Fri. 1/25 Contour vs. Gesture Drawing

The Friday class got caught on its introduction to the Characteristics of Line with studies in contour line drawing and gesture drawing. Contour line drawings are slow and deliberate, addressing the parts to make the whole whereas gesture drawings are quick, spontaneous, all encompassing studies of the whole working towards the parts. In other words, starting with the largest forms moving to the smaller forms. Both build eye-hand coordination and should be practiced often.  Here are some examples from Friday's class.

Marina Avila

This contour drawing exhibits confident, fluid contours enhanced by strong accenting addressing: 1. advancing forms, 2. shadow planes, 3. planar shifts or structural changes. Note the strong, graphic quality these lines exhibit.

Philip Elias

This drawing emphasizes the cross-contours moving across the frontal planes. A couple of important things to consider are 1. cross-contours should "arc" across a round or curvilinear form and 2. placing lines close together creates a dark value.

Angela Penland

This is a continuous-line drawing. Continuous-line drawings share qualities of contour as well as gesture. It addresses the largest forms working towards the smaller forms all the while treating the subject as though it were transparent. The objective is to wrap the forms in line creating an creating a structural armature.

Katherine Imhoff

The mass technique is essentially one of value capturing mass and light. The form is rendered is broad sweeps building up the darker tonalities.

Laura Mueller

Laura's drawing combines the line and mass techniques. Line addresses the structural volumes and mass captures the mass and light.

Philip Elias

This last drawing emphasizes the negative areas over the positive. Remember that the positive areas are the forms and the negative areas are the spaces in and around the forms. The goal is to suggest the gourds leaving much to the imagination. In other words, make the viewer work for it. This approach allows the artist to focus on the design by drawing only the most important areas of the still life.