Today's Class- Continuing with drawing today, but moving on to the idea of value. Value is the proper artistic term for the idea of light and dark and how they are used in art. I showed a few dozen slides of historical art, ancient to the present, showing and explaining how value was used in various cases to do such things as imply form, focus attention, emphasize drama, show time of day, etc. I also showed a few student examples of charcoal drawing, our medium of the day, and explained how value drawing is built more on shapes than lines. After that, the class did a few portfolio exercise value drawings in charcoal, from directly lit props that had plenty of shadows.
How to make this up- On a low table, place a box or similar item, then drape it with a white or light colored sheet or piece of cloth. Find a couple of white or very light colored objects and place them on or around the draped box. Shine a single light source on it to create patterns of light and shadow.
Sketch this set up on a sheet of your 18"x24" paper, paying attention to the values, trying to match them when possible in terms of relative darkness and shape. Use the charcoal from your supply list. Backgrounds are up to you- dark ones can be used to contain and emphasize light areas, but it's up to you. Meanwhile, don't forget the things we've done in previous weeks, like overall proportion, shapes, negative space. Spend up to 45 minutes on it. After finishing one, replace the two white objects with two new objects, and do a second drawing. Below are two examples of student charcoal drawings.
Homework- Those who were present today are caught up on this exercise. If you missed class, you will need to make this up before the end of the semester to receive full credit for it.
The rough draft of the museum assignment is due on March 20, 2020. Plan ahead.
For next class 2/21/20- Our first look at color, with a project that is a mosaic collage. Mosaics have been popular since ancient days, flat surfaces covered with small pieces of stone, glass, tiles, or whatever, forming patterns or images. They can cover whole walls, ceilings, and floors. Because the color sources are often small solid objects, the colors don't fade, and the art can last indefinitely. We will use something a little easier and less expensive- cut paper from magazines, glued to a page in your big pad. You will work from a color photograph of something real (object, scene), sketch the basic shapes in pencil, and then match the colors with small pieces of colored magazine paper glued in place. Below are a few student examples from previous semesters:
