11/21/14 Basic Drawing

Today's Class-  Today we started our last new medium of the semester, conte crayons.  These are harder than the wax crayons you grew up with (the binder in this case includes clay), and don't smear as easily as charcoal.  They can be blended, but it usually takes more than fingers- white paper stumps work well, but some students have good luck with regular pencil erasers, and even bits of paper towel.  They are available in a wide variety of colors, but most common are black and earth tones in the range from red to brown.  Students drew from a typical still life set up, once using just a black crayon, once using just a red crayon.

How to make this up- Set up a typical still life.  Put a few low boxes on a table, drape with white or light colored fabric, and use direct lighting to create patterns of light and shadow.  Select some simple objects to draw and arrange them around the set up.  First draw the still life on a full page of your 18" x 24" pad using just the black crayon.  The results are not too visually different from compressed charcoal, but it will allow you to make more precise marks and edges.  Then rearrange the objects and draw again using the red crayon.  The value range with red will never be as dark as what can be done with black, but you can still create values that represent the darkest part of your set up.  Deal with all the usual concerns we have with value drawings (shape, size, negative space, etc), but also use this opportunity to learn how to use the material to best effect.  Above are two student examples from previous semesters.  Specific details of the assignment and and additional example can be seen here.

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

Homework-  Put together a typical place setting of silverware- fork, spoon, knife.  Arrange on a table so that none of the utensils are laying parallel to any others.  Draw the set with the black crayon on a page of your sketchbook, including any cast shadows and reflections in the silver.  Leaving them in place, draw the set again using your red crayon.  Then rearrange the utensils and draw again with the black and then the red.  Total of 4 drawings, each with 3 utensils.

***Thanksgiving Vacation Nov 26-28th***
******No drawing class next week******

For next class 12/5/14-  We will continue with conte crayons, this time using the red and black together to simulate the effects of chiaroscuro drawing techniques.  Bring your 18" x 24" pad, red and black crayons, and whatever tools you feel will help you blend.