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: 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.

Feb. 28 VALUE: Form & Light

Students made sketchbook studies exploring value patterns and graphic positioning. Graphic imagery emphasizes the design and two-dimensional surface of a composition over the traditional development of three-dimensional space. There are many ways of doing this; we cropped objects and rendered shallow space. Bernardo Olivares' drawing (top) has a great design sense and balance. Notice how the cropped, oval shapes are positioned diagonally across the composition.  Furthermore, he has isolated the negative space into large and small shapes. Jay Vang's drawing (bottom) has also divided up the negative space. Note the closed square in the bottom left and the open square in the bottom right balanced with a large rectangle on top.  Particularly nice is the diagonal juxtaposition of the rectilinear forms in the bottom left against the circular form in the top right.

10/13 Midterm Critique

Students finished midterm drawings and then we critiqued their work. The drawing above by Jeanne Buckens is an excellent example of the work that was created during the midterm assignment.  Elements to take note of are the asymmetrical composition and the division of the negative space in the background and the beautiful rendering of the categories of light as well as the other gradations from light to dark located throughout the drawing.  And lastly, the overall working of the entire surface.  By selectively leaving small areas white, Jeanne is able to develop a warm and thorough rendering of the local values found on the various surfaces and objects.

Next week we begin with Ink Drawings.

2/8 Proportions of a Chair

Monday evening we continued working on proportions.  We started with chair studies.  Chairs are particularly well suited for working on proportions because they have lots of negative areas between the various supports, legs and back.  This allows for many points of reference for measuring. Secondly, chairs pose a perspective problem as well.  In that regard, they present various angles and diminishing sizes.  Chair drawing by Ariel Lockshaw.  Some of the proportions and angles are a bit off (ex. feet are too level to one another) but overall the drawing exhibits good line quality and a lot of investigation and an openness to make changes.

After the break, we made proportional studies of a grouping of objects.  In the demo drawing, note the use of organizational lines to make height and width relationships as well as locating the central axis of objects.  In the initial stages of working out the composition, your approach should be loose and flexible, searching and making adjustments.  From there you can employ sighting to fine tune the proportions.

Once the proportions are accurate, finish the drawing off with modeling.  Modeling is the application of the categories of light and value gradations to create a three dimensional effect.  Refer to the Ideal Solids studies for assistance.  Drawing by Katie Bogner.

1/25 Ideal Solids

Monday evening began with a discussion on composition.  From there we talked about Ellipses and Ideal Solids; standard or common geometric forms found in many man-made objects.  Our attention was on rendering spheres, cones, cubes, open and closed cylinders.  Key points to remember about ellipses are: 1. The front portion of the ellipse is wider than the back half. 2.  Although ellipses will narrow as they reach eye level, they should never have pointed ends. 3. Because it is further away from eye level, the bottom ellipse of a cylinder should be fuller (wider) than the top ellipse. The opposite would be true of a cylindrical object held above your head (eye level).  In addition all forms were rendered with the categories of light: cast shadow, reflected light, core shadow, shadow, light and high light. Drawings by Alan DeMarche and Justin Edwards .

Modeling Light and Volume

We continued our investigations of value and modeling on Wednesday evening.  All students were presented a still life of three, staked, white, mugs.  The assignment was to render the Categories of Light (cast shadow, reflected light, core of the shadow, shadow, light and high light).  With Peter Wojtczak's drawing note how the value patterns combined with repeating shapes and forms (i.e. handles) contributes to the overall movement and balance of the composition.  Sketch book assignment is to repeat the problem at home. 7B continued working on their Eye Level and Base Line Projects.