2/16/12 Basic Drawing

Today's Class- Today the focus was on the idea of perspective, an artistic tool that allows the logical and accurate portrayal of deep three dimensional space and relative position of multiple elements on a two dimensional surface. I did a quick demonstration of one and two point perspective on the board, but all the exercises were devoted to the idea of natural perspective, using careful observation of the relative positions of each object and the shapes of all regular surfaces.

How to make this up- We did two exercises in observing and drawing, using simple geometric objects. The first involved groups of identical boxes. The second replaced some of the boxes with cylindrical forms- mostly gallon sized paint cans. Full instructions for both exercises can be found here.

These are portfolio exercises that must be completed by the first half portfolio collection in order to receive full credit.

Homework- You will need a cereal or cracker box and 3 bottles of similar size. Lay the box down on a table on one of its broad sides. All three bottles will be laid down flat, one pointing right or left, one pointing toward you, and one at an angle relative to you. One of the bottles should be on top of the box, the other two in front of it. Draw the whole set up using pencil contour line on a page in your sketchbook. Switch positions so that a bottle facing a different direction is on top of the box and draw again. Make one more switch so that the bottle facing the third direction is on top of the box and draw one more time. Total of 3 pages of sketches with 3 bottles in each.

For next class 2/23/12- We will end our study of pencil contour line with our first graded project of the semester- a still life grouping with a variety of objects. Bring your 18" x 24" pad, pencils and eraser.