4/18/13 Basic Drawing

Today's Class-  Today we went back to value drawing, but with a new medium, conte crayon.  These crayons are harder than wax crayons, or even charcoal, but can be blended to create gradual value changes.  Blending takes more effort than charcoal, but the crayons are less likely to smear, so great for drawing objects with clean edges and specific details.  The crayons come in a variety of earth tones, but we worked with black and red, as in the student examples above.

How to make this up-  I set up two typical still lifes today, all objects and drapery you've seen before.  The idea was for everyone to get a feel for how this drawing material differs from the charcoal that has been used several times before.  First I had everyone do a drawing with black, not unlike working with the familiar charcoal.  Second, after rearranging the still life objects, the class did one using just the red crayon.  Full details as to how to make this up, including additional student examples, can be found here.

These are portfolio exercises and must be made up by the last class of the semester to receive full credit.

Homework-  Gather a place setting of silverware (fork, knife, spoon) and arrange on a table in front of you, so that none of the utensils are parallel to each other.  Have some kind of direct light so the utensils have cast shadows and possibly reflections.  Draw on a page in your sketchbook using the black crayon, paying attention to shape, proportion, value, and surface detail.  Without touching the utensils, do a second drawing using just the red crayon.  Then rearrange the utensils, with still none parallel to each other, and do two more drawings, one black and one red.  Total of 4 value drawings.

For next class 4/25/13- We will continue using conte crayons, but this time using the red and black together in a variation of chiaroscuro technique.  Bring your 18" x 24" pad, both red and black conte crayons, and erasers.