Contrasting Textures : Fabric Value Study

The Drawing II students are finishing up their second value study. It’s quite exciting to see their progress from the first to the second. As Juliette Aristides writes in her book, Lessons in Classical Drawing, “Each hard-won drawing allows you to bring a new skill to your next one.”

The studies are definitely an investment of time. 20 hours is a long time for a millennial with things to do and people to text. So why do value studies? I gave myself the task of coming up with as many reasons as I could think of. I’ll begin to list a few of the reasons here:

Learn to see

Nourish confidence

Increase awareness

Train to become a highly sensitized observer

Develop fascination with the mysteries of things to be found and seen

Practice intentionality

Pursue an understanding of light and discernment of value

Create the illusion of volume and space

Develop sustained focus

Intense concentration

Build a habit of keeping eyes wide open

Spend enough time observing to get past superficiality

Begin to see possibilities for metaphor/interpretation of visual experience

Give time for your eyes to acclimate

Cultivate a love for subtlety

Explore surface topography-heighten the sense of touch in your work

Practice your scales in order to have freedom and mastery in a lifetime of expression

Gain ownership of materials

Capture the uniqueness of your subject

Enrich your sight/life

 

Can you think of some others?

Super Semester

As promised, here are a couple examples of the final projects in Drawing II. This was the first time for most students working at this scale (30×44″) and with this medium (charcoal). However, not all was new. The students were pulling from their experience of two types of drawing studies that we had emphasized this semester. One was very slow careful observation and the other was very fast gesture where you draw what your subject is doing rather than what it looks like. The requirements for the assignment were to draw a natural object at least 8 times using variations of speed,  line, scale, direction, etc…

Just before starting our final project we spent one week drawing outside the classroom.

Thanks to Hidden Hills Farm for letting us come and draw on their lovely grounds.

We also  set up in front of the Student Center to draw free 10 minute portraits!

 Thanks students for the best semester yet!

Still Life As Story

“Not another still life!” is oft heard or at least thought during formal art training. In the 2nd still life assignment in Drawing II, we covered why working from the still life is so helpful. For example your subject matter doesn’t walk away, you can work on perspective, explore how to depict different types of textures, and control the light source. In addition to all of these technical reasons why still life is so important, we also talked about how objects reflect the age and society in which they were formed and contain story telling potential. Each student started with objects that they already had strong associations with and then used lighting, and layout to help tell their story.

Students will be posting links in the comments section with their drawings.