2/14/13 Basic Drawing

Today's Class-  We continued our work on pencil line drawing, this time concentrating on perspective.  I discussed and demonstrated one and two point perspective basics on the board, but for the purposes of drawing we are concentrating on natural perspective, drawing things based on their appearance from a single viewpoint.  I set up still life groupings of objects with simple geometric forms and had students draw them as portfolio exercises.

How to make this up-   On a table in the center of the room I set up groups of identical boxes, laying on the table on their broad side, in stacks of one, two, or three high, spread around the table.  Students were asked to select a view that had 3 of the stacks, and draw the boxes, paying attention to the proportions of the facing sides, the relative size of the top of the box stack to the sides, points where one object meets another,  and the spacing in between.  For the second exercise I removed some of the boxes and replaced them with cylindrical forms (various types of cans), so that we could consider the ellipses, the curved shapes at the top and bottom of the cans.  Details about how to set up your own still life groupings and what to do can be found here.

These are portfolio exercises and must be made up by the mid semester portfolio review to get full credit.

Homework- You will need a box like the ones above and three bottles of similar size.  Lay the box on a table.  The bottles will also be placed on their sides, one (the mouth) facing toward you, one facing to the right or left, and one facing an angle in between.  One bottle should be on the box, and two in front of it.  Draw the set up with pencil on a page in your sketchbook.  Switch the bottle on top of the box with one of the others facing a different direction and draw again.  Switch the bottle on top with the one in the third direction and draw one more time.  A total of three drawings of the box and three bottles, with the bottles in different directions and positions in each.

For next class 2/21/13-  We will finish our study of line with a complex still life (multiple different objects), our first graded project of the semester.  Bring your 18" x 24" pad, pencils and erasers.  I will be collecting the drawings at the end of class.