12/5/14 Basic Drawing

Today's Class-  Today we continued working with the conte crayons, this time combining the red and black crayons into one drawing.  This is a variation on an art style developed during the Renaissance called chiaroscuro drawing, and a similar medium, the chiaroscuro woodcut.   For the drawings, artists would start with a sheet of paper already colored a medium value (neutral or color), and then use black (charcoal, ink, etc) to draw the darks, white (chalk, etc) to draw the lights, and letting the paper provide the middle values.  To save you from having to search for and purchase colored paper, we'll do drawings where the white of the paper will be the light, the red crayon will be used for medium values, and the black crayon to make the dark values.  Below is a student example from a previous semester showing how this can work.

How to make this up-  To provide a break from our usual still life subjects of containers and such, and to allow you to try something more complex, today's subject was a cross between still life and figure- fashion mannequin parts from around the classroom.  For the first drawing, I put three of our mannequin torsos around the room, and students could choose one to draw, first using red to do a value drawing, then gradually adding black in spots to deepen the shadows.  For the second drawing, I added additional body parts to create combinations, the least disturbing probably being the torso and leg combination below.   

For the second drawing, students had the option of trying a simplified three solid tone style, reminiscent of traditional chiaroscuro woodcut.  The specifics of each assignment, as well as student examples of each style, can be found here.

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

Homework-  We go back to the beginning, and make shoes the subject.  Find a shoe, put it on a table in front of you, and draw a full value rendering with the combined red and black conte crayons.  Take care with contour, shape, proportion, texture, value, and include any shadows.  Then find a different shoe and do another red/black drawing.  Total of two drawings.

For next class 12/12/14- We will do our Final Drawing of the semester.  I will bring in various still life materials and try to have it set up by 2:00.  You will have the whole class period to work on a drawing using your choice of the following mediums- charcoal (vine or compressed), ink wash, conte crayon (red, black, or both)  I will also have a list of all the things needed for the 2nd Half Portfolio, which will be graded the following week, which will be the last meeting of the semester.