COLOR: Individual Still Life Arrangements

Last night the students made their own still life arrangements of three to five objects.
Kate took a limited amount of objects and repeated them throughout the composition creating rhythms of similar colors and shapes. The colors are electric and luminous like a video game. The objects and placement is also reminiscent of a game where the player wanders through a landscape of prizes and pitfalls.
Rachel's drawing has a very dramatic almost narrative quality. The light creeps across the floor pooling around the objects as if escaping from a cracked door. Notice how she has swapped the colors on the objects to unify the arrangement.

NEXT WEEK: LINEAR PERSPECTIVE (BRING RULERS AND YARD STICKS, PENCILS AND ERASERS)

COLOR: Dice and Balls

Christian

David

Veroncia

Last night the class made colored pencil drawings on black paper. When working on toned paper, it is beneficial to take advantage of the local value of the paper. In the case of black paper, the shadows are already present. Therefore, the approach is to work from dark to light as opposed to white paper where one works from light to dark. First the light areas are sketched in with white pencil working around the shadows. Then the colors are applied.
Christian's drawing at the top has a lot of character with a complementary color scheme of tertiary colors (yellow-green and red-violet or magenta). The quirky shapes are complemented by expressive rendering of the values and simple, stylized marks in the background.
David's drawing too exhibits lively mark-making and bold highlights. His drawing illustrates the power and importance in using the white pencil.
Veronica's drawing exhibits very acidic and electrified complementary colors. Again the mark-making supports the colors in a very active way. In addition, notice how she has placed proportional amounts of each color across the composition to reinforce unity.

COLOR: Still life, Dice and Balls

Apollonio Fontanilla

Devon Ste. Marie-Rubin

Lyric Croxford

Friday morning began with a discussion on Color Schemes and a still life consisting of colored dice and balls. In the afternoon, students made their own still life arrangements or drew from bones. Apo's drawing (top) exhibits a primarily complementary color scheme. He has embellished and manipulated the three objects giving them life by animating and exaggerating their forms.
Devon has very skillfully rendered a skull employing temperature changes with the colors. The skull is very warm with the yellow and white hues. The interior of the skull radiates heat with a fiery red glow.
Lyrics drawing (bottom) is very surreal and dreamy. The colors are muted and the light is soft, appearing moonlit. She has balanced the composition by dividing the space into groups. The placement of the eyeballs establishes a triangular movement.

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.

COLORED PENCILS: Dice and Balls

Benjamin Farren

Colin Metcalfe

Last night the class began working with colored pencils. The drawings were initiated by drawing all the white areas first and then adding color. Ben's drawing (top) illustrates a stage-like setting. There is a sense of expectation and suspense as if something unexpected is about to happen. Colin's drawing (bottom) is a very dynamic and energized rendering of the still life with radiating and swirling marks complemented by a bold complementary color scheme.

4/8 Colored Pencil on Black Paper

Selections from the Tues./ Thurs. class.

This drawing by Skye Walker exhibits some beautiful and textural rendering around the cut area of the antler.  The highlighted twisting forms are particularly well done as well.

Carol Venolia's manipulation of the colors is masterfully executed.  This complementary color scheme of yellows and violets was achieved with primary colors and white.  Furthermore, the expressive mark-making adds texture and volume to the form.

 Brenda Dixon's drawing exhibits smooth and fluid transitions throughout this almost complementary color scheme of greens and reds.  The strong use of highlights add an extra sparkle and richness to the drawing making it "pop".

4/7 Colored Pencil on Black Paper

M/W class began their colored pencil drawings. We started with a lecture on some color theory focusing on the various "color schemes"-- colors that work well together.  Students drew with the primary colors and black and white on black paper.  Alan DeMarche's employed a more dense and saturated application of color whereas Emile Rosewater used a more "airy" or layered technique.  Alan also began his drawing by laying in a base of white.  In other words, he started by addressing all the highlights and midtones in white working towards the shadows and dark areas.

Emile used the warmers on the surface of the skull and in the highlights and used the "cooler" blue hue in the shadows and receding planes.