11/28/16 2D Design

Today's Class- When working in color, many artists will choose to depict things using local color, also known as objective color- the colors that we see when we look at something.  For last week's still life everyone used local color to show the yellow water can, the red candle, the green bottle, etc.  However, sometimes artists will choose other colors instead.  No matter the reason behind the colors shown, we refer to the color combinations in an artist's work as the color palette.  Today we started a new graded project where everyone will complete 4 color studies based on the same value composition, but using color choices based on common color palette strategies.  We also looked at the  completed color temperature season collages due today, and finally filled out the course evaluation forms for the semester.

How to make this up- Start with a black and white photograph as we did with the dot drawing early in the semester.  As with that one, it should be a photo of something that physically existed- an object or scene.  What works best is a photo that shows a range of values from light to dark.  Use pencil to divide a sheet of your 18" x 24" paper into 4 equal size boxes of 9" x 12".  Then use pencil to sketch the basic composition of the source photo, one time in each quadrant of your paper.  You may copy it 4 times by freehand drawing, doing one drawing and tracing it into each part 4 times, or using a grid to transfer the design.  Include as much detail as you need to be the basis for the color study, but the pencil lines themselves will not be seen in the final piece.

You will then do four color studies based on the value structure of the photo source, following some classic color palette strategies.  You should still try to match the values of the original photo, but you'll be using acrylic paint colors to do it.  There are 6 options to choose from, and for most you may choose what colors to use, though selecting a first color may require using specific other colors.  Above and below are some student examples from previous semesters.  To see more examples, and the details about the color palette requirements, click here.

If you are not clear about any of the combinations, e-mail me or talk to me in class next week.  

Homework- The completed limited color palette color studies project will be due at the beginning of class on December 12, 2016.

The museum paper is due on December 5, 2016.  All papers that are turned in by that time will be evaluated and returned, with students having the opportunity to rewrite them to earn a higher grade.  Papers that arrive late will be partly downgraded, and there will be less time to rewrite them, if any time at all.

Those who still owe some back graded projects, such as the color temperature project or the woodcut book illustration project, should turn it in as soon as possible for partial credit.

For next class 12/5/16- We will be starting the Final Project of the semester, which will be a board game based on historical fine art.  

Students who were around at the end of the day today got to see the prototype I created a few years ago when I first conceived this project.  What you will need to do is choose a recognized fine artist (someone who appears in art history texts, and/or in museum collections) from art history who works representationally and in color.  You will construct a 2D composition using pieces of their paintings, which will have the format of a board game.  My example above was based on the art of Hieronymus Bosch, 15th century artist best known for his detailed and disturbing views of mankind and religious struggles.  Other than the game path and the title, all the visuals are based on bits and pieces of two Bosch triptychs- "Garden of Earthly Delights" and "The Last Judgement."  Your piece must be based completely on the work of a specific artist, have a theme related to the works chosen, and a goal that must be achieved to win the game.  At the same time, you are creating a piece of two dimensional art and should take into account all the formal rules and strategies we've learned this semester.  

Next week I will post good student examples from past semesters.  Bring images of art from your chosen artist (I think books are easier to work with, but most of you will probably go electronic), palette, all your paints, brushes, water container, pencil and eraser.  These need to be painted on a stiff board, such as the backing boards that Danielle was ordering for the class.  

11/21/16 2D Design

Today's Class- Today the class did the last portfolio exercise of the semester as preparation for the remaining projects.  The still life can serve many purposes in visual art, and one of the most common is to practice and develop skills.  This exercise was meant to give the class a chance to put some color mixing skills to a practical use- the painting of objects.  You all have experience in drawing a still life, so to the skills of drawing shapes, spaces, and values, we added matching the colors of the subject.  A still life was set up with a group of solidly colored objects and a drape with color patterns, and students were asked to render it using skills developed and demonstrated earlier this semester.


How to make this up-  Set up a still life.  On a table put a box and drape with a cloth that contains colors and patterns.  Arrange on and around the box 5 solidly colored objects, all different from the cloth and each other.  Render the still life, paying attention to the size and shapes of the objects, spacing, perspective, value, and local colors (the hues of the objective world- what we see).  You may draw if first in pencil, or just go directly to the brush and colors.  Use a sheet of your 18' x 24" paper.  Below are some student examples from previous semesters.

You may treat the background any way you wish.  Spend up to about 4 hours working on it.

Homework- Nothing new.  The Color Temperature season collage project started last week is due at the beginning of class on November 28, 2016.  

To receive maximum points for the museum paper, it should be turned in by December 5, 2016.


For next class 11/28/16- We will finally get to the next graded project, the one I mentioned in class last week.  We will be working with the idea of artist palettes- a common term for the color choices made by the artist for a work, which may or may not be based on objective local color.  You will do a series of color studies based a black and white photo, making use of the shapes and value structure as a basis for the color choices.  Bring a black and white photo with a wide range of value (as with the dot drawings), your 18" x 24" pad, pencil and eraser, all your paints, a palette, brushes, and a water container. 

We will also critique the color temperature (season) collages, and toward the end of class talk about the Final Project.

11/14/16 2D Design

Today's Class- Today the class started a new graded project on the topic of color temperature.  As we talked about while doing the color wheels, all colors have a perceived temperature,  with those on the side of the wheel with red, orange, and yellow being considered warm, while those around blue, green, and violet generally considered cool.  Those temperature associations can change by adding the color's complement, or if adding white or black.  Warm colors are usually perceived as advancing (visually moving forward) and cool colors as receding, especially when surrounded by neutral tones.  Elements in a painting that share color temperature will be seen as nearer to each other in terms of depth, even if the actual hues are not exactly the same.  Artists who paint learn to use color temperature to reinforce their visual representation.

How to make this up- The assignment calls for you to create pieces of color that will be collaged together to create grids of color, grouped by temperature association.  On a sheet of your 18" x 24" paper, use pencil to draw two large boxes, each 10" square.  Set it aside.  On other paper (the same kind, or some from a smaller sketchbook if you prefer), you will create 1" square pieces of color, allowing you to fill each of the large boxes with 100 pieces of color.  The two boxes will represent two (your choice) of the seasons of the year (all warm colors for summer, all cool colors for winter, and a mix of warm and cool for spring and/or autumn).  The 100 hues in a season box must all be different from each other, though you may repeat a color between the two seasons if it is appropriate (such as a warm color in both summer and fall).  Glue them in place, creating 10 x 10 grids.  Below are some student examples from previous semesters.

Some students choose to make 1" boxes in pencil and fill them in, while others will just make swatches on paper and measure and cut them out later.  Some will make colors specifically for chosen seasons, and some will just make 200 color squares and figure out later what season they represent.  Arrange the colors in the season boxes however you want, leaving a minimum of white space between them.  Glue them in place with white glue, rubber cement, or your adhesive of choice.  On the back of the page indicate the seasons you were trying to represent.  Additional examples and instructions can be found here.


Homework-  This color temperature graded project is due at the beginning of class on November 28, 2016, though I suggest you start it sooner, as there will be two other graded projects before the end of the semester.  

The museum paper should be completed and a hard copy turned in to me by December 5, 2016 to potentially earn full credit.  Papers I receive by then will be quickly evaluated and if parts are deemed incomplete, I will allow the student to rework them and then regrade them.  Papers turned in later will  be accepted, but be considered late and downgraded.  No papers will be accepted after the final class meeting.

For next class 11/21/16- We will be working on a portfolio exercise involving color still life.  Bring your 18"x 24" pad, all your paints, brushes, palette, water container.  I'll provide the subject.  I know this is slightly different for what I mentioned in class today- I'm switching things a little, doing this exercise first, then the limited color palettes project (the thing that calls for another black and white photo), then the Final project.  If you don't see this and bring the items requested for the limited palettes project, you'll still have everything you need to work on the still life exercise, and just save the black and white photo for the following week.

11/7/16 2D Design

Today's Class-  Today the topic was the use of text as a visual element.  Most writing systems evolved from images of recognizable things.  In some cases the images continued to be used, even if the meaning changed.  In other cases (such as our Roman alphabet) the images were stylized and evolved into abstract shapes, as in the capital letter "A" being derived from an image of a cattle skull.  In any case. they are all just shapes, which means that letters and words can be part of visual art. Some students made use of letters in their woodcuts and got first hand proof of this.  I showed a few dozen slides that included images with letters and words.  Sometimes it was written text accompanying an image, and sometimes the letters and words were a means of exploring relationships of color, value, motion, and other concerns of fine art.  I also included slides of WWII era propaganda and 1960's advertising, pointing out where the way the text was shown carried connotations besides the direct messages of the words.

This was followed by the class doing two portfolio exercises that made use of text and symbols that carried meanings.  While that was being worked on, I helped print all the completed woodcut blocks. Below are today's batch.

After lunch we looked at the woodcut prints and the text exercises done today.


How to make this up-  The first exercise involved designing words, using letter styles, sizes, directions, locations on the page, to convey the meaning of the word to the readers.  To make sure that those above mentioned characteristics were the things carrying the meanings, the words were all from the Russian language, using that country's Cyrillic alphabet.  Below is an example from a previous semester.

When that assignment was completed the students moved on to another thing related to the slides we had seen- creating an advertising logo for an imaginary business.  This I'm defining as a business idea that doesn't currently exist because either it is physically impossible, or the idea is too ridiculous to be profitable.  The logo should convey the most important concept to the nature of the business, but this time the image would have to carry the meanings without any words.  Below is an example from a previous semester.

These are portfolio exercises that must be made up by the end of the semester to receive full credit.  For the Russian words exercise it would probably be easiest to wait until you return to class and I'll give you some of the language translation pages the class used today.  However the logo you can handle on your own- use a page in a sketchbook, pencils and markers, about 6 inches square.

Homework- Nothing new, but those who haven't yet completed their wood block or had it printed yet should complete it as soon as possible and turn it in.


For next class 11/14/16- We go back to color with a graded project on the topic of color temperature.  Bring your 18"x24" pad, pencil and eraser, acrylic paints (which can include colors beyond the 5 hues we used for first exercises), palette, water container, scissors of knife, and glue or rubber cement.

So What is It?

This past week in class I showed slides of historical work and talked about the evolution of color in art.  A key figure was Georges Seurat, who invented a new approach to color that he called Divisionism, but became more popularly known as Pointillism.  His most famous piece is the large scale painting "A Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte", a detail of which is seen above.  A question was raised in class as to what a particular item was.  Just to the left of the seated person with an umbrella, at about the center of this photo, is a red object with a white circle toward the top.  It was not clear from the projected slide in our half darkened room, and having studied it later in a good color photo, I'm still not sure what the thing is supposed to be.  If you have an answer, please share it with the class at our next meeting.