Where to Begin: Imaginary Space and the "Ground Plane"

1. The first thing to draw is your horizon line.  Place it anywhere from the middle of the paper or higher.  Next attach "wings" (pieces of paper, not shown in the picture above) to the left and right sides of your paper and extend the horizon line across the "wings".  This will allow you to place your vanishing points out as far as possible.  2. Place the vanishing points at equal distances from the edge of your drawing paper. 3. Next, draw the closest corner of the "ground plane".  It should be about 1 in. and placed in the bottom, center of your drawing paper. 4. Draw you converging lines from the top and bottom points of the corner to the vanishing points.  5. Draw a vertical line between the converging lines to designate the back edge.  6. From the right back edge, draw to the left vanishing point and from the left back edge, draw to the right vanishing point. If you do not keep your drawing symmetrical the front corner will not line up with the back corner.  To remedy this, measure out from the center of your paper instead of from the edges when placing the back edge verticals between the converging lines. 7. Now draw the height of the walls.  Again if they are not the same height or placed in the same location on the "ground plane", they will not meet at the center.  You can fix this by adjusting the height of ONE of the walls.  8. Start putting in your windows, doorways, stairs, etc.

Imaginary Space: Middle Horizon Line

This drawing has a horizon line located at the middle of the paper.  Note how little of the middle balcony's floor you can see.  This is because it is very close to the horizon line.  The closer an object is to the horizon line the more parallel it becomes to the horizon line.  You can't see the floor of the upper balcony because it is above the horizon line.  Another thing to note with this drawing is its design and how the "Eye" moves throughout the space.  The "Eye" is led around the composition by the repetition of elements.  For instance, look at the placement of the archways.  The "Eye" is led in a "zig-zag" pattern.  The repetition of circles and squares works in a similar fashion. This is what I mean by Direction and Movement or Rhythm and Movement.

Imaginary Space: High Horizon Line

This drawing has a horizon line about 4 in. from the top of the edge.  Note how deep the "ground plane" is and that you can see the floor of the upper balcony.  This is because the balcony is below the horizon line.  You can't see inside the top of the tower because it is above the horizon line.  This is a Bird's Eye View of the Space.

Linear Perspective "Stairs Demo"

Monday and Tuesday Evenings are dedicated to the basics of drawing in Linear Perspective.  Slide lecture focuses on One Point and Two Point Perspective.  The drawing above illustrates stairs in Two Point Perspective.  Stairs in themselves are not very difficult.  The problem is making sense of all the lines required to render the stairs accurately.  The process is to locate the center of the side plane ( green "X") and continue to divide these sections for every two stairs. In other words, the side plane is divided with an "X" and a horizontal axis.  The side is now divide into two halves; top and bottom.  From there, divide the bottom half again.  Now the bottom half is divided into two sections whereas the top is just one.  Each section will be a stair.  To make more stairs continue to divide the sections. Repeat this procedure on the top half to match the number of divisions on the bottom.

"Mugs" and the Categories of Light

Here is a "mugs" drawing from Thursday Night's class.  Drawing by Melissa Andrade.

Modeling Light and Volume

We continued our investigations of value and modeling on Wednesday evening.  All students were presented a still life of three, staked, white, mugs.  The assignment was to render the Categories of Light (cast shadow, reflected light, core of the shadow, shadow, light and high light).  With Peter Wojtczak's drawing note how the value patterns combined with repeating shapes and forms (i.e. handles) contributes to the overall movement and balance of the composition.  Sketch book assignment is to repeat the problem at home. 7B continued working on their Eye Level and Base Line Projects.

Rendering Light

 

Continued value studies on Monday evening.  For these drawings the intent was to emphasize the presence of Light over Volume.  Remember that values are influenced by the planar structure of objects; so you can't eliminate the sense of volume entirely.  To emphasize the Light, we employed a single directional hatching technique.  By working with straight diagonal lines over round forms, cross contours are contradicted and the Light in the composition is emphasized.  The drawing at the top is my demo.  Note the accenting in the negative areas to move the eye across the page (similarity).  Chris Susoeff has achieved  depth and weight by placing a heavy dark value in the background with forward projecting cast shadows.

Light and Dark Rhythms

Art 7B worked on a similar project to 7A.  These drawings display a rhythm and movement through the use of light and dark values combined with textural elements.  The instructions were to create a dense, continuous field composition with little to no empty space while drawing out and establishing the light and dark patterns of space and form. Drawing Kelley Shanahan (in progress).

Four Divisions of Value

Wednesday and Thursday evenings we focused on four values: black, dark gray, light gray and white.  First we hand-toned the paper to a midpoint value using compressed charcoal rubbed into the paper with a rag. This established the light gray.  White values were achieved by working "reductively" (i.e. erasure).  The approach is to focus on individual values one at a time to establish movement through similarity.  In other words, place all white shapes and values in first.  Then fill in the black shapes and later move onto the two shades of gray.  Once the value patterns are establish, modeling (using dark and light gradations to create volume) may be applied. Drawing by Courtney Hopkins.

Value Reduction

Tuesday night we continued our value studies.  For these drawings we reduced all values to black and white.  All high key values became white.  All low key values became black.  The effect is a high contrast image emphasizing the structural break between the dark side and the light side.  It is important when making design decisions to consider all value patterns. This includes local values of the objects, the negative space and the cast shadows.  Drawing by Arianna Preston.

Value Patterns- Swiss Cheese Drawings

Tuesday night began with a look at last Thursday's drawings. Drawings by Arianna Preston and Archer Krugman.

Intro to Value

Wednesday and Thursday evenings we discussed value.  The subject was folded paper with half and full circle cutouts and pop outs with lighting coming from various angles producing shadows and value gradations.  The drawings were executed in graphite pencil.  No one had finished by the end of class.  Homework was to draw a series of cubes, staked or otherwise, illustrating at least the ten values found on a value scale.  Drawing by Eudoxia Denison (in progress). (P.S. sorry for the bad photo).

Flattening the Picture Plane

Sarah Kelley's drawing is open and airy.  The large central flower is supported by to smaller flowers located in the bottom left and right corners.  The repetition and placement of the flowers suggests an implied triangle bringing diagonals to the image.  The inclusion of the floating spheres motif aids in  moving the eye throughout the composition.

Flattening the Picture Plane

Picture Plane referring to the surface the artist works on (i.e. paper, canvas, etc.). Jenna Freeman-Hinson's drawing is dense and compact.  The curving and wiggling forms bring energy and excitement to the image while the rich values and mark-making feed the eye with plenty of passages and forms to dig and wander through.

Organic Forms

Monday night began with a discussion about composition and the principles of design (i.e. unity, balance, movement, etc.)  Students chose from a variety of organic forms to create a free-floating, all-over, sketch book style composition.  Items ranged from artichoke flowers, sun flowers and corn to bones, sea shells, kelp and drift wood.