Today's Class- Today we began our study of 2D Design with the most basic unit of mark making, the point or dot. I showed a few art historical slides of art that involved dots, such as the pointillism of Seurat and the OpArt of Bridget Riley. The class completed a portfolio exercise and then started the first graded project of the semester, a stipple drawing.
How to make this up-
Wallpaper Exercise-
Use a pencil to divide a sheet of your 18" x 24" paper into thirds. Then use your black markers to create three different wallpaper designs, one for each section. The designs will be created using nothing but black dots made from your various markers. You may use both the large and small markers. Each design should include some kind of pattern that repeats at least once from the top of the column to the bottom. Designs can be based on recognizable objects or can be pure geometry. Below is a student example from a previous semester.
Stipple Drawing Project
Stipple drawing is the common term for drawing made up completely of small identical dots. The number of dots in a given area and their proximity create different levels of value. The dots can be used to describe textures of the items being depicted, and portraying textures is one of the goals of this project. Above is a sample I completed for my first 2D class in early 90's, with the source photograph on the left, and the resulting drawing on the right. Below are examples of student drawings from previous semesters, using the same process.
Start with a black and white photograph of something that actually exists- not line art or digitally drawn images. This works best with objects or scenes that include a wide range of value (light to dark) and interesting textures. The drawing that you will produce must be a minimum of 6 inches square, though you can go larger if you want, such as to show a non square subject, or just to work bigger if you like. You may crop the original photo, but all values in the section you are drawing must be part of the drawing; you can't ignore background tones. Lightly sketch out the basic shapes on paper with pencil, and when you are satisfied, use the ultra fine point black marker to start making dots to match the texture and value. You may use any white drawing paper.
In grading these I'll be looking for how will you match values of sections, and overall values of the whole image. I am less concerned with how well you render the shapes of objects, and perspective, but keep in mind that getting those shapes right will make it much easier to match the values. All values will be made from just the tiny dots- you can't fill in dark areas with scribbles or using a fatter marker. Most people reproduce the image at about 100% scale. You may enlarge the part you are working on, but I don't recommend drawing it smaller- the smallest dots you can make won't be as small as the dots in your source photo, making it harder to match the gray tones. Other bits of advice-
Before you do anything else, test your pen on some of the paper you plan to use, to make sure that the dots will stay small and not soak further into the paper surface.
Once you are finished with the pencil sketch, I recommend establishing one of the dark areas of the drawing. A gray tone on an otherwise white piece of paper will feel very dark. If the page has both black and white on it, the gray will feel more right.
Regularly put the drawing in a place where you can view it from a distance, 8 to 10 feet. This will give you a better sense of how the values will look from a normal viewing distance, such as during the eventual classroom critique.
Do not switch brands or styles of marker during the process. Not all black ink is the same, and being next to another ink will emphasize the differences.
Homework- The Stipple Graded Project is due at the beginning of class on October 3, 2016. You must turn in both the drawing and the original photo, which will all be returned graded the same day.
For next class 9/26/16- Even before class ended today, news was reporting that the regional bomber had been caught, so I'm hoping we don't have those problems again. In class we will work on portfolio exercises related to line. One of those exercises will involve contour lines and drawing shoes. I will try to have some for you to work with, but you may have to provide your own, so you may want to bring an extra so you don't have to remove one you are wearing. (closed shoes work better for drawing than sandals or flipflops) I'll provide the subjects for all the other exercises. Bring your 18" x 24" pad, pencils, and eraser.
