Drawings

DRAWINGS INSPIRED BY AFRICA

 Patterns are a big part of the african culture. They are recognised as bold and colourful designs, featured on clothing, textiles, pottery and other typical African hand-made arts. They are also used within jewellery, making patterns with beads. The typical patterns of Africa are diamonds triangles and general zig-zag lines. Here are some of my plain pencil sketches and coloured drawings inspired by African patterns:

Typical African Zulu Pattern

Combination of African Patterns seen on Textiles

African Pattern seen on Circular Wicker Baskets

African Pattern seen on Wicker Basket

Colours of African Patterns

Typical African Pattern seen on Pottery

The above drawings are to emphasise the patterns in tribal art work. I have chosen to focus on doing sketches of the patterns because they remind me of tattoos. I thought this was a really good way to reference the art work from African tribes if I were going to choose to do tattoos.
The colour schemes for the drawings are quite interesting, and I have stuck to them with my drawings. African tribal pottery is mostly decorated with earthy mud and clay colours such as terracotta, brown and blacks. This is because they are the colours of the earthy plains which the pottery is made from. The baskets, cloths and jewellery patterns are much more vibrant and colourful, decorated with the dyes from plants and paints.

Typical African Inspired Tribal Tattoo

The above drawing is of a tribal tattoo. This shows how tribal art work evolved over the years. It was once a huge trend to have tribal tattoos, especially on men. However, eve though they were made mordern they had to come from somewhere. I added some colour onto my drawing to make it more vibrant and interesting. I also went for the typical swirls and spikes pattern which for me says 'African Tribal Pattern'.
(They also make me think of Maori tattoos which is something else I have been researching!)

Drawing Inspired by African Tribal Masks

This drawing is inspired by the tribal masks. I chose to do this because it meant I could incorporate both tribal line work and faces together. Instead of using colour, I stuck to using pencil in order to make the sketch again look 'tattoo-like'. For me this drawing really does represent tribal drawings.

Elephant made up of Tribal Patterns

The above image is a sketch of an elephant. I chose to draw an elephant because these are well known tribal animals - especially in Africa. Elephants are commonly seen on African textiles, so I decided tgo incorporate these ideas together. I have drawn an elephant made up of african patterns seen on textiles. Looking at the drawing I think it really represents Africa, not just as tribaism but generally as a country.

I then added colour to the image, using reds, blues, greens and yellows which I would say are the definition of colour within tribal jewellery. I think this drawing really represents the Zulu community as a tribe.

Adding Colour to the Drawing