Today's Class- Today we continued our study of line, a series of exercises that cover some basic drawing concepts. First I set up some flexible bamboo shoots in an arrangement in the center of the room and had students draw it using a continually diminishing number of lines, an exercise in gesture and reductive drawing. Next, an old wooden chair was put up on the center table and the students were asked to draw the negative spaces- all the spaces that were completely surrounded by wood. For the last thing, I set up a still life of medium large bottles and had the class draw it, using negative space to help establish the relative size and space of the items. Student examples and the complete instructions can be found here.
These are portfolio exercises that must be completed by the mid semester portfolio review to receive full credit.
Homework- Gather four similar sized bottles (wine bottles, soda bottle, perfume bottles, shampoo bottles, etc) and set them up in a group on a table at near eye level. Draw the still life on a full page of your small sketchbook, paying attention to the specific shapes and locations of the bottles. Draw the bottles, but use negative space to assist in finding the spacing and locations of the bottles, pencil line only. Without touching the bottles, move yourself to a different location and draw the set up again, then two more spots for a total of four drawings. (or, have the four bottles on a flat rigid item and rotate the whole set between drawings, so that the bottles maintain their relative position to each other)
For next class 10/2/15- We will continue with line, this time with an exercise dealing with perspective in drawing. This is the process by which artists can depict multiple objects in space in such a way that the viewer can understand their relative size and positions. Bring your 18" x 24" pad, pencils and eraser. I'll provide the subject matter, which will not include bottles, shoes, or chairs.
Today's Class- Today was our first real day of drawing and we opened with the most basic unit of drawing, the line. We talked about some of the various functions and aspects of line, and my plan was to show a few dozen slides of line based art through history to demonstrate some of these, but the slides were left at home, so I walked around with an art history textbook to show a few key things, then we went right into the drawing exercises, all related to contour line.
How to make this up- Contour lines are the lines that surround a shape (positive space) and separate it from the negative space around it. We used shoes as the subject for these portfolio exercises. Shoes are designed to fit on a part of the human body and have many characteristics in common with figures, making them ideal for this kind of practice. Students were asked to use paper from their 18" x 24" pad and the pencils of their choice, putting as many shoes on one page as they wanted. The list of specific exercises and photos of student examples from previous semesters can be found here.
These are portfolio exercises, that can be made up for full credit any time before the midterm portfolio grading in week 8. I do recommend doing it sooner rather than later, as the lesson leads into everything else we do this semester.
Homework- We're going to continue shoe based exercises with contour lines. Use your small sketchbooks and the pencil of your choice. You will draw 10 pages of shoes, one shoe per page, at a scale that mostly fills the page. Use line only- no shading. Reflecting what we did in class today, do the following drawings-
8 pages of exterior contour line only (the silhouette)
1 page of cross contour
1 page of finished line drawing in full detail
For next class 9/25/15- We will continue with line, including exercises involving gesture and negative space. Bring your 18" x 24" pad, pencils, and eraser. I'll provide the subjects.
Today's Class- Today was the first meeting of our Basic Drawing class. We reviewed the syllabus, and then I had students fill out a brief survey of their artistic interests and experiences. We reviewed this as a group activity, including me using the same form to provide my background and interests.
How to make this up- Those who missed today's class can get the syllabus from me next week, or download it from the Ocean Connect class page, and I can have them fill out the survey next week in class.
Homework- No homework this week, but you will have it from here on out.
For next class 9/18/15- We will start out by studying the most basic part of drawing, the line. I will show examples of how artists have used line throughout history, then the class will do a series of exercises using various types of contour line. Bring your 18" x 24" pad of drawing paper, pencils, and eraser. Shoes will be our subject. I will try to bring some from home, but I don't have enough if everyone shows up, so you will be responsible for having one of your own. Any type is fine, but I would suggest a closed shoe- sandals and flip flops don't provide enough to draw. You can bring one with you, or take it off your foot.
