Week 5 Independent Drawing Task

Repeat any 2 of the class exercises,below, in a space of your choice.  

Week 5 Life Drawing & 3 Dimensional Form.

Reviewing 3 dimensional form. 

All paintings and drawings above by Pablo Picasso

You will be drawing the model in the context of the studio, looking at spatial relationships between Mel and props of simple three dimensional shapes.

We're looking at tone again - why? (I hear you ask)

To understand, we can use tone we observed around and on a object to describe its three dimensionality on a 2D surface.

Drawing tone is and not just as an end in its self, or just a way to describe mood/atmosphere, it’s a way of bringing something to life on the page. Once we grasp this (extremely helpful) technical skill we can choose to make our drawings have a sense of the three dimensional.

Warm up session.

'Taking a line for a walk' exercise – revisiting previous weeks task

'This builds on the 'build drawing' continuous line approach, of hand eye synchronicity. This time you'll be focusing not only on Mel and the props but also on perspective; such as the angles of the plinths, and focusing on shadow, created by and seen on the props, Mel, and the floor.

Place a sheet of  A1 paper on a vertical drawing board, start the drawing half way down the left hand side of the paper, you will eventually draw slowly across to the other side of the sheet.

Begin the drawing at a left hand point of the tableau, to start find an area of interest to draw first, it might be Mel's foot, or the edge of a plinth, now let your eyes wonder around the tableau and allow the charcoal/pencil to follow suit on the page, whatever your eye notices of interest draw on the page, this time it might be . . . .

• The Plinths
• Shadows, however faint
• The floor
• Windows
• The walls
• The piping
• Fellow students
• Drawing boards
• Peoples shoes
• Outlines of dark corners
• Outlines of the light
• Mel's feet, elbow, legs etc.
• Peoples hands
• Etc, etc.

Remember to keep the charcoal/pencil on the page, all the objects, shadows, angles, will join with your 'walking line' . You may find you can't draw the entire tableau, so place another sheet on the board and carry on where you left off, then attach together with masking tape when finished.

Complete this exercise once more – working over 2 sheets if necessary. 

Warm up session completed

Exercise to quickly establish dark, medium and light tones in the studio.

Select 3 dry mediums; one dark black (compressed charcoal or black oil pastel), medium grey (Graphite stick or willow charcoal) and white (chalk or compressed white charcoal)

To get your eyes 'warmed up' to see tone, we will complete the following exercise.

Following on from the previous exercise, where you  mapped the studio space with a flowing line, this time you'll quickly map the space just with tone – remember to keep recording perspective , the geometric props are there to help see and describe form more simply. 

Place a piece of paper on your drawing board,

·       Take your dark medium, and draw the darkest areas in the room. Take 5-10 mins to complete this.  

 * Please note draw what interests you, no need to draw everything within the room- be selective *

·       Next draw the medium tones. Take 5-10 mins to complete this task.

·       Now the lightest areas.  Take 5 mins to complete this.

·       Review the drawing, make the necessary adjustments, adding more dark or/and medium tone, don't forget to add more light if necessary.

Review the drawing again, if you observed the space well, noticed and recorded the tones, your drawing will have a simply sense of space, foreground and background. Mel and the props will also have a sense of form. 

·       Repeat the exercise once more, learning from the 1^st drawing, you'll be much more observant, your eyes will notice the varied tones more accurately this time.  The aim is to describe 3 dimensional form through the drawing tone. Again remember to observe and draw perspective, angles, corners etc.

*When finished, reflect on your achievements. Look at how you've describe form, ask yourself how you achieved this, what did you do ?  Notice where the drawing is flat or confused, write down (in note form) how you might alter the drawing, so it describes form and space more clearly.

 Prolonged drawing poses focusing on tone to describe three dimensional form.

With the time left in the session create 2 prolonged drawings.

The aim here is to building on the knowledge and observational skills gleaned from the previous exercises (and last semester)  to convey a sense of space and three dimensional form on paper.

Use your view finder to look for an interesting composition to help you exploit the exercise, don't draw something face on, look for interesting angles, shadows, light areas, something to get your teeth into, anything view that'll inspire you. Include Mel, and at least one other prop, be it in the background or foreground.  

For some of you working on a prolonged drawing will be welcomed, (in your reflective essays, a lot of you wanted longer to get to grips with a pose) whilst others might think they've finished way before the end, struggle to make amendments, alterations feeling unable to change their artworks – remember your drawings are working drawings, not exhibits in a exhibition, challenge yourself, work outside your comfort zones and make those alterations, you'll feel better for it, and your skill set will grow !   

Week 4 Independent Task (Homework); Experimental Picture Making!

Review week 4's final drawing - what's it communicating? 

What kind of relationships do they animals have with model? 

Are they in visual/narrative harmony? Or do they clash?

Does it have a surreal feel?

Like the tableaux drawings you made on week 1 it will convey something or suggest a narrative. 

With this in mind, follow week 4's independent task instructions...

Using your drawings from week 4's session make 2 textured cut-out animals and a cut-out Mel, make in isolation don’t worry about size of animal/model in relation with each other, e.g Mel can be smaller than animals, or the thrush can be bigger than Owl etc.

Glue cut-outs on an  A1 sheet, construct an interesting composition that conveys a mood or suggests a narrative. Collaged elements can overlap, one behind another its up to you. Work back into composition, adding more of the animals if you wish. Use a picture plane so the elements don't float in space. Add shadow.

Use limited range of black and white mixed media – no more than 3 types of B&W media. 

Experiment and have fun with the process!

Week 4 - Life Model, Animals, Birds...

Mel our excellent life model, is being joined this week by an Owl, Pochard Duck, Hedgehog, Thrush, and a Kiwi Bird, courtesy of Worcester City Museum.

You will continue to build on the drawing skills you've gained over module, reviewing this week; proportion and spatial relationships, and experimenting with creative picture making techniques, such as collaged textured paper in response to tableaux of Mel and the animals.

Preparatory Work

Working in groups prepare your textured collage paper as follows . .

·       Using a print roller, roll black acrylic paint across several pieces of A1 paper –  the more textured and varied in tone/density, the better. (at least 2 A1 sheet per person)

·       Using graphite sticks make a series of rubbings on A1 cartridge paper from different surfaces in, around studio and outside the Garage. The more varied the A1 sheets the better.  ( at least 2 sheets per person)

·       Using Charcoal, rub different densities of tone on several A1 sheets of paper. ( at least 2 sheets per person).

Collect sheets & place to one side. 

Warm Up Exercises

Preparation

Use the animals to create an interesting Tableaux with the life model, for the whole class to draw. Consider tableau titles??  (Tutor may assist in arranging tableaux).

Or tutor could set up one tableau if more practical, better use of time...

Exercises

Students to choose their own warm up approach that works for them, (e.g. blind drawing, non-drawing hand, continuous line etc). Tutor to give timings (e.g. 30 secs to 5/10 mins) for the following exercises: 

·       Draw 1 of the animals in the tableau.

·       Draw 2 of the animals in the tableau. 

·       Draw 2 of the animals and Mel 

·       Draw 3 of the animals and Mel

·       Draw 4 of the animals and Mel

N.B. Set an intention for each drawing e.g. Will your focus be line and use of density of line? Or will your primary concern be texture? Use at least 2 drawing tools and switch materials regularly when appropriate.

Warm up completed.

Spatial Relationships

Tutor to spread the tableau throughout the studio space, some parts could be bunched up, others spaced out.

Students can use charcoal or pencil.

This next exercise will introduce the notion of spatial relationships.

'Take a line for a walk' exercise – This builds on the 'build drawing' continuous line approach, of hand eye synchronicity. Place a sheet of  A1 paper on a vertical drawing board, start the drawing half way down the left hand side of the paper, you will eventually draw slowly across to the other side of the sheet.

Begin the drawing at a left hand point of the tableau, to start find an area of interest to draw first, it might be Mel's foot, or some part of animal, now let your eyes wonder across the tableau and allow the charcoal/pencil to follow suit on the page, whatever your eye notices of interest draw on the page, it might be a claw, the box the animal/bird is in, even the light fittings or pipes in room, Mel's profile, then into her eyes and mouth, follow your instincts, look at the floor/ceiling, and remember to keep the charcoal/pencil on the page, all the objects will join with your 'walking line' . You may find you can't draw the entire tableau, so place another sheet on the board and carry on were you left off, then attach together with masking tape when finished.

Tactile Drawings

Tutor to place Mel and animals in interesting positions – don't worry about spatial relationships, tableau set ups, as they will be drawn in isolation.

Students to use black & white mixed media, ink, charcoal, pencil, chalk , erasers, even wax candles etc.

Now we will focus on texture.

Review the textured sheets, pick a sheet that corresponds in some way to one of the animals, using a pencil draw the outline of the animal, then cut out. You may wish to 'draw' with your scissors, like Matisse, leaving the pencil out of the process.

Draw and cutout another animal/bird from the texture sheets, consider where you draw/cut out, a particular part of the sheet might be more suitable. Next, draw and cut out a Mel from a sheet.

Glue the cutouts onto a clean piece of paper. Now consider page design/composition.

Next work back into the cutouts; use different types of line, and texture. The aim is to describe the texture/surface of the animals/Model - how will you describe the contrasting skin, hair and feathers of the animals and a human being? Freely experiment. Go for it!!

You might apply dense layers of line or/and texture in some cases or a very limited use of line or/and texture in others. Consider applying shadow, so the animal/Mel aren't floating on the page.

Combine Tactile Drawing and Spatial Relationships.

 Tutor to arrange an interesting tableau, suggesting narrative, or animal/human relationship/s

Again students work with B&W mixed media.

This exercise we look at both texture and spatial relationships.

Start by doing a quick preparatory drawing of the Tableau -  use your view finder to frame an interesting composition/angle. You can choose to draw all or some of the Tableau. Allow 5 mins and no more.

Next select 2 or 3 of the animals or/and Mel to draw and cutout of the textured sheets. This time the animals/Mel have to be in proportion with each other. 

Glue on a A1 sheet, continue with the drawing around the glued collaged parts, draw Mel if you haven't already done so, add more animals,  if you wish.  Applying texture, line work, shadow, and work back into the collaged animals/Mel.

Review the drawing, how's it working in terms of space/picture planes? Are some pieces in the background coming forward, or areas in the foreground look like their in the background ? Try correcting this, work over with chalk, or replace cutouts with drawings, vice versa. Most importantly have fun making the tactile drawing.  If an area doesn't work, stick a small piece of paper on top and draw it again.