Iconographer Steve Knight has put together a series of drawings that show the creation of his latest icon, Mother of God. (Contributed images)
Steve Knight is a well-known iconographer whose works are in demand across the Archdiocese of Vancouver. But lately he’s begun finding ways to help people learn more about icons, their creation, and how to read them.
Knight spent 19 months working on a Stations of the Cross project for his parish, Holy Cross in Burnaby, completing it earlier this year.
After the Stations of the Cross had been installed in Holy Cross Church, several parishioners suggested doing more with the project. It was decided to create a booklet of prayers and meditation for the weekly Stations service. Below is a sample of the result.
Knight was then asked to make a presentation to the parishioners on the creation of the stations and how to “read” what the images said. “We met and had a wonderful 1-1/2-hour session,” said Knight.
He then set to work finishing his icon of St. Catherine of Siena, the fourth image in a series of seven for a family at his parish.
Once St. Catherine was completed, Knight came up with a new idea. “I thought it might be a good idea to undertake some technical exercises.”
The result was the following set of drawings, showing step by step progress on the Mother of God icon he was working on.
“The basic unit of measurement on which the whole drawing is based is one nose length or two eye widths. It was a great exercise. I intend on doing more of these.”
Mother of God model on which the drawing is based. A vertical and horizontal line have been added which will be transferred to the drawing. The head of Emmanuel has been left out. A grid will be added later. The basic structure of the face. The horizontal line marks the top of the nose, which is the basic unit of measurement for the face. The vertical line marks the centre of the image. This line is divided into five sections based on the nose length. The nose is divided into thirds. The top is divided in half for the eyes and the bottom third is the bulb at the end of the nose. The nose is offset to one side.
The eyes: Each eye is about half a nose. The height is half an eye width. The eyes are one eye apart (half an eye on each side of the vertical line.
The mouth: The width of the mouth is one eye width and about ¾ of an eye below the nose tip. The height of the lips is about 1/3 the width of the mouth. The chin is one eye width below the tip of the nose.
The face: For the cheekbone, measure slightly more than 2 eye widths to the left of the vertical line for the wide side of the face and slightly less than 2 eye widths to the right for the smaller side. The top of the face is about ½ a nose above the top of the nose. The jaw is at the bottom of the fourth section. The ears fit between the top of the nose and the tip of the nose. The right-side ear is a little smaller.
The neck: The neck begins at a line below the mouth and ends at the bottom of the fifth section. The neck is wider at the base.
Construct a grid pattern: Working out from the centre of the vertical and horizontal lines, mark points one nose length apart on the model and the drawing page. The five sections of the vertical line are part of the grid. Connect the dots. Use the grid pattern to draw the garments. Pay close attention to the model. The lines in the image are the outside ones.
Add the trim around the outer garment. This can be tricky.
