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: Personal Still Life

Andrew

Bonnie

David

Luke

Matt

Today students arranged their own still life to draw. Andrew's drawing is well balanced with large and small objects that relate by size and shape. All of the objects share a common pattern within the dots. Bonnie's drawing exhibits well proportioned objects with bold colors and textural mark-making. David's drawing pays strong attention to the distal cues with overlapping shapes, a variety of sizes and dynamic use of diagonals. The marks on the ground plane suggest motion and the tilted bowling pins add to the energy. Luke's drawing is very well balanced by weight of the objects as well as repeating colors. Notice the placement of the greens in particular. And lastly, Matt's drawing is supported by a rectangular motif found in the white paper shapes and the table as well as the die.

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.

COLOR: Dice and Balls

Meghann Lyon

Last night the class began working with colored pencils. After a brief discussion on color and color schemes we drew from an arrangements of dice and balls. Meghann's drawing above exhibits a complementary scheme of yellow-green and red-violet. This dynamic scheme is complemented by the energetic mark-making and diagonal slant of the space and objects.

COLOR

Betty Burg

Siobhan Williams

Last Friday students began the morning with color studies of three objects: dice, ball and a letter or number. Betty has effectively employed a complementary color scheme of blue and orange. The expressive mark-making brings extra energy and dynamism to this lively scheme. Notice how she has mixed a little of all the colors in each object.
In the afternoon, students made individual still life arrangements. Siobhan has skillfully employed various elements of the distal cues, specifically overlapping forms and a value gradation. In addition, she has effectively used color temperature to address the advancing and receding forms in the space as well as on the skull.

COLOR

Students finished up working with color pencils last night. Some students made multiple small compositions while others worked on large scale compositions.

Riley Crandall

Riley chose to work from observation arranging multiple objects for a traditional still life study. The composition is well balanced and the objects are proportional to the size of the paper. The spacial relationships are believable and his observations of the values and colors are very well executed.

Jane Collier

Jane combined elements from observation as well as tapping into her imagination. The composition is balanced and framed well within the space focusing attention towards the glowing bottle. In addition, she has effectively used a transition from cool colors in the shadow areas towards warm colors in the light. Her manipulation of color complements the subject matter while creating a visually pleasing environment. The dragon seems to be blissfully embracing or cradling the bottle of fire elixir.

Stevie Young

Stevie has combined elements from her imagination with those observed as well. She too has very effectively used color suggesting spatial depth -cool colors receding, warm colors advancing- as well as casting a sense of light and overall mood within the composition. Especially successful is her use of complementary colors on the antlers creating  glowing oranges, reds and yellows on the underside accented by blues on the receding planes.

HOMEWORK #6: Color Still Life

Mike Koonce

Draw a still life of at least 5 to 7 small (real) objects using colored pencil on black paper. Choose a color scheme that complements the subjects in mood and/or function. Pay attention to compositional balance, negative space and eye level. Paper size approx. 18 x 24 in. In the drawing above, Mike has grouped objects to the right which would seem imbalanced. Although, the placement of the small bottle on the left in the foreground is a perfect counterweight when combined with the fabric. The yellow reflections and hints of blue connect with the colors and accents throughout the composition.

COLOR: Still Life

Iris Lopez

Students finished up working on their personal still life arrangements in color. Iris took a more contemporary approach to dealing with space. Rather than creating a grounded and realistic sense of space, the objects float, swirling around like a seen from an early Sam Rami movie. Notice how you are lead from similar objects (jack-o-lantern to jack-o-lantern) as well as colors (blue of the eyeballs to the blue die). The frenzied and electric-like mark-making around the forms adds to the floating quality as well as the energy of the image.

INK: Wash and COLOR

Last Friday students made ink wash drawings in the morning and colored pencils studies in the afternoon.

Victoria Castaneda

Victoria has discovered the medium that works best for her. In this drawing, she has balanced the values well while creating a very interesting sense of space. The layered mark-making in the white paint can and dark funnel are particularly well rendered with clarity and definition.

Emily Sanfilippo

Emily has very effectively addressed the whole page while developing volumetric and luminous objects. The ball is especially well drawn. Take note of the full and skillfully rendered categories of light.

WED. & THURS. Apr. 11 & 12: COLOR

Amy Eldridge

Tara Funk

Students in both classes began color studies with colored pencils on black paper. The drawings above exhibit strong value and color observations. Something to consider with color is the importance of using a layering technique when trying to achieve the desired color and value. In addition, the white pencil is essential for capturing strong highlights and blending colors.

TUES. 11/8 COLORED PENCILS

Chelsea Shiery

Valentin Mendoza

Today we made single subject studies using colored pencils.  I spoke briefly about color schemes and the characteristics of color and colored pencils in particular.  Thursday we will start a two-day project using color.  Bring some small colored objects to draw.

LARGE SCALE DRAWINGS FROM LAST WEEK

Here's Taylor Bihn's completed drawing; See No Evil, Speak No Evil, and Hear No Evil. Taylor has added a contemporary spin on the old theme by including modern props like "bling" and the spray can.  Aesthetically speaking, notice how he has used the red in the composition to establish a rhythm.  This could also be achieved with the green in the leaves.  There is a bit of green in Hear No Evil's hair but it could use a little help with another leaf behind him.  Placing the leaf behind him would also add
some depth.

 Tony has created an otherworldly, wonderland of brightly colored, fantastic forms.  This is an incredibly rhythmic composition.  The blue path leads the "eye" across the page while the large red shape draws us through a vortex.  The combination of large and small forms decorated with various textures and patterns keep the "eye" jumping and bouncing throughout the composition. The imaginative and inventive image is reminiscent of an undersea carnival at night.

HOMEWORK #6: Color

Arrange a grouping of objects and make a drawing using a color scheme that complements the subjects in mood and/or function. Pay attention to composition, negative space and eye level. Paper size is 12 x 15 in. or larger. The student drawing above exhibits a full composition (edge to edge) with rich colors and values. In addition, the choice of colors is very complementary to the space and functionality of the objects.

Tues. Apr. 19 COLOR: Large Scale Compositions

Students began working on their large scale color compositions. The objective is to explore the use of color schemes while employing the various compositional strategies and ways of creating volume and depth previously discussed in class. The drawing above (in progress) by Taylor Bihn illustrates his use of complementary colors as well as his imagination.  The theme of this drawing will involve the monkeys hear no evil, see no evil and speak no evil.

Tues. Apr. 14 COLOR STUDIES

We started color.  First we discussed the particulars of the color wheel and color schemes.  Color schemes are standard color combinations that work well together. Then we made color studies using colored pencils on black paper.
Rose Antaki's drawing (top) beautifully illustrates the use of warm and cool color combinations. Warm and cool colors work very much like light and dark values in that warm colors tend to advance and cool colors recede.  Therefore, cool colors are generally placed in the shadows or receding planes.
Mario Mora's drawing (bottom) illustrates the use of complementary colors; orange and blue in this case.  Complementary colors are situated directly across from one another on the color wheel.  Although his drawing is unfinished, you can still see how complementary colors can enhance each other.