2D Design Final Charcoal Drawing

Today's class- Tonight we did one last charcoal drawing, this one a graded project. In the later part of the class I showed slides of printmaking- examples covering from the 15th century to the present, including some relief prints from me and my friends. I went over some information about the upcoming woodcut book illustration project.

How to make this up- Set up a still life grouping. Place a box on a table, drape it with a white or light colored sheet or towel, and arrange on and around it the following items-

1) a hat
2) a bottle
3) a piece of sports equipment (ball, mitt, etc)
4) a section of a plant (real or artificial- leaves, flowers, etc)
5) any white object

Light it with a direct light to create strong light and shadows. Draw from the set up, using either kind of charcoal, on your 18"x24" paper. Convert the local colors of objects to their appropriate level of value in charcoal. Spend about 3 hours on it. This is a graded project.

Intro to Art- Color Mixing

Today's Class- Today we reviewed examples of color through the history of art, from cave paintings to contemporary painting and comic books. Then we began a class project involving color mixing- doing a color wheel and a complement mixing exercise, as seen above.

How to make this up- There is too much involved to explain it all right now. I have a prepared hand out that I will distribute in class next week and go over with all those who missed today. Since this is a portfolio exercise, it's not due until the end of the semester.

2D Design Charcoal Value Exercises

Today's Class- Today we reviewed slides of art from the Romans to the present, discussing how artists used value to achieve form, space, and focus. Then we did some charcoal still life drawing.

How to make up this class- Put a small box on a table and drape with a white or light colored sheet. Place on and around it at least 4 white or light colored objects, as in the example above. Set up a direct light to create strong light and shadows. Then do the following drawings, spending about 90 minutes on each-

A) Vine Charcoal- use the vine charcoal to coat your whole 18"x24" sheet of paper with a dark, even layer of charcoal. Use your kneaded eraser to draw from the still life, erasing out the lights. You may add more charcoal as necessary to deepen shadows.

B) Compressed Charcoal- DO NOT coat the paper with charcoal first this time, just draw the objects directly on the white paper with the compressed charcoal. Go with a light touch at first, as this doesn't erase easily. Use the charcoal to build values, matching the lights and darks as closely as possible.

These drawings are portfolio exercises, to be graded as part of the final portfolio. As such, they are not due until the end of the semester, but doing them this week will be good practice for the graded charcoal drawing we will do in class next week.

2/19/08 Intro to Art

Today's Class- Today we discussed monumental art and began a project involving making a mosaic collage. For details about how to complete the assignment, as well as additional examples, click here.

Homework- The mosaic collage project is part of the final portfolio, so it is due by the end of the semester. I suggest that you get to it well before then, so you don't have to do it all in the last week.

Those who have not yet provided me with an approved list of artists and artworks for their reseach paper should do it as soon as possible. You can bring it to next week's class, or e-mail me if you'd like to begin the project sooner.

For next week 2/26/08- We will begin our study of color. Bring all your materials related to painting- watercolors, brushes, mixing palette, 18"x24" pad of paper, pencil, and eraser.

Drawing I and 2D Design Line Final

This project is for both my Drawing I and my 2D Design classes at Kean.
How to make this up- Set up your own still life similar to the one in the photo above. Find a box, drape with a sheet or large towel, and arrange on and around it the following objects-

a hat
a shoe
a book
a bottle
a small kitchen appliance (blender, electic can opener, coffee pot, etc)
a telephone (land line or cell phone)

Draw as in the example above, pencil line only (no shading), drawing it large to fill the page. Pay attention to the shapes and proportions of individual objects, the proportion of one object to another, and the spacing between objects. It's ok if some of the objects are partly off the page. This is a graded project that needs to be turned in as soon as possible.

Intro to Art Value Drawing

Today's class- Today we looked at slides that made use of value, ranging from Roman fresco to contemporary art. Then the students did a charcoal drawing from a still life set up.

How to make this up- Find a white or light colored sheet, drape it over a box, and arrange at least 4 white or light colored objects on and in front of the box. Shine a direct light on it to create areas of light and shadow. You may draw the basic composition in pencil first, then use the charcoal to do the shading. Try to match the level of dark and light that you see on the objects and the sheet.

2D Design Contour Lines

 

Today's class- Today we began our study of line with some exercises in contour and negative space. We started with some contour line exercises involving shoes.

Exterior Contour (top photo)- Students selected a shoe, either one of their own, or one from the pile I provided. 30 minutes were spent drawing the exterior contour, the line that marks the silhouette of the shoe (not any of the interior structures), paying attention to overall proportions. Most students did 4 to 8 such drawings during the time allotted.
Cross Contour (middle photo)- Students did one drawing from their shoe, a drawing that included a variety of curved and straight lines over the surface of the shoe to imply the roundness and volume of the form. Spend about 20 minutes on it.
Blind Contour (bottom photo)- Students drew the exterior contour of the shoe, but this time they can only look at the shoe, not at the paper. Draw slowly, letting the pencil move as your eye moves around the contour of the shoe. Student typically did several in the 10 minutes we worked on this.
Final Shoe Drawing- Do your best 30 minute line drawing of the shoe, including all interior structures, cross contour lines optional.

These are all portfolio exercises, to be made up by the end of the semester.

In addition to the above, the class also did some negative space exercises that can be found here.

Negative Space in Drawing

wooden chair without seat

negative space drawing of the chair

student drawings of group of bottles

Because this exercise applies to different classes that I teach, this information applies to my Intro to Art class, my 2D Design class, and my Drawing I class.

I brought in my old wooden chair, removed the seat, and had students draw all the negative space within- the spaces between the wood. A student example is seen above. You can make this up by doing a drawing from a similar chair, or another complex subject, such as the bare branches of a tree. Spend about an hour on it.

The second exercise was drawing from a still life set up of several wine bottles. The bottles were arranged in a loose grouping, and students were asked to draw the bottles, while being mindful of the negative spaces between them, using the negative space to help find the bottle shapes and the distances between them. (see the student examples above) This can be made up by arranging a group of 6 similar sized bottles and doing a pencil line drawing, paying attention to the individual shapes and proportions of individual bottles, as well as the relationships between bottles. Students spent about 45 minutes on this exercise.