Tracings

I've been aware for some time that the range of marks in my work often lacks variety. This, I think, comes from my almost exclusive use of images created from photographs and printed almost entirely using digital media to generate my work. Recently, being unable to go out and seek high rise buildings 'in the flesh' owing to lockdown, I've been experimenting with drawing on tracing paper direct from photographs. I selected parts of each image and ignored others in an attempt to vary things. 

These I drew in several ways including without looking at the result as I worked ('blind drawing'), tracing selectively and freehand directly off photos, and tracing using a ruler. I also varied a little the medium I used to HB and 2B pencils, graphite and fineliner pens. 

I then layered the drawings, applied layer by cut in Photoshop Elements and rephotographed and reprinted the results in different light conditions ...

... finally dropping in a small amount of colour.

There is much to look at futher. I especially liked the contrast in marks between the traced areas and the ruler-drawn building (pictured centre at the start of this post). The dark tracing paper and the look-throughs to spaces and images underneath also intrigue me.