Draw an Ionic capital with a pencil on a sheet of A4 or A3 paper.
More complex in form, the Ionic capital differs from the Doric saturation of the surface with additional decorative elements - ionics and volutes. This actually complicates the task of depicting this kind of decorated capitals, since the decorative elements distract attention and make it difficult to see its main constructive essence, which is no different from the Doric. It consists of three main elements - a column shaft (cylinder), an abacus (a thickened square plate) and an echinus adjoining it (a quarter shaft) (Fig. 1).
Rice.
For the correct image of the Ionic capital, it is necessary to understand the structural patterns of the structure of decorative details in conjunction with the constructive basis of the capital itself - the square of the abacus with the cylinder of the column. If we mentally remove the details, then we will see the trunk of the column and the abacus with a quarter shaft adjacent to it. This technique gives a clear understanding of the fundamentals of the design of the capital. Additional details will be specified later. When depicting a capital on a sheet plane, you first need to build an abacus with a column shaft, and then attach a volute structure to them. Figure 1 shows the construction of an image of its constituent elements with their subsequent refinement.
Rice.
To begin with, it is useful to draw the elements of ionics separately. At one time, such ornaments were carved from a continuous longitudinal strip of marble, the profile of which was close to the quarter shaft. Ionica resembles an ovoid shape with a cut top, framed by a stylized leaf and divided by arrows. At the base of the ornament there is a thin strip of beads, the profile of which is a roller. For the correct distribution of the ornament in the figure, the entire visible part of the shaft should be evenly marked with transverse axes, taking into account the perspective and roundness of the shape, with some axes running along the arrows, others along the ionics. Then the contours of the details of the ornament are drawn, refining their proportions, taking into account the perspective and bringing the drawing closer to the stage of black and white elaboration. At the same time, during the drawing of small details of the ornament, significant distortions in the shape of the quarter shaft profile can be made, which should be paid attention to. When constructing a half of an Ionic capital (as well as when depicting a half of a Doric order capital), it is important to first draw the contours of the whole form, and then make a symmetrical vertical section, leaving the necessary half for further work, and the auxiliary one for further refinement of the main one.
The construction of the image of the structural elements of the volute and its constituent parts are shown in Figures 1.2. Starting to draw architectural details from nature, it is necessary to work in the following sequence:
1. Constructive analysis of the form and its individual elements in interconnection. 2. Selecting a point of view, taking into account the horizon line and placing the image on the sheet. 3. Construction of the design of the object, taking into account the proportion, perspective and character. 4. Identification of the three-dimensional form of an object using chiaroscuro. 5. Summing up and summarizing the drawing.
Rice. Perspective construction of the image of the capital of the Corinthian order
Drawing of Tuscan, Doric, Ionic Greek, Ionic Roman, Corinthian and Composite columns.
In order to choose the right columns that will decorate the facade of the house, many are looking for pictures, the columns on which emphasize the intended style or even are a style-forming element. Since the columns in European architecture are a product of ancient creativity, it is worth familiarizing yourself with the columns in the drawings from the albums that were compiled by architectural historians. If you want to create a structure that resembles an antique one, you can see the columns in the photo of the ancient temples of Greece. For example, the illustration of the temple of Zeus at Olympia, the construction of which was led by Libo, and then Phidias between 472 and 456 years. Temple of Zeus - Doric peripter. Along the perimeter, the temple was decorated with a Doric colonnade: 13 columns were located along the side of the facade, 6 columns along the short sides under the pediment - the main facades. This rhythm and ratio between the parameters of the sides demonstrates the basic proportions used by Greek architects.
An illustration of the Temple of Zeus at Olympia - presumably this is how this ancient building looked before destruction.
Recently, more and more often, when decorating facades, ready-made columns made of various materials, such as polyurethane, are used. Pictures of such columns are presented on the site, and from them you can choose the most appropriate style. This type of column is used if they do not carry loads. If there is a load, then load-bearing columns made of steel or reinforced concrete are used, which can be finished with decor. It is for such cases that polyurethane columns are produced in the form of two half-columns..jpg But columns belong not only to ancient Greek and Roman cultures. If you want to decorate the facade of the house with Egyptian motifs, you can use Egyptian-style columns. To get acquainted with the Egyptian style, you can study the pictures with the columns of Ancient Egypt, which have survived to this day. On the Egyptian columns, letters and ornaments were applied. The columns could have smooth trunks or resemble intertwining plants. Sometimes the capitals resembled a bud or an open papyrus flower.
Egyptian columns are very colorful and pictorial.
Very informative in terms of the Egyptian style will be a column with a hathoric capital depicting the head of the goddess Hathor, like the columns in the photo below.
Egyptian columns with Hathoric capitals. Sanctuary of Hathor. Hypostyle hall. Lithography 19th century
The effect can be enhanced by sculptures that are installed in front of the columns and rest on them, which do not carry a load. An example of such a symbiosis is in the picture with the columns below.
Columns and sculptures in Medinet Habu, Djoser's Ramesseum Ensemble in Sakar, Temple of Ramses III. 1185 - 1153 BC e.
Of course, in modern houses, the proportions of the columns change in accordance with the height of the building. In addition, literal quotations of historical prototypes may turn out to be pretentious, but ornamental motifs and elements of columns, as in the figure below, can be transferred.
Ornamental Egyptian column motifs and designs can be transferred to columns in modern buildings.
Columns are also inherent in oriental architecture, for example, the architecture of India. India has often been the subject of dreams for Westerners. An Indian-style house will be a bright accent that attracts attention, and the main element will be the columns, as in the photo below. It is not so easy to single out a single Indian style, since Indian architecture is represented by a large number of trends that have developed from the traditions of a large number of peoples living in this country. But if they decide to include columns with Indian motifs in the design of the modern facade, they get the desired effect. You can focus on pictures with columns, which, for example, belong to the Mauryan era (the beginning of the reign of King Ashoka Maurya, when the country reached its peak -262 BC). The pillar of Ashoka (Sarnath) can serve as a model. The Ashoka Pillar was created at the beginning of the 3rd century. The base on which the words from the Dharma Chakra - (Wheel of the Law) - the code of the state are carved, has survived to this day. The capital with four lions is now kept in the Sarnath Archaeological Museum, it has become the national emblem of India and a symbol on the country's coat of arms. The figures of lions seem to guard the power, looking at all directions of the world. On their backs is a wheel, symbolizing the movement of the universe. Under the figures of lions there are reliefs with dynamic images of animals, as if running after each other, symbolizing the closed cycle of human life. The figures are supported by a lotus, petals facing down. You can also take as a basis the picture with the column of Ashoka in Rampurva, with the figure of a bull standing on a bell. Despite the fact that such columns marked the territory of the rulers and were not decorations of Indian facades, the idea can be used in the decor of a modern building to give it an Indian style.
Capital with four lions of the column of Ashoka. 3 in. AD kept in Sarnath Archaeological Museum.
Another version of the Indian style can be a carved column with voluminous figures based on Indian mythology and writings, which can be made of both stone and artificial materials imitating stone so that it resembles, for example, the column in the photo below.
Columns of the Krishna temple in Naggar.
Or the columns resemble, for example, the columns in the photo from the Malikarjuna temple
Interior of the Malikarjuna temple.
Having decided on the style of the building and the design of the facade, they choose pictures with columns that fit the specific building and the idea that the architect wanted to convey.
Structural drawing - this is a branch of the discipline of academic drawing - the drawing of the external contours of objects, both visible and invisible, made with the help of construction lines. You create a "skeleton" of the object that you are going to draw. And in order to create such a frame, you need to analyze the depicted object. A constructive drawing begins with analysis.
Take a closer look, think about what the object consists of? From what geometric bodies? And what are the simplest geometric bodies? This is a cube, ball, cylinder, cone, prism, etc. If you learn to see geometric bodies in the objects around you, then you can easily create a frame, or, more precisely, a constructive pattern.
For example, let's take an ordinary bottle. It contains a cylinder, maybe a cone (truncated), also maybe a truncated ball or torus. Or, for example, a wardrobe or a table - consists of a tetrahedral prism or, perhaps, of cubes and parallelepipeds.
Therefore, the first step is to learn to find geometric bodies in everything that surrounds us. This will help develop spatial thinking.
The second step is the image of the "framework". You need to learn how to correctly place the geometric bodies that make up the depicted object in space. This requires knowledge of linear perspective.
That is, you need to know what the horizon line is, the vanishing points and how to use this knowledge. For example, when we draw an ordinary cube, we draw lines of parallel faces of the cube so that they converge at one point or two points on the horizon line.
The second point is the center line.
It helps to create the design correctly. For example, we need to draw two cylinders of different thickness, that is, different diameters. And one cylinder is located above the other. We make, for example, the design of a bottle. For this we need a centerline. If the bottle is standing, then this line will be vertical.
Draw a vertical line. Draw a rectangle (the main part of the bottle) so that this line runs in the middle. Draw another rectangle (neck) smaller so that the center line runs in the middle. Now you need to draw (construct) 4 ellipses - below and above each of the rectangles.
Already becomes something more like a bottle. Or here's another version of the constructive drawing. If you are drawing a bottle in perspective, look at it from the side and a little from above. How do we create a constructive drawing in this case? First, we draw not two rectangles, but two tetrahedral prisms, from which we will then get two cylinders.
It is clear that at first one prism is the main one. Further, we draw diagonals on the lower and upper planes of this prism, we get two points. We connect these points - we get the middle axis. This axis will help us build another prism correctly, from which we will create a bottle neck cylinder.
Putting one prism on top of another, we build two cylinders. After that, we round the corners, we give this design the credibility of the bottle. You can create not only designs of such simple objects as dishes, furniture, but also animals and even humans.
Despite the complexity of the structure of a person or animal, we can find simple geometric bodies in them - cylinders, prisms, cubes, balls, etc. Just to master a constructive drawing, you need to see, as if through and through, what consists of what we draw.
Start developing volumetric thinking with an ordinary cube. Draw it on a piece of paper, this is, whatever one may say, the basis. This is where construction begins. The cube represents the three dimensions of space - width, height and depth.
The latter, that is, depth, is an illusion, since we cannot have depth on the plane of the sheet. Here are some examples of constructive construction.
It is in this way that a frame or wrapping surface is created for the future object. This is the constructive structure.
Now let's look at examples of a constructive step-by-step drawing from simple geometric shapes to a human figure:
Step by step drawing methodology...
Constructive analysis of the shape of household items.
Study of perspective on the example of cubes of various sizes.
Still life of geometric bodies.
Subject still life at the stage of shaping.
Finished subject still life.
Simple table still life.
Drawing of a complex subject.
Gypsum palette drawing.
Drawing of the capital of an Ionic order column.
Drapery pattern.
Perspective interior drawing.
Constructive analysis of the shape of the skull with hatching.
Drawing of the stump of a human head.
Ecorche drawing of a human head.
Drawing the eye of David is an exercise in understanding the shape of the parts of the human head.
Constructive construction of the human head (front part).
Constructive analysis of a human head with weak shading.
Drawing of the plaster head of the condatiere Gattamelata.
Analysis of the form of the plaster head of Apollo Belvedere from several angles.
Drawing of the head of Zeus in two angles.
Drawing of the head of the emperor Hadrian's favorite - Antinous.
The capital consists of three main parts (Fig. 87). The upper part, the abacus, is a thick square plate, which is crowned with a heel and a shelf. Below it is an echinus, then a transitional part to the column, consisting of three belts or a neck, which mates with the column's trunk. A little lower there is a protruding ridge with a shelf, called an astragalus, which also mates with the column shaft through a fillet. If you mentally imagine a capital without small elements: an echina with belts, an astragalus with a shelf and without a fillet relief, then it is easy to determine what geometric shapes its base consists of. Of course, the column shaft consists of a cylinder, and the abacus is made of a thick square slab, located symmetrically in the center on the upper base of the cylinder. With a separate examination of its additional elements, it can be seen that the profile of the echinus is close to a quarter shaft, and the astragalus is a body formed by the movement of a ball around a circle at some distance from the surface of the cylinder, with a shelf adjacent to it from below.
The shapes of capitals, regardless of their variety and style, always have regular geometric shapes, more often related to bodies of revolution. Combinations of various surfaces form complex shapes, which is why drawing capitals in the educational process is one of the most difficult tasks.
Work on the drawing of the capital should begin with the compositional placement of the image on a sheet of paper after a preliminary examination of the nature from all sides in order to determine the most favorable point of view for placing the image. The successful solution of the compositional problem largely depends on how expressively the point of view is chosen.
The construction of the image begins with a general form. Given that it is based on bodies of revolution, you should first determine the common vertical axis of the capital, and then proceed to the perspective construction of the image. At the same time, it is very important to strictly monitor the proportional relationships of all parts and the whole.
When depicting classical orders, it is extremely important from the very beginning to maintain the main proportional values as accurately as possible. The correctness of the ratio of the values of its other elements will depend on how correctly the main dimensions of the capital are determined. In addition to the importance of observing the proportion, it is equally important to be able to correctly build the volumetric-spatial design of the capital.
The construction of the capital structure can be started from the square base of the abacus or from the circumference of the upper base of the quarter shaft. The main thing here is to correctly build two connecting elements in a perspective perspective. But, as long-term practice shows, the vast majority of students encounter difficulties when fitting a circle into a square (an ellipse into a rhombus). It should be noted that when building a square in perspective, in order to later fit a circle (ellipse) into it, it must be remembered that regardless of the position of the corners of the plate relative to the point of view and its angles, the elliptical circle must always be built strictly in a horizontal position, taking into account perspective abbreviations. Moreover, the middle of each of the sides of the square of the plate should touch the circle (ellipse). It is unacceptable to try to fit the image of an ellipse to an incorrectly constructed square. This will lead to significant distortions, both of the elements themselves and of the entire image.
Rice. 88 Perspective construction of the image of the capital of the Doric order
Students with such complications are advised to start by building an ellipse, and then from a visible angle try to build an abacus based on it. The credibility of constructing two elements depends on the correct construction of the ellipse itself, which was discussed in detail in previous tasks on the image of geometric bodies, in particular, when constructing bodies of revolution and their circles in perspective.
Having completed the construction of the upper structural elements of the capital, they begin to build the base of the column shaft. Given the foreshortening positions of the full-scale model, one should rely on the regularities of perspective. If the subject is high above the horizon or close to such a position, then the ellipses located at the top will be wider than the ellipses that are closer to the painter.
Correlating the proportions of the parts and the whole, additionally specify their location. Then, with light lines, build all the necessary circles (ellipses) of the details of the capital. When constructing them, it is very important to draw not only visible, but also invisible elements of the capital, as if through and through, transparently, which contributes to the correct image of the three-dimensional design of the capital.
When specifying the details of the capital, it is necessary to proceed from the logic of the structural structure of the elements and their parts. So, for example, the profile of a shelf with a fillet on an abacus, at the nearest vertical edge, as a rule, shifts either to the right or to the left, depending on its position relative to the drawing, etc. The construction of various parts of the capital is shown in the figure. In the process of working on a drawing, one should from time to time approach the depicted model, study the form of certain details of interest. This will help to a certain extent when clarifying them in the figure.
When depicting a half-shaped capital, students often forget that it is part of the whole. Therefore, in order to obtain a correct image of half of the capital, it is necessary to make a complete construction of the image, and not just its visible part. Only after that, you can begin to determine the half of the capital in accordance with its position relative to the drawing. To make the necessary vertical section, it is necessary, taking into account the perspective, to halve the ellipses of the bases, and then the base of the square of the abacus slab. After checking and additional clarifications, the unnecessary half can be slightly weakened, but not immediately disposed of, since with further elaboration and clarifications, some distortions may be made on the desired half.
Thus, an indispensable condition for the completion of work on the construction of a capital pattern is a check at a distance. Only from a certain distance you can see certain shortcomings. Particular attention should be paid to the proportions, perspective, character, volume-spatial form and general condition of the drawing. After clarifying the construction and correcting the mistakes made, one should proceed to identifying the three-dimensional form with chiaroscuro. First you need to outline the boundaries of your own and falling shadows, and then apply a light tone in the shadow areas, followed by a gradual study of light and shade throughout the image and around it, gradually bringing the drawing to a certain degree of completeness.
