Today's Class- Today's subject was the idea of a canon of proportion, the idea that at times societies have established specific rules for the depicting of ideal figures. We looked at slides of Ancient Egyptian and Greek sculpture and talked how canons existed in each case, and compared those to Leonardo's Vitruvian Man, which also dealt with the same concept, and the extremes of mannerist painting. The class then started a portfolio exercise relating to the concept.
The Assignment- Students selected an image of a human figure from ads in magazines, and then started reproducing it using foam core (as a skeleton/support) and bristol board to build form (similar to examples from the bamboo show). Above is a student example in progress. When that is completed, a second figure is to be completed using the same process, but changing the proportions of specific parts of the body:
head, torso, feet, upper arms, thighs remain the same size.
neck will be done at 2 times the current size
forearms, lower legs will be done at 3 times the current size
width of shoulders should be twice the current size
Use the same construction technique for the second figure. You may glue the figures to a small base to get them to stand up. Adding color is an option. Below are two student examples of original sized and re-proportioned figures.
