Homework for 3/2/11

Create and draw a still life of five box-like objects (books, cereal boxes, etc.)

Use line only.

1 inch border.

All objects must fit on page.

Draw objects slightly transparently.

Show work (Don't clean up drawings or erase preliminary lines.)

Make the composition as interesting as possible. Use L frames to check.

Kind of like the above example, but with only box shapes.

3 ways to gauge angles

Hold your pencil perfectly horizontal at arm’s length and place it visually tangent to the angle you wish to measure, as seen to the left. Study the shape of the resulting angle and duplicate that in your drawing.

2. Look at the convergence of the lines that make up the corner of an object. Think of this as a flat shape: It will look like an arrow, the letter “Y” or the letter “T”. Study the character of this form and duplicate that in your drawing.

Look at the convergence point of the two lines which are angled. Picture the meeting place as the center of a clock face. Deciding what numbers on a clock the lines would be pointing to will give you a fair estimate of the angle needed in your drawing.

Homework for 2/23/11

You are to do a line drawing of your room on 18 x 24 paper, using your L frames and the techniques we used in class . I suggest you use graphite, though anything fairly linear is OK.

There must be at least a 1 inch border. Try to make the drawing as large as possible.

Think about positive and negative shapes, line quality, and composition.

NO VALUE!

A Flu Portrait

Hi class.

I have the flu! So, naturally, I will not be in this evening [2/9/11]. To make up for my absence, I have decided to grace you with the opportunity of viewing my self portrait instead of my [or what feels like] dying body.

I have never done a self-portrait before, and try to avoid facial features at all costs when I'm drawing because I have this issue with proportions that I feel like I will never be able to overcome. AND! I have cartoon lips. They look fake even without me attempting to draw them, sooooooo. Yes, that was a struggle. The photo that I will be uploading is actually the 2nd of two portraits I did, the first was even more dis-proportioned, and I ended up just erasing the lips because they were frustrating me too much. In the 2nd, I drew the lips maybe once and just left it at that.

So yeah, usually I would not let anyone -- besides maybe my doctor -- see me like this.. But for the sake of Art Appreciation, here it is.

Welcome to the spring semester!

Drawing and Appreciation is about developing a basic understanding of technical drawing skills. This blog will serve as an open forum for the students in this course to share ideas, get feedback, and add to the weekly discourse of our class. It will also serve as a news and information source. Check back frequently to get more details on upcoming classes and projects.