mirror doesn't contrast well enough against it's back drop due to the pale blue I have used.
However what I do like about all three of these is just how minimal I have been when producing them as I set myself the challenge of trying to use as few shapes as possible. I think these has created some ok imagery although, as expected it is a little flat and in future I could take into account depth of field when approaching shape driven imagery.
In response to this though I tried to add a fore, mid and back ground to the image bellow. This has worked reasonably well however it still feels rather static although this is probably due to the boring stance and face on perspective of the depicted figure.
In contrast to the first images I produced a variety of images within my sketchbook (the best of which are pictured above) that were more complex in there construction and had a much heavier use of texture. This was created in a variety of different ways such as ink wash, paint, charcoal, pastel and paper from magazines/newspapers. Although I don't like these images as much, as discussed at the start of this post, the heavy use of texture definitely does add I deeper level of personality and charm to the images.
Out of everything I produced for this brief this image of a hunched women in my sketchbook was my favourite. This is due to its simple construction and lack of distinctive facial features which I feel give it a ambiguous and almost unsettling feel. Furthermore I love how the dominate shape of the black shall interacts with both the page it is sat on and the white/ink washed hands and face.
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