VALUE: Still Life

Jennifer

Last night the class continued with the concepts introduced last week. Instead of imagining the ideal solids the class drew from a still life. The objective was to touch at least two sides of the picture plan and to start the process of developing values by addressing one at a time throughout the composition. In other words, place all the white areas, then light gray, dark gray and lastly black. Once a base value had been established throughout, the values were then modeled to add volume.

VALUE: Light and Dark Rhythms

Friday morning began with Value drawings addressing two objects. The objects of Beni's drawing (top) are well proportioned to the paper. The values are rich and the categories of light have been rendered fully contributing to the sense of light and form. In addition, the background is well thought out and provides atmosphere and environment.
The nondescript space of Electra's drawing has a dreamy, surreal quality. The objects are rendered with high contrast tonalities. Her handling of the materials is inventive and skillfully applied. Of particular note is her rendering of the glove. The highlight's and gray tones add to the character of the form.

 In the afternoon, the still life was expanded to five or more objects. Julianna's drawing at the top engages with three edges of the paper enclosing the negative space. The objects are well proportioned and three-dimensional. The line quality is particularly strong. Notice the "accenting" of the contours (thick and thin lines). The values are sparse unifying the objects with the space.
Ray's drawing in contrast has taken a very objective view of the forms and light. He too has enclosed the negative areas. The values are rich and the categories of light are skillfully rendered suggesting light and form as well as addressing the local values of each object. He has clearly illustrated the still life includes white objects, gray objects and black.

VALUE: Two Object Compositions

Shiho Nakagawa

Last night the class made value drawings from a still life of two objects. Shiho's drawing above exhibits a well balanced composition as well as skillful handling of the materials. It is clear that one object is gray and the other black. The forms are dimensional and the space has depth.

Jason Yarbrough

Jason's drawing is rich in texture as well as tone. The space is atmospheric and somewhat ambiguous. Even with the cast shadows objects float in the space as if they are orbiting around a larger mass. The ambling line helps move the "eye" through the space. The cropped composition suggests there is more to this image than what is seen.

PROPORTIONS

Yesterday class began with a discussion on Proportions and "sighting" (see previous post and menu above for more info). We also talked about emphasizing and engaging with the negative space by employing cropping. Observe in Kyle's drawing below how cropping the bottles and shadows has isolated areas of the negative space dividing the background into four individual shapes.

The class then made drawings searching for the ideal solids within more complex shapes. Celindrea's drawing above is a cropped view of a mixer. Again the cropping helps divide and activate the negative space. She has also addressed the negative space with some tone which emphasizes the stand of the mixer while forcing the background to recede. Her preliminary marks are still visible with the base of the stand.

After the lunch break we discussed Linear Perspective (see menu above for more info). The class made drawings of blocks in one-point and two-point perspective. We ended the day with a free-hand drawing of a still life of blocks. The students were armed with the knowledge of the rules of linear perspective and eye level, proportions and sighting. Celindrea's drawing above is a well balanced composition with strong attention to the relationship between the positive and negative areas. The lighting is powerful and the textures are rich. The texture of the background is particulary inventive. Kai's drawing exhibits a more somber mood and an approach that is more suggestive of the forms. The positive and negative areas are very unified as if the blocks are emerging from fog or smoke.

IDEAL SOLIDS

Last night the class made drawings of the Ideal Solids (standard geometric forms found in many man made objects and some from nature). We also addressed the categories of light to add volume to the forms. The last drawings of the evening explored the tonal and textural applications of the charcoal and erasers through additive as well as reductive drawing techniques.

Techi Brant

 Techi's drawings both exhibit a strong use of linear as well as tonal applications. She has also worked with the eraser to reduce the tones and create white marks. Notice her attention to the cross-contours in the direction of her marks most evident in the cone.

Amy Macinnis

 Amy's drawing illustrates a more realistic approach in the absence of dark contour lines. Instead the planes (or sides)  of the cube are defined by using white lines as highlights or juxtaposing a dark value against a lighter value.

John Burgess

John's cylinder exhibits strong textural qualities as well as addressing the categories of light. Again attention is given to the cross-contours by curving the tonal sweeps around the form.

VALUE: Texture

Erin Currie

Last night the class made drawings exploring additive and reductive techniques with the object of addressing texture and mood. Erin's drawing above is well proportioned to the paper and exhibits a strong sense of light. Her use of the erasers adds large open swaths of light as well as textural marks. In addition, the linear and tonal elements are very complementary both adding volume and texture again.

IDEAL SOLIDS

Jin Albrecht

Last night we discussed ellipses (circles in perspective), planar analysis, the categories of light and the Ideal Solids (standard geometric forms found in most objects). The Ideal Solids are: cone, sphere, cylinder, open cylinder and cube. In addition, we talked technique, additive tonal drawing with the charcoal sticks as well as pencils and reductive drawing with the erasers. Jin's drawing of a cylinder illustrates additive tonal techniques addressing the categories of light with reductive drawing (using the eraser) as well. Furthermore, the contours have been emphasized for greater volume. Check the tabs above for more info on the Ideal Solids and the categories of light under Value.

VALUE: Additive and Reductive Drawing

Gianna Davy

Friday morning began with a still life of two objects. The objective was to work reductively as well as additively. In other words, to use the eraser as a drawing tool. Gianna has very skillfully combined the two techniques. Line and value are unified in their suggestion of volume and depth. Her handling of the space and lighting have effectively created strong atmospheric quality allowing the still life to set into the environment. In addition, the objects are texturally rich clearly expressing the different surfaces.

Kate Donovan

In the afternoon, we added the Distal Cues to our objectives. Kate's drawing is very expressively and painterly in her handling of the materials. Notice how the materials are applied in layered, sweeping motions. The values again are rich and contrasting. Furthermore, she has very effectively used "cropping", engaging with all four sides of the paper. It's subtle but take note of how the values diminish as you move from the ceramic pot in the foreground, to the paint can in the middle and lastly to the chicken feeder in the background.

ADDITIVE AND REDUCTIVE DRAWING: Erasers vs. Charcoal

Stevie Young

In addition to everything covered to date, the objective last night was to explore use of the "eraser" as a drawing tool. The white eraser is your "work horse". It can remove or at least diminish bold, dark areas of value. The kneaded eraser may be shaped but more importantly you may "stamp" with it lightening tonal areas. In the drawing above, Stevie has very effectively used both of these erasers to create the highlights but even more impressive is the textural qualities. The values of this drawing are rich and contrasting illustrating a great sense of volume and dimension. She has accurately addressed the categories of light and local values of the two objects. In addition, the two objects exhibit different textural compositions of wood and metal achieved primarily with the eraser complemented with additive charcoal.