2/27/15 Basic Drawing

Today's Class- Today we began our study of value, the use of light and dark in two dimensional art, which will be a part of the class for the rest of the semester.  I started by showing some slides of how value has been used through history.  Value can imply form and space, focus attention on a particular part of the image, show texture, indicate time of day, among other things.  Then I set up simple still lifes involving all white objects so the class could use different kinds of charcoal to explore the effects of light and shadow.  Last week's graded line drawings were returned.

How to make this up-  Once again, everyone showed up, so everyone has done the work.  We did two drawings, both from still life set ups of all white painted forms and white drapery.  For the first one, a page of your 18" x 24" paper was completely covered with vine charcoal, and then the kneaded eraser was used to do a value reduction drawing- using the eraser to draw the light in the still life.  After the break, a different approach, using the compressed charcoal to do the value drawing directly on the white paper.  The two drawings are both portfolio exercises.

Homework- Set up a still life.  Place a box on a table and drape with a white or light colored cloth.  Find 3 white or very light colored objects and arrange- one on the box and two around it.  Have a direct light on the set up, so that patterns of light and shadow are created.  Draw the set up on a page in your small sketchbook using your softest pencil (such as a 4B or 6B), paying attention to all the things we dealt with in line drawing, but now matching the values of light and shadow.  Then rearrange the three objects, and draw it again.  Do a total of two drawings.

For next class 3/6/15- We will continue with charcoal value drawing, but introducing a variety of local values into the still life.  Bring your 18" x 24" pad, both vine and compressed charcoal, your kneaded eraser, and spray fixative.