2/27/14 2D Design

Today's Class-  Tonight we wrapped up the basic drawing portion of this class with an exercise in value drawing.  I showed about two dozen art historical slides from ancient times through the present, as I discussed the ways that value was used in each, such as implying volumes, building space, showing texture, focusing attention, and telling us the time of day.  I also showed a few student examples of charcoal still life drawing.  Then I set up a still life in the center of the room and had the class spend a few hours doing a portfolio exercise in value drawing.  After everyone was cleaned up, we devoted a little time at the end of the class to discussing next week's project.  Last week's line drawings were returned graded.

How to make this up- You'll need to set up a still life.  Mine involved mostly white objects (cloth, painted vessels) and some dark colored items for contrast, lit to create patterns of light and shadow.  Draw the still life on a sheet of your 18" x 24" paper using charcoal or black conte crayon, paying attention to shape, spacing, perspective, and especially matching value.  The specifics of the assignment, as well as additional student examples, can be found here.

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

Homework-  Nothing new, and I believe everyone is now caught up on our first two projects.

For next class 3/6/14- Next week we begin the design portion of the semester, with a graded project involving woodcut printmaking.  The assignment is to produce a book illustration for a book or your choice.  Can be fiction or non-fiction, novel, short story, poem, anything at an adult level   No fairy tales, kids books, comics, or recent Hollywood films.  You will create a representational image that depicts a particular scene from the book, or sums up the theme of the book.  You don't need to have anything done before next week, but you should at least pick out your literary source.  Bring the book if you have a copy, and also bring a sketchbook or other paper to work out your ideas, pencil and eraser, your black markers, and x-acto knife.  I'll provide the wood.