10/12/11 Drawing 1

Today's Class- Today we began our study of value in drawing. We looked at about 40 slides of historical art (classical through the present), seeing how artists have used value (light and dark) to build form, and imply volume and space in a 2D artwork. Then I set up a still life with simple white painted objects and a direct light source to create patterns of light and shadow. The class did two drawings of it, using different types of charcoal and approaches. With all value drawing, the goal should be to eliminate contour lines from the final drawing, in favor of edges (hard or soft) of shapes. Dark and light are relative terms, with any given shape being lighter or darker than the shapes that surround it.

How to make this up- Set up a still life like the one we used today. Put a box on a table and loosely drape it with a white or light colored cloth. Find three white or very light colored objects and arrange on and around the box. Shine a direct light source (such as a desk lamp) on the still life to create strong light and shadow patterns. Then do the following drawings in your 18" x 24" pad. As we've done in the past, pay attention to the shapes and proportions of individual objects, the proportion of one object to another, the spacing and perspective of objects, but now also add the specific values (shading) of the objects. Rearrange the objects between drawings.

1) Reductive Drawing with Vine Charcoal

Use a piece of the vine charcoal to completely coat a sheet of your paper. Blend it to achieve a consistent tone, as dark as you can. Then use your kneaded eraser to do the drawing, erasing out the light shapes in the composition. If you erase too much or need to change the location of an object, just use the charcoal to darken the area again and continue the drawing. Students spent about 1 hour working on it. When finished use spray fixative (preferably outdoors) to keep the charcoal from coming off the finished drawing.

2) Compressed Charcoal Value Drawing
On a new sheet of your 18" x 24" paper, draw the set up using a piece of compressed charcoal on the blank white paper. (do not fill the page with charcoal like the previous one, as compressed charcoal does not easily erase) You may use a piece of vine charcoal to sketch out the basic shapes, but use the compressed stick to complete the drawing and for all the shading. Compressed charcoal sticks to the paper better than vine, which means you can spend more time adjusting the values of specific parts of the drawing, but it is much more difficult to erase. An eraser will lighten it, but you'll never get that area white again. Spend up to two hours working on the drawing. Using spray fixative on a compressed charcoal drawing is not as vital, but it is recommended.

These drawings are portfolio exercises that must be made up by the midterm portfolio grading on October 26th to receive credit, but I recommend doing it before next week for practice, especially if you have little or no experience with charcoal.

Homework- Set up a small still life like the one we used today. Put a box on a table, drape with a white or light colored cloth, and arrange 3 similar sized white or light color objects on and around the box. Light with a direct light source to create strong light and shadow patterns. Draw the set up in your sketchbook using your softest pencil (6B works well, but 4B will do), paying attention to all the previous concerns, but now also matching the values in the still life. Rearrange the objects two times, drawing the results each time, for a total of 3 drawings of the still life grouping.

For next class 10/19/11- Bring your 18" x 24" pad, both vine and compressed charcoal, kneaded eraser, and spray fixative. We will continue our study of value drawing with charcoal.