Making Art
: Crayon and Pastel Drawing —
  Cave Creature

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Exemplars Mid Range
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This work is characterised by bold filling of the page and strongly applied pastel. The duck billed creature may owe much to "Australiana" in its choice of colouring and pattern. The confident heavy black outline tends to flatten the design. Although no attempt has been made to give the swampy context, the creature's form seems well adapted to that environment. The way it moves around the page is assured.
 
The body is boldly patterned and strongly decorative. In contrast to the body, the head feels a little pale and insipid, lacking the strong colour and defined features of the rest of the creature. This lack of continuity tends to fragment the reading of the image as a whole. The suggested movement in the tail probably arises from the need to fill the space on the paper rather than any intention to suggest drama. There are no indications of the context where this creature lives. Colours are used very discretely with no attempt to blend.
 
A ferocious evil grin has nasty pointy teeth and crossed bloodshot eyes. The pastel is energetically scribbled to give a damp furry appearance. Main features are emphatically outlined in contrast to the soft body. While understanding contrast and depicting some stereotypical fierceness, the drawing lacks development of either form or context. Children exposed to many years of drawing "monsters" will often resort to their previous schema without elaboration. This could indicate failure of the task to inspire new challenges as much as any apparent limitations in the drawing itself.
 
The bold graduated colour on the tail suggests the potential power of this student's work. However, much of the remainder of the drawing is filled with small linear patterns. In terms of overall design the creature has a pitbull like ferocious head with spiky ornamentation. Given more time to develop both the form and context this creature might become boldly original and vibrantly alive.
 
One of the many "bug-eyed spotty monsters" this task inspired! Imaginative tasks can generate these kinds of solutions when there are no opportunities for directed observation of actual creatures in motion. There is conscious use of bold colour patterning as well as mixed colour in the paler areas which could be either wings or background. The drawing appears to be growing from the centre outwards while remaining strictly frontal in pose. A developed background would enhance the potential drama. The limbs are "sausage-like" and non-threatening in their formlessness.
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