VALUE: Local Value and Rendering Light

Kyle Sullivan

Friday morning began with studies made from two white objects rendered in graphite pencil. In the upper left hand corner students drew value scales of six tones. Kyle's drawing illustrates the design qualities achieved with more than one light source realized in the multiple cast shadows. This would normally reveal artificial lighting but Kyle has transformed the table top into a barren, surreal landscape suggesting the presence of two suns.

Patricia Baskerville

After the lunch break, students made drawings emphasizing Light by employing a single, directional hatch or scribble gesture. Patricia's drawing is rich and varied with its swirling, frantic web of lines. The dark mass in the background is reminiscent of a foreboding storm moving inward. Notice how she has reenforced the negative areas between objects creating dark passages for the "eye" to wander and move through.

VALUE: Rendering Light

Brandon O'rourke

Artist's may make work that emphasizes light patterns or volume. When working with a technique that is uncomplementary to the planar structure of an object (ex. straight cross-contours on a round form), the light is emphasized over volume. Placement of tonalities is determined by the planes of an object so you can't have light without volume but you can place emphasis on one over the other.
Last night students made drawing emphasizing Light. Brandon's drawing above illustrates a single, parallel hatch technique. Notice how he has juxtaposed a dark, receding background against lighter, advancing objects. The dark background also balances the darks of the cast shadows. Although the objects reveal subtle volumes, the single hatch technique is more complementary to the light patterns than it is to volume because of the straightness of the line against a curvilinear form.

VALUE: Modeling

Ashley Kiefer

Connor Brusseau

Last night students made drawings addressing the value transitions across a curvilinear form (bottle) and a rectilinear form (block). Rounded forms will have smooth, gradual transitions in tonalities whereas forms with angles will exhibit abrupt changes in tone.
Ashley's drawing above illustrates an exaggerated intensity in value which is very complementary to the surrealistic shadows and space. The shadows seam to reveal the true character or secret life of the objects.
Connor's drawing is a more objective rendering of the forms. The limited tonal range creates a calm and realistic sense of the space as if light were cast through a window. In addition, he has addressed the negative space with subtle atmospheric rendering defining the table surface and enveloping the objects.

SUBJECTIVE VALUE

Serena Dunn (Monday/ Wednesday)

Students began work on the Subjective Value drawings. This project is loosely based on the concepts of Cubism and Surrealism. The objective is to create a fractured composition of many, interlocking shapes - like a puzzle. That's the Cubist part. To basically breakdown and reassemble your subject randomly, again, like scattered puzzle pieces. But first, the process starts with the Surrealist approach to drawing called Automatism. Making large arm movements (drawing from you shoulder), draw across the paper, zig-zagging and looping back, cropping and enclosing shapes. If you follow the edges of the shapes in the two drawings here, you should get the idea. From there the image may take the form of a Cubist-like portrait or remain a non-objective design. It's important to find the image within the lines rather than "project" your idea onto the paper. The shapes are then filled with values applied additively as well as reductively using a variety of charcoal materials.
Serena's drawing above is texturally rich exhibiting a variety of mark-making techniques. The composition swoops and swirls around like rising and falling waves. As the curling forms part, passages of patterns and smaller forms are revealed.

Christina Rehberg (Friday)

Christina's drawing exhibits a tornado-like swirling rhythm. The high contrast between the black and white areas makes the drawing "pop." The shapes are very well balanced between size and value creating a unified and clear composition.

PROPORTIONS AND LINEAR PERSPECTIVE

Friday morning began with some gesture warm-ups. Miranda's drawing above demonstrates the Scribble technique. Notice how she has rendered mass as well as a sense of light and place by including a cast shadow and a few strategically placed marks suggesting a ground plane.

From there we moved on to Proportions. Starting with one object and evolving to an arrangement of three objects. The important thing about proportions is "believability." They don't have to be perfect but they shouldn't be so off to draw attention. Notice in Allison's drawing the importance of all the lines. Every line either identifies a volume, a shift in planes or aids in the organizing and comparing of the forms. Another important aspect of proportions is that all the forms should be unified. In other words, appear to be from the same world. If the forms are distorted and "wonky" then everything should be.

We ended the day with a discussion on One and Two-Point Linear Perspective. Caleigh's drawing illustrates a "bird's-eye" view of the still life.  In addition, the strong contrast in the shadows anchors the objects and pops them out while adding balance to the overall composition. Like proportions, the perspective needn't be perfect but it should be consistent. All the objects should conform to one "eye-level" and diminish and recede proportionally.

PROPORTIONS AND PERSPECTIVE

Morgan Caricchio

Last night we continued working on proportions with the aid of one and two-point linear perspective. Linear perspective creates the illusion of depth by establishing a consistent horizon line (a.k.a. eye-level) for all objects. The parallel, diagonal edges of these objects will appear to diminish as they recede and converge meeting at vanishing points located on the horizon line. These were "free-hand" drawings. The objective was not perfect perspective but to establish a consistent "eye-level" and to accurately render the blocks as they approach the horizon line (eye-level). Just to be clear, eye-level and horizon line are the same thing.

PROPORTIONS

Katheryn Pitkin

Monday night students made drawings with the goal of rendering accurate proportions. The method was to identify  the Ideal Solids within a more complex form building the structure of the object with line and then measuring the proportions through "sighting." Notice in the drawing above how Katheryn has used a vertical axis line to aid in maintaining symmetry. She has also placed ellipses at all of the major structural changes (i.e. the base of objects, the widest point, where two shapes join and at the top of the objects.

IDEAL SOLIDS AND DISTAL QUES

Katy Brown

On Friday morning students made studies of the five Ideal Solids addressing the categories of light. Notice how the smooth rendering and strong contrasting values in Katy's drawing above creates a strong sense of volume but also suggests a metal-like surface on the forms.

Angelica Cortez

In the afternoon, students made compositions with the solids employing the Distal Ques. Click the tab above if you missed the lecture notes.  Angelica's drawing illustrates a fairly deep sense of space moving straight back from sphere to sphere and crossing with an implied diagonal of cylinders. The broad, wavy strokes add a turbulent quality like a sand storm. Although she could balance the darks of the cone and sphere in the foreground more on the right side of the composition, the tonal range and gradations are very complete and well drawn.

HOMEWORK #2: Ideal Solids

In your sketchbook, draw the five solids using graphite pencils. Do not use charcoal. Draw one per page addressing the categories of light.

DISTAL QUES

Patty Camara

Last night students made landscape compositions using the Ideal Solids and employing Distal Ques. The DQ's are six tools for creating the illusion of depth within an image. See the tab above for a complete description.
Patty has skillfully employed the DQ's while also creating volumetric forms and a strong sense of light. Her drawing seems to be taking place under a moon lit sky while the diminishing proportions effectively creates a deep sense of space.