The original plate
My copies
Plate two, and the drawings are starting to grow in complexity already. I worked on these copies for longer, each one taking me between half an hour to an hour, so there’s well over ten hours work in this plate.
For this plate, I had the originals blown up closer to the original size, 60 by 46 cm. The eye plate, plate 1,was roughly half size. It struck me that I was making life difficult for myself by doing them smaller than actual size.
Charcoal isn’t easy to work with at the best of times, and trying to squeeze the same amount of detail into a smaller drawing has got to be more difficult than doing them actual size. Unfortunately the biggest my local printer can do is A2, so I had to split this plate in two.
One interesting thing about blowing them up this big is that I could see better how Bargue had done the original drawings. Initially I wasn’t sure if he’d done each line in one stroke, but with the drawings this size I can see that he built them up out of smaller strokes. I don’t feel so bad now about having to do the same myself.
The original plate
My copies
After making such a hash of laying out the drawings on the first half of this plate, I was careful to lay them out a bit more neatly for this half, following the layout of the original.
Bargue has made the second half of this plate a bit harder than the first. Only the first drawing has any construction lines to guide you, after that you’re on your own.
I’m beginning to realise how well thought out the progression of the drawings is. This really is a drawing course, not just a series of plates which you can copy in any order you like. It makes sense. I can feel that I’m getting better at them as I go along. I’m still a bit anxious about some of the later plates though, I really can’t see how I’m going to get good copies of them, they’re so complicated. I’ll cross that bridge when I come to it though, hopefully by the time I get onto the difficult plates, my skill with charcoal will be considerably better.
These drawings are hard work to copy, don’t let anyone tell you different. At least that’s true if you’re being strict with yourself as I am, and trying to get them exact. I’ve seen a few copies of these drawings around the web that people have posted, and whilst some of them are very good, the majority are just somewhere near. I don’t mean to sound superior, that’s fine if the people who did them are happy working that way, but for me, I want to do these drawings as if I was in a proper atelier.
I suspect that I’m still not being rigorous enough, but I really am doing them as well as my eye will let me. If I see a mistake I correct it. It’s tempting to rush ahead and get onto the more interesting plates, but that’s doing yourself and Bargue a disservice I think.
The disadvantage of copying these plates on your own is that your eye is necessarily less accurate than a master’s eye would be, so you’ll miss mistakes that a more practiced eye would point out. I’ll just have to do the best I can.
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Paul, did they must be done with charcoal, or I can use other mediums?
Hi Amanda,
You can do them in pencil too. Most of the time, use a hard pencil like a 3H. Use something darker like a 2b – 6b just for the darker areas. This is for the more colicated plates later in the books. For these ones, I’d rough them out with a 3h and ten go over them with a 2B.
Thank you, I’m going to save those images you posted and try, and awesome site, by the way.
Thanks Amanda 🙂
I’m working on the first plate. Am I wrong but I draw on top of my photocopy which destroys it for future use? I found a great website that describes the beginning process called the Ten Minute Atelier with Many Hellanious. It just gives you the basics but it is a start.
Hi Deborah,
I don’t think there is a right or wrong way to do this practice. The only yardstick should be whether you feel it is developing your drawing skills or not, and how much.
For example, I’ve seen people take measurements by placing a ruler directly on a Bargue plate and then transferring the measurements to their drawing. That’s fine, there’s nothing inherently wrong with it. But if you judge those measurements, you will develop your ability to draw more accurately much more effectively and quickly. It’s harder, yes. But harder practice is generally more effective 🙂
So the question to ask yourself is: “Is this method helping me stretch and develop my drawing skills in the most effective way?” If the answer is yes, then there’s nothing wrong with your approach, in my opinion.
I would say that if you’re drawing directly on your photocopy, you’re missing the opportunity to stretch your accuracy skills by judging the measurements yourself. But I’d need a bit more information on your approach to be sure. Please do feel free to email me.
There is something i don’t get it, why he remove the horizontal & vertical axes ? i read your article but i still don’t get (maybe cause i am not good in English language) , would you please explain it to me in easy meaning ? i need your help in this one Paul .
Because at this time Paul was copying the Bargue plates “incorrectly.” Each pair drawings on this plate is supposed to be copied once. The guidelines are so the sketch layer can be copied in the same manner of the previous plate and THEN the image with the guidelines removed are for finishing the drawing.
Since the plates don’t come with instruction, Paul misinterpreted this intent of this plate so he drew both the sketch and the final copies in succession thus creating two drawings where one would do.
Whre from can I get these Bargue plates or a book with these large plates?