Friday, November 30, 2018
11/30/18 Introduction to Art
Today's Class- Our topic today was architecture, and my plan was to first have a group critique of the comic strip projects, then a slide overview of the history of architecture, then today's portfolio exercise, a lesson in drawing an interior space in two point perspective. But over the break I was given a deadline to do the course evaluations (a university priority), and quite a few students in both sections didn't finish the comic strips, so I collected those that came in for grading and will do the critique next week, when I hope more will be done. I had requested photos be ready to show today, but as a portfolio exercise, the don't get graded until the final week, so I put off viewing those until next week.
How to make this up- Perspective systems were first developed during the Renaissance as a more orderly and logical way to depict three dimensional objects and spaces, taking advantage of the way all objects diminish in size over space. The result is an image that provides a lot of detailed information to the viewer, even if some parts are distorted. Still the distortion is very regular, so it's easy to understand the original scene. These days most of the work is done on computers, but once upon a time, perspective drawing was a big part of architecture.
Above is a student drawing of an interior of a Vaughn-Eames classroom much like our own, an example of what students did today. Using a full sheet of 18"x 24" paper and a pencil, they chose one corner of our classroom and produced a simplified, yet accurate, line drawing of the major features of that corner. I did a quick demonstration on the chalkboard, had everyone start, and circled the room helping each student advance their drawing. By the end of each class, every student had shown the ability to do a two point perspective drawing.
To do this on your own, choose any interior corner in a building. Your drawing should include the corner, floor and ceiling lines, two items on the wall (door, window, art, etc) and one small piece of furniture. If you don't know how to do this, talk to me in class next week.
Homework- Nothing new today, but if you didn't turn in your 2D final (pastel comic strip) today, get it done as soon as possible. The longer it takes to be finished, the fewer points it will be worth.
Those who haven't yet had me review their museum assignment first draft should get those to me as soon as possible, to give yourself the most time to complete the final version.
I was given a few more collograph plates to print this week and I'll be returning those to the students next week. If you need my help with printing those, you must get them to me by next week.
For next class 12/7/18- We will be starting our final project of the semester, the 3D Final. You won't need he large pad for what we will be doing, unless you want it to protect your comic strip projects for bringing them in or taking them back. You will be randomly choosing topics, so no art materials needed. If you did not turn in your comic strip today, bring it next week.