Simplification

Fernand Léger, Still Life with Candlestick. (1922). Oil on canvas. Musée d'Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris. Source: http://arthistory.about.com.

"When I transfer the subject of a drawing on to a canvas, I simplify it; I subject its form to the overall conception of this painting; I get rid of the superfluous thing which might be in the way; I clear it of all the parasites which would rob its appearance of purity."- Fernand Leger

 

Simplification

We will begin the abstraction process with our own existing still life drawing, abstracting it, but keeping the form dimensional and the shapes generally recognizable.   For the demonstration examples, I am using my charcoal drawing “Favorite Things”. Using your own completed realistic drawings will give you more time and energy to experiment because you are already familiar with the compositional elements such as value distribution, arrangement, shapes and the three-dimensional form of the shapes. A three-dimensional figure is a figure that has depth in addition to width and height. Many artists feel that all objects can be simplified to the basic geometric shapes (or parts or combinations of them) of cubes, spheres, cylinders, cones, and pyramids.  The most basic method in abstraction is simplification and stylization of a detailed drawing it into a geometric drawing (Brommer, 2009).  Begin by carefully observing your still life drawing.  Decide what the basic geometric shapes of the composition are.  Work them out roughly on sketch paper. 

"When you see a fish you don't think of its scales, do you?  You think of its speed, its floating, flashing body seen through the water. . . . If I made fins and eyes and scales, I would arrest its movement, give a pattern or shape of reality. I want just the flash of its spirit."
 Constantin Brancusi.

 

 

Do a thumbnail drawing, representing the shapes without their details.  Then do another, simplifying it more.  Do as many as you need, but check the original to make sure you are maintaining the essence of the objects. All examples from here on will use my drawing "Favorite Things" (Joan Kresek, 2011) - (the realistic drawing on the left)  Simplified, as the basis of the processes. 

Note: All images are copyright protected and may not be copied, saved, downloaded,
reproduced, or otherwise used in any way without my written permission. 2011 Joan Kresek