10/3/13 2D Design

Today's Class-  Today we discussed the concept of value, the use of light and dark in two dimensional art.  I showed a few dozen slides of art historical work from the ancient world to the present, discussing how light could be used to imply form and volume, to show space, to focus attention on a specific area, and give clues to time of day, gravity, and texture.  Then the class did a charcoal value drawing portfolio exercise.  I returned last week's graded line drawings and talked a little about next week's woodcut project.

How to make this up-  You need to set up a still life grouping of all white or very light colored objects of similar size and light with a directional light source to create patterns of light and shadow.  Draw it on a full page of your 18" x 24" paper using either charcoal or black conte crayon, paying attention to the value of each object, as well as size, shape, space.  The specific directions for how to complete this assignment can be found here.

This is a portfolio exercise that must be completed by the end of the semester to receive credit.

Homework-  Nothing new, but several students still owe stipple drawings, line drawings from a plant, or both.  Complete them and bring them in as soon as possible to receive partial credit.

For next class 10/10/13- We have completed the drawing phase of this class and will move on to the more design part of the semester.  Next week we will be starting a woodcut print graded project.  For the subject you will do a book illustration, either a specific scene from a book, or something that captures the theme of the whole book.  The book you choose may be fiction or non-fiction, can be a novel, short story, poem- anything of literary merit.  No kids books, fairy tales, comic books, or anything recently turned into a motion picture.  Your illustration need not be completely realistic, but it should be representational to the extent that would all understand the image.  You don't need to have any drawings done, but do bring the book with you if possible in case you need to look something up.  Also bring paper (a sketchbook will be fine, but you can use your big pad if that's all you have), pencil and eraser, all your black markers, and an x-acto knife.  I'll provide the wood, and show many examples from previous semesters.