Remote Class Project: Week of April 27

 

In this our last class before the end of the term, you will work on the fancy paper from the supply list at the beginning of the semester.  I asked you buy a full sheet (22x30) of either Arches Cover paper or Rives BFK paper.  This paper is much more expensive than our regular drawing paper because it is WAAAAY better. It is 100% cotton with a much more pronounced tooth, and it is very durable.  Both papers have slightly different textures. They are market competitors (think Nike and Adidas or KFC and Popeye’s), but neither is better than the other.  You will not erase through them and they won’t disintegrate from too much water.  Primarily marketed as printmaking papers, both are excellent for nearly every drawing medium out there.

For the class exercise this week, you have a choice of making one 4 hour drawing or two 2 hour drawings.  If you choose the one, keep your 22x30 sheet intact.  If you choose the two, I will show you how to properly tear your sheet in half. In your drawings, the amount of effort expended should be evident in the drawings!

You are to choose what you would consider to be successful but unfinished drawing(s) done at some point in class. On this fancy paper, using any medium you’d like, you are to redraw and attempt to fully develop your composition(s), plausibly inventing or inferring any details you may need to finish it. This invention is necessary because you will not be working from any photos! Instead, imagine what should be there. Do your best to logically solve each area so that the space in each drawing stays plausible. You are to work your invented details as realistically as possible.  Your drawing should use the full range of value available and it should display dramatic light and shadow.

This is NOT meant to be a cartoon version of the subject! There will be a degree of stylization as you struggle to figure out the invented parts, but try to be as realistic as you can. Feel free to borrow aspects of other drawings (even from other artists) to make your drawing(s) as successful and developed as possible.  Enjoy working on the fancy paper!

Remote Class Projects: week of April 20

 

Class Exercise for Week of April 20

This week we are going to examine the passage of time.  We tend to assume that since a drawing is a static image – it doesn’t move – that it can’t express any ideas beyond that of a snapshot photo.  We think of video as being the medium that expresses the passage of time.  However, we are going to make two drawings this week that will start to get at ideas beyond that of a snapshot image.

Exercise #1: The Chair

Choose someone to be your model.  Don’t worry, they’ll only need to pose for photos.  Then find a stool or small chair and place it in the middle of a well lit room.  Have your model sit on the chair and photograph them from at least 15 feet away.  Now, do not move the chair but have them take at least 4 more poses (at least 5 total) on or around the chair, and photograph them from the same spot as the first photo.  Again, don’t move the chair and take all photos from the same spot.

On an 18x24 sheet of drawing paper, make a drawing of the chair from your photos, and superimpose all 5 model poses onto that same chair.  Your composition should fill the page, but be sure to allow for space around the chair for your model to exist in! The key for this to work is to use the chair to register the scale of the figure.  Make sure the figure overlaps and interacts with the chair in your drawing the same way it does in each photo.  As the figures overlap each other, it’s going to become more and more difficult to tell where one figure ends and the next one begins.  That’s okay!  Embrace the uncertainty to make an interesting drawing!

 

Exercise #2: The Room

Now you are to choose part of a furnished room to make a similar exercise. You must be able to see the whole section from a single viewpoint at once. Have your model take at least 5 poses in and around this section of the room.  Then make a single drawing of the section of the room with all five model poses existing in the same space, paying particular attention to the appropriate scale of each figure.  The poses that are closer to the viewer will appear larger than the poses further away. Use the furniture (don’t move it!) to register the scale of each figure.   Trust your measurements!

Remote Class Projects; Week of April 13

 

Part of drawing the figure is observing and drawing the clothes that figures wear.  Today we are going to explore drapery and folds.  Around this time during a normal semester the models would not only keep their clothes on, but I would encourage them to wear interesting outfits and accessories as well.

One thing I especially like about drapery and folds is that, like the figure, they are almost entirely made out of cylinder forms. The way light falls across a cylinder is all about paying special attention to hard and soft edges. 

Just. Like. The. Figure.

You may have noticed the PDF entitled “drawing folds” which is also in today’s folder.  Open it and try to understand the underlying reasons that folds look the way they do. Note that none of the content of the PDF is mine. It’s just very useful stuff I’ve gleaned from the world wide web.

The Exercise

You are to arrange one or two solid colored cloths (that are at least the size of a beach towel) in such a way that it displays at least three different types of folds in its arrangement. Make the arrangement interesting!  It may take a while to find a good one. Look at some of the examples below and in the PDF (if in doubt, hang it from a hook while it’s partially draped over a chair). Light it with dramatic, directional light so there are clear lights and shadows.

Make a full value, single drawing of your cloth arrangement, with any medium you’d like, on your 18x24 drawing paper.  “Full value” means to use the entire range of value that your medium is capable of. It should take you at least 4 hours to finish.  Fill the paper with your composition, going to all four edges of the paper.  Your focus should be on value and edges.

See my YouTube demonstration videos below.  Definitely watch them before you put together your own set up.  I do my best to walk you through how I approach a drawing like this.

Demo Video Part 1: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FzK2ef5n2TU

Demo Video Part 2: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aI7she0IaX0

Demo Video Part 3: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gNyqpWbyb3E

Remote Class Projects; Week of April 6

 

Charcoal Washes

Today we will be exploring charcoal washes.  You get the best of both worlds: the control of the dry media and the varied serendipity of wet washes.  For this you MUST use compressed charcoal—vine charcoal just doesn’t work. 

You are to convince someone close to you to pose for pictures (they do not have to be nude). Take a variety of shots with your phone in various interesting poses and lighting situations. Be sure the lighting is controlled and directional so there are clear lights and shadows.  Choose the best three images (at least one should involve the whole figure), and draw each of them at a scale that fills your paper.  Feel free to use your phone for the reference images, or if possible send it to a tablet or computer screen for larger reference images.  Be sure to leave the bright white of your paper for the lights, and make the darkest dark the rich blacks of the “melted” charcoal. 

Make sure every part of your drawing is richly textured, though not enough to distract from the main parts of the drawing. Spend at least 60 minutes on each drawing for a total of three drawings.

As you lay out the beginning of your figures don’t forget the basics of measuring and finding proportion through the measuring strategies: distance, angles, dropping verticals, horizontals, and vector lines.

Good Luck!

See the video links below for examples that I made during the spring semester

Part 1: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1lnXmZ5KPXI

Part 2: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eTYeLUJTXwA

Part 3: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fs1_72_fLig

Remote Class Projects: Week of 3/30

 

Ink wash and pen

You are to make a number of drawings using your twig pen from last week (or a new one) that are mainly about light and shadow, but also experimenting with what the ink can do.  Play with it.  Try not to be governed by “making” the ink do what you want it to but allow the ink to do what it will, all while being reasonably faithful to what you observe.

Last week the emphasis was on control; controlling the value of the various forms of each drawing to reasonably replicate what the light and shadow looks like.  This week you are to push thing a bit further by allowing the ink to have even more control.  Experiment with the pen by dipping your twig pen in not only jet black ink, but dip in into various wash values as well.  You’ll find that dipping it into light or middle gray will mimic a pencil mark.  Starting with light gray gestural marks allows for the measuring exploration necessary for properly proportioned forms, and once that sets you can overpower those early marks with richer darker marks for the more important, established lines.  Filling the various light and dark shapes with the appropriate values will then make those early marks virtually non-existent.  While doing this allow the ink to run and bleed in ways to make the drawing more interesting.  As much as possible, let the medium make the decisions. 

The best ink drawings are a negotiation between the artist and the medium.

The Exercises

You are to make three self portrait drawings from a mirror using only ink wash and your twig pen.  Each should fill a page of your 18x24 paper, and you must include at least your whole head and shoulders, with the figure continuing to the edge of the paper.  Each drawing should take at least an hour and a half, and each should look stylistically different than the others. Somewhere in each drawing should be the jet black of the pure ink, with substantial parts of the drawing left the white of the paper.   If things don’t work out in a drawing, be willing to start over!

Good luck!

Remote Class Projects. Week of 3/25

 

Ink Wash

The purpose of this these exercises is to mimic time that would normally be spent in the classroom from the model.  My goal is for you to spend about 4 hours doing them, so please set aside time that will be as uninterrupted as possible.

Your exercises involve two different subjects: 

1. 3 Drawings total. Spend at least 30 minutes per drawing. Set up a doll or action figure in a situation that is as much like the model stage as possible.  Make sure there is a strong, directional light source making clear lights and shadows.  From at least two different vantage points, make a total of 3 ink wash drawings of the doll or action figure.  Each drawing should fill a page of your 18x24 drawing pad.  Include the background and the environment of the figure.  Be sure to make the darkest darks pure black and to leave the white of the paper for the lights.  Try to build the drawings using edges, not contour lines. If a drawing gets ruined, be willing to start over!

 

2. 3 drawings total. Spend at least 30 minutes per drawing. Go outside while it's sunny and find at least one interesting tree trunk that looks somewhat figurative. Find a view of the tree that best suits both the shape and the light and shadow of the tree.  Draw it in Ink Wash, but instead of starting the drawing out in pencil, find a twig roughly the size of a pencil, dip it into the ink or wash, and rub the inked end of your new twig pen onto the paper to make marks.  It's awkward at first, but you'll get the hang of it.  So there should be NO pencil marks on your tree drawings.

You are to make at least 6 drawings (3 dolls, 3 trees) for classwork this week.  To document them to submit, make a short video in which I can clearly see each drawing.  Feel free to add any other info that may be interesting like images of the tree, your doll/action figure, and studio set-up.

 

Assignment #13: Object

 

Self Portrait Metamorphosis: Object

 

Due: Next Week

 

You are to choose an interesting object. Be sure to choose one that  is fascinating, and which also has immediately recognizable visual characteristics.  You are to make self portrait as that object.

 

This project comes in two parts. 

1. The first part involves you making a drawing of your chosen object from life so that it fills a page in your sketchbook.  You may use any media appropriate.

2. The second part involves making a self portrait as that object (it must also fill a sketchbook page).  You are to make it clear in your drawing that the second drawing is you, while at the same time keeping it recognizable as that object.

 

To recap: make a drawing of an object, and then make a drawing of you as that object.

 

Standards of craftsmanship will be very high for these last few projects.  Spend as much time as appropriate for each drawing.  Take pride in your sketchbooks!  They will be a valuable asset to your transfer portfolios.

 

 

 

 

Assignment #12: Animal

 

Self Portrait Metamorphosis: animal

 

Due: next week at the beginning of class

 

You are to choose your favorite animal. Be sure to choose one that is fascinating, and which also has immediately recognizable visual characteristics.  You are to make self-portrait as that animal. Note: animal cartoons do not count (no Pikachu or Scooby-doo, for example).

 

This project comes in two parts. 

1. The first part involves you finding an image of your chosen animal and making an accurate and precise drawing of that image so that it fills a page in your sketchbook.  You may use any media appropriate.

2. The second part involves making a self-portrait as that animal using the first image as a point of departure for the second (it must also fill a sketchbook page).  You are to make it clear in your drawing that the second drawing is you, while at the same time keeping it recognizable as that animal.

 

To recap: make a drawing of an animal, and then make a drawing of you as that animal.

 

Standards of craftsmanship will be very high for these last few projects.  Spend as much time as appropriate for each drawing.  Take pride in your sketchbooks!  They will be a valuable asset to your transfer portfolios.

 

 

 

 

 

Assignment #11: Famous

 

Self Portrait Metamorphosis: famous

 

Due: next week at the beginning of class

 

You are to choose a famous (or infamous) person. Be sure to choose someone who is fascinating, and who also has immediately recognizable visual characteristics.  You are to make self-portrait as that person.  You may NOT choose Hitler or Trump.

 

This project comes in two parts. 

1. The first part involves you finding an image of your chosen person and making an accurate and precise drawing of that image so that it fills a page in your sketchbook.  You may use any media appropriate.

2. The second part involves making a self portrait as that person using the first image as a point of departure for the second (it must also fill a sketchbook page).  You are to make it clear in your drawing that the second drawing is you, while at the same time keeping it recognizable as that famous person.  You are not to make a cartoon version of yourself or your chosen person.  Although you may choose a fictional character, it must not be an animated character.

 

To recap: make a drawing of a famous person, and then make a drawing of you as that famous person.

 

Standards of craftsmanship will be very high for these last few projects.  Spend as much time as appropriate for each drawing.  Take pride in your sketchbooks!  They will be a valuable asset to your transfer portfolios.

 

 

 

 

Assignment #10: Emotive Self Portrait

 

Due: next week

 

Emotive Self Portraits

You are to pick two of the eight self-portrait drawings options below; make a self-portrait for each of your choices, with each drawing affecting the chosen human facial reaction:

 

Surprise

Fear

Skepticism

Shame

Excitement

Anger

Disdain

Disgust

 

Be as melodramatic as possible.  Subtlety is great, but for drawings like this to work they need a theatrical quality.  Each drawing must be meticulously finished from observation only.  This means you may not work from photos or any other 2 dimensional references, and you must be sure that you draw as anatomically accurate as you are able.  To do this you must spend hours in front of your mirror at home studying your face in different poses.  Leave any self-consciousness at the door.  Each drawing should fill a page in your sketchbook. 

 

To make a drawing that feels genuinely emotional, you must pay special attention to the parts of the face that show the emotion—mainly the eyes and surrounding structures (eyebrows, upper cheeks, forehead), and the mouth and surrounding structures (lips, lower cheeks, chin).  How do these parts expand and contract with the emotion?  You must address both eyes and mouth!  A great mouth with blank, vacant eyes looks fake, and vise versa. Good luck.