sketches

This sketch is the ninety-fourth in a 365-day challenge to draw a picture a day, every day, for a year…

Day ninety-four: Continuing the woodcut theme for a second day, this pine tree is based on one by German printmaker Albrecht Altdorfer. It’s from a series of forty tiny woodcuts narrating “The Fall and Redemption of Mankind,” made around 1513. Each highly detailed and complex composition is about 3 x 2 inches. Altdorfer is believed to be one of the first Western artists to produce pure landscapes, and this series incorporates landscape elements to create dramatic atmosphere. After I roughed in the basic shape of the tree, I began to explore contrast more spontaneously. Although my lines are not as tidy and the night sky isn’t filled in fully, the effect is similar.