- [Oasa] Hi, I'm Oasa DuVernay,
and I am an artist and educator
at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, AKA The Met.
Drawing's essential to both my studio and teaching practice,
because I view mark-making as a cathartic experience.
Another cathartic experience for me,
is looking at amazing works of art,
and trying to understand the processes
that other artists have used to make their work.
It just so happens that one of my
favorite artworks to look at,
was recently on view at The Met,
and we are going to use it for our drawing today.
This crest is from the Bamileke peoples in Cameroon,
and was used for ceremonial purposes,
when a new leader would ascend the throne.
There are so many things that I love about this artwork.
The large bold forms that create the shifts in surface,
the way these large shapes come together to form a face.
The fact that, although we can look directly at the face,
its gaze is beyond anything that the viewer can see.
For me, as a black woman,
this is the embodiment of Afrofuturism.
To see oneself beyond how this world has chosen to see me.
The texture. Some of these grooves made by hand,
and some made by time and the elements.
I think there is so much to be said
about an artwork that is made collectively
by a being's hands, the materials' natural form,
and the persistence of time.
Today, we will focus on creating texture in our drawings
through a combination of line drawing from observation,
and rubbings, while building interesting form
and composition in our artworks.
For this activity, you will need pencils,
preferably soft B pencils,
drawing paper and tracing paper, if you have it.
Erasers, a glue stick, an Exacto knife,
or a pair of scissors,
and finally some interesting textures
to create rubbings from.
We will begin the drawing by making observations
about our object, while sketching them out lightly
on a large sheet of paper.
The first thing that I notice about this crest,
is the forehead area seems larger and flatter
than the rest of the face.
I also noticed there was a large crack on the right side,
and it looks like it was repaired with metal wire.
(pencil scraping against paper)
[ No Sound ]
(pencil scraping against paper)
There are a lot of grooves and paths that may have
been carved by the artist, or occurred naturally.
All of the grooves and paths are basically vertical,
and this leads me up and down the form
until I land on different surfaces,
like these large oval shapes or ellipses.
They are rounded, and then given a lip.
There is a large crack from the left eye
that curves over the bridge of the nose,
that can help me understand these forms
and how they connect.
(pencil scraping against paper)
The cheeks of the figure come out under the eyes
like rounded triangles, or even boomerangs.
The nose bridge is like a long and narrow mountain
with a high, but delicate peak that widens and narrows
as it descends down the face,
and ends with the two small rounded ellipses
for the nostrils that have been carved out
so the inside recedes back into space.
(pencil scraping on paper)
[ No Sound ]
The remainder of the face is a large form
that everything else is resting on.
It sort of resembles half of a football,
and the grooves along the edges are so pronounced
that I imagine that the artist had carved many of them
to resemble pursed lips, or even teeth.
(pencil scraping on paper)
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(pencil sharpener whirring)
(pencil continues scraping)
[ No Sound ]
(light sounds of pencil scraping on paper)
[ No Sound ]
(light sounds of pencil scraping on paper)
[ No Sound ]
(light sounds of pencil scraping on paper)
(siren blaring in background)
(pencil continues scraping)
(light sounds of pencil scraping on paper)
[ No Sound ]
(light sounds of pencil scraping on paper)
(pencil scraping on paper)
Now that I have drawn a basic outline of the crest,
along with some hatching and crosshatching for reference,
the next thing I'm going to do is collect textures
from around my home and neighborhood.
(graphite stick scraping)
Like these old wooden floors from my 100-year-old apartment.
(graphite stick continues scraping)
(graphite stick scraping) (paper rustling)
Tree trunks.
(graphite stick scraping against uneven surface)
[ Distant Talking ]
Cross sections of tree trunks that have been cut down.
We can see here, the tree rings and grooves from tools
used to cut down this tree.
(graphite stick scraping against uneven surface)
And finally, a slab of concrete.
(graphite stick scraping) For these rubbings,
you can use something called a graphite stick,
which I just happened to have a lot of.
Or, you can use the side of your drawing pencil
to create the rubbing on with the tracing paper.
(graphite stick scraping)
Once you have all of your textures,
you're ready to start cutting out
and assembling pieces to add to your drawing.
The first thing I'm going to do
is start looking at the crest
and comparing the textures I see in crest with the rubbings.
I think this rubbing would be a good start
for the rounded ellipse shape of the eyes.
So I'm going to trace that form onto my rubbing,
and cut it out.
[ No Sound ]
(pencil scraping lightly against paper)
[ No Sound ]
(pencil scraping lightly against paper)
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I think this rubbing will work well for the forehead area,
because of the overall texture
and the vertical lines that are created,
so I'm going to cut that out, and add it to the drawing.
[ No Sound ]
Now it's time to start gluing pieces down.
[ No Sound ]
Now that I've found a way to incorporate the rubbings,
I want to start looking at my drawing as a whole,
and comparing it to the actual crest.
And I feel like I would like to add more details,
like the cracks in the crest, and the cast shadows.
I will just draw those in.
I'm not going to spend too much time
trying to make this a perfect replica or copy,
but more so, I just want to enjoy interpreting
this beautiful artwork using some of the forms
in objects around me.
(pencil scraping lightly against paper)
[ No Sound ]
(pencil scraping lightly against paper)
Thanks for joining me for today's Drop-in Drawing.
I would love to see what you created.
If you post an image of your work,
please tag it with hashtag MetSketch.