4/17/15 Basic Drawing

Today's Class-  Today we started our last new medium of the semester, the conte crayon.  These were developed during the 19th century in an effort to work around a shortage of other art materials.  Unlike the wax crayons you might remember from childhood, these use a form of clay as a binder for the pigment, feeling smooth to the touch.  Harder and firmer than charcoal, they allow the drawing of clean edges that don't smear, marks that stay where put on the paper.  Of course, this makes blending a bit more work, but white blending stumps, erasers, and even bits of paper towel can make this easier.  Most common are black and the various sanguines (earth tones ranging from bright red to brown and every shade in between), but they are manufactured in many colors.  I had students acquire black and sanguine crayons and they did one drawing with each today.  We also took time to look at last week's ink wash drawings.

How to make this up- Another one of those days where everyone came to class.  I set up a typical still life with familiar objects.  I had students do a drawing with just the black crayon first, as the visual resemblance to charcoal would feel familiar.  After the break, another still life using just the red crayon, which can't exactly match the dark values that come from a black crayon, but a wide range of value can still be achieved, as in the student example below.  If you wish to relive the experience of these portfolio exercises, click here to see the make up assignment and more student examples.

Homework- Grab a fork, knife, and spoon from your silverware drawer and arrange on a table in front of you, so that none of the utensils are parallel to each other.  Draw the set up with your black crayon on a page in your sketchbook, paying attention to the usual concerns of shape, spacing, and perspective, while also accounting for cast shadows and any reflections.  Then without touching the utensils, draw the same set up again with your red crayon on a second page.  Rearrange the utensils and repeat the process of one black drawing and one red drawing.  A total of 4 drawings.

For next class 4/24/15- We will continue with conte crayons, but this time combining the red and black together in a process that has results similar to traditional chiaroscuro drawing.  Bring your 18" x 24" pad, both red and black crayons, and whatever you might want to use as a blending tool.