COLORED PENCILS: Still Life

Graham Metcalfe

Joanna Alvarez

Shiho Nakagawa

Last night students drew from their own still life arrangements. Graham's drawing (top) is very well balanced (left/ right, top/bottom) and well proportioned to the paper. The forms are very well rendered addressing not only the light patterns but the various color patterns within each individual object as well. Joanna's drawing (middle) is very graphic. The lines are bold and sharp. The value range has been reduced to the most contrasting tonalities and rendered with rich colors. Shiho's drawing (bottom) is another than has skillfully rendered the light and color patterns. The forms are three-dimensional and set well within the space. Remember the key to successful color drawings is to be aware that objects and not just a single hue. A red object may exhibit multiple red hues, pinks, violets and even blue hues.

COLOR

Last Friday the class began working with colored pencils. The first still life arrangement consisted of one die and one ball placed on a letter or number.

Ezra Barbour

The drawing above exhibits a well balanced composition with attention to the left/right placement as well as top/bottom location. In addition, the objects are well proportioned to the paper dimensions. The categories of light have been well addressed resulting in three-dimensional objects with believable sense of mass and weight.

Celindrea Debuck

Dorothy Fast

In the afternoon, students made their own still life arrangements. Celindrea's migrating dinosaurs are very well rendered with light and volume. She has effectively applied the Distal Cues where appropriate.
Dorothy's haunting structure of antlers looming over a figure and die evokes a cold, wintery scene. The tangled structure and cast shadows add to the image's sense of menace. The combination of colors skillfully complements the subject matter.

COLOR: Still Life

John Burgess

Last night the class made drawings from their own arrangement of 3 to 5 objects. They were free to multiple, distort and embellish the objects in any way. John has created a composition using repetition, scale change and atmospheric perspective. The pin cushions introduce the composition and establish a rhythm throughout the space. The areas of blue make a secondary pathway. The image reads like an astronaut lost in a surreal solar system. Scrambling, yet restricted by zero gravity as he tries to collect his nightmarishly large, human-made objects that have escaped from the loading bay. 

COLOR: Dice and Balls

Jack Ryan

Last night we began class with a discussion on color schemes and some of the technical considerations when working with colored pencils on black paper in particular. Everyone drew from a simple still life arrangement of a ball supported on a plastic letter or number and a die. In the drawing above, Jack has very skillfully located complementary colors. The orange letter is surrounded by blue and the green die is encircled in red. All of which are placed on a surface of analogous colors spanning across the color wheel moving left to right with cool colors to warm. In addition his mark-making on the sphere addresses the cross-contours by swirling out from the highlight. In contrast, the horizontal strokes on the ground plane reinforce the flatness of the table top.

COLOR: Dice and Balls

Meghann Lyon

Last night the class began working with colored pencils. After a brief discussion on color and color schemes we drew from an arrangements of dice and balls. Meghann's drawing above exhibits a complementary scheme of yellow-green and red-violet. This dynamic scheme is complemented by the energetic mark-making and diagonal slant of the space and objects.

COLOR

Betty Burg

Siobhan Williams

Last Friday students began the morning with color studies of three objects: dice, ball and a letter or number. Betty has effectively employed a complementary color scheme of blue and orange. The expressive mark-making brings extra energy and dynamism to this lively scheme. Notice how she has mixed a little of all the colors in each object.
In the afternoon, students made individual still life arrangements. Siobhan has skillfully employed various elements of the distal cues, specifically overlapping forms and a value gradation. In addition, she has effectively used color temperature to address the advancing and receding forms in the space as well as on the skull.

COLOR

Students finished up working with color pencils last night. Some students made multiple small compositions while others worked on large scale compositions.

Riley Crandall

Riley chose to work from observation arranging multiple objects for a traditional still life study. The composition is well balanced and the objects are proportional to the size of the paper. The spacial relationships are believable and his observations of the values and colors are very well executed.

Jane Collier

Jane combined elements from observation as well as tapping into her imagination. The composition is balanced and framed well within the space focusing attention towards the glowing bottle. In addition, she has effectively used a transition from cool colors in the shadow areas towards warm colors in the light. Her manipulation of color complements the subject matter while creating a visually pleasing environment. The dragon seems to be blissfully embracing or cradling the bottle of fire elixir.

Stevie Young

Stevie has combined elements from her imagination with those observed as well. She too has very effectively used color suggesting spatial depth -cool colors receding, warm colors advancing- as well as casting a sense of light and overall mood within the composition. Especially successful is her use of complementary colors on the antlers creating  glowing oranges, reds and yellows on the underside accented by blues on the receding planes.

COLOR: Still Life

Dante Altamirano

On Friday, students made color drawings from an arrangement of their own choosing. Dante's drawing above illustrates a momento mori or reminder of death and the afterlife. Throughout art history the skull has been used as a symbol of death. The fruit in the composition symbolizes the transience of life. And the watery background suggests a great unknown abyss. The impressionistic and expressive handling of the materials adds to the element of time and memory.

HOMEWORK #6: Color Still Life

Mike Koonce

Draw a still life of at least 5 to 7 small (real) objects using colored pencil on black paper. Choose a color scheme that complements the subjects in mood and/or function. Pay attention to compositional balance, negative space and eye level. Paper size approx. 18 x 24 in. In the drawing above, Mike has grouped objects to the right which would seem imbalanced. Although, the placement of the small bottle on the left in the foreground is a perfect counterweight when combined with the fabric. The yellow reflections and hints of blue connect with the colors and accents throughout the composition.

COLOR: Dice and Balls

Morgan Caricchio

Sarena Dunn

Last night students began working with colored pencils on black paper. Each student had a still life of one die, one ball and a letter or number to hold the ball in place. When working on toned paper of any color or value, one should take advantage of what that tone provides. On black paper, you are working from dark to light. The opposite of working on white paper. The shadows are already present, you just need to create the lighter tonalities around them.
Morgan's drawing (top) has a more open and grainy application of the pencil. Much more of the paper is revealed through her marks than in Sarena's drawing (bottom). Sarena has heavily applied the pencil in the objects with a more open application in the table and background. Both drawings exhibit a strong, bold and dramatic sense of light. This is a benefit of working on black paper. In addition, both students have employed layered and expressive marks that add dynamics and energy to the compositions.