PROPORTIONS AND "SIGHTING"

Alfredo Rodriguez

 Yesterday the class began with a series of drawings addressing the proportions of a wine bottle. The objective was to accurately render the proportions by identifying the ideal solids within the structure of the form. Before moving onto more complex forms, the class made a drawing of two bottles. One was centered while the other was cropped. The objective here was to emphasize the negative space, in particular, the space between the bottles.

Alfredo Rodriguez

 The next couple of drawings illustrate the identification of the ideal solids within the forms. The purpose is twofold. First, building the structure will create a more three-dimensional form and aid in placement of the values. Second, simplifying the forms into root shapes and the ideal solids will speed up the sketching process by keeping the drawing flexible rather than trying to be too precise too soon.

Eddie Ortiz

Savannah Church

Savannah's drawing illustrates the angles and planes of rectilinear forms. As with curves, when rendering angles, it helps to compare the angle to straight base lines and axis lines. In addition, you may use a straight edge or pencil to visually line up and compare the angle on the still life transferring it to your drawing paper.

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.

PROPORTIONS: Identifying the Ideal Solids

Dylan Murdoch

Emma O'keefe

Last night we discussed Proportions and the measuring technique called "sighting". The first thing to consider when addressing the proportions of things is style and genre. The proportions for cartoon characters is very different than the those of realistic or even idealized proportions. That said, our objective was to develope accurate proportions of the still life objects. Dylan's drawing (top) effectively relates and compares the various parts of the vase. Notice his use of vertical lines enclosing the negative space. Emma's drawing (bottom) reveals a sphere located within the structure of the pitcher. Locating and rendering the ideal solids will increase your drawing speed, because they are easier to draw, and strengthen the volume because they help define structure and placement of values.

PROPORTIONS: Identifying the Ideal Solids within Ordinary Objects

Jazmin Villalobos

Meghann Lyon

Last night students made a series of roughly (10) drawings addressing the structure and proportions of bottles, pitchers, teapots, etc. The objective was to draw the forms starting with the most basic shapes (rectangles, triangles and circles), next adding volume by rendering the ideal solids and lastly addressing the light and negative space. Jazmin has skillfully rendered the value patterns and negative space with the mass technique. Notice how the darkest areas establish a diagonal across the composition balanced by lighter tonalities. Meghann's drawing reveals the structural lines visualized underneath the surface of the object.  Jazmin's drawing is about light and mass whereas Meghann's drawing is about structure and space.

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.

WED. 4/25 Portraits continued

Anna De Torres

Students continued making portrait drawings of classmates. The primary objective in these drawings is to capture the proportions of the head and not likeness. Cartoons and caricatures can capture likeness without being proportional. Anna's drawing above holds the page well by rendering in large scale utilizing much of the image area. The portrait exhibits good attention to the proportions and structure of the "head",
I also gave the tentative list of drawings due in the final portfolio. The list is only partial/ up-to-date. DHR and homework will be due the final week of classes. The list is above in the menu bar.

THURS. 2/9 PROPORTIONS: Diagonals

Amy Eldridge

The T/Th class made studies of rectangular forms (milk cartons, blocks) addressing proportions and diagonals. There are a few useful tips when trying to draw diagonals freehand (i.e. without using linear perspective). First, close one eye and hold out a straight edge (pencil, ruler, etc.) in front of you. Imagine you are resting the straight edge on the diagonal. Be sure to hold it as if against a window; don't point it. That angle should translate exactly to your drawing. Second, compare verticals, horizontals and diagonals to the edges of your paper (i.e. straight verticals should be parallel to the paper). And lastly, and possibly most important, try drawing the negative shapes between objects rather than the objects themselves.

WED. 2/8 PROPORTIONS: Diagonals

We continued working on proportions Wed. evening with a focus on rendering rectilinear forms and cylinders. Patrick's drawing is a good example of all the things we've discussed to date. The composition exhibits a strong bottom left to upper right movement starting with the blocks and ending with the "grim reaper" form. He has used scale change with the larger forms in the foreground and the smaller still life in the upper left. He has suggested volume and a light source while using a light to dark gradation on the ground plane to push back the space.

TUES. 2/7 PROPORTIONS: Organizational Line

Frank Vallin

Lily King

The T/Th class started proportional studies. We began with studying the proportions of wine bottles and then onto more complex forms. Frank's drawing above illustrates the organizational line process. A closer look reveals the central axis line, helpful when rendering symmetrical objects.  Also note the placement of ellipses at every planar shift (i.e. the cylindrical body, cone-like shoulders and the cylindrical neck).  These lines add three-dimensional structure and establish locations for tonalities.
Lilly's drawing illustrates a more "finished" image with tonal areas addressing the "categories of light." The organizing lines have blended into the tonalities. Both drawings exhibit strong attention to the negative areas as well.

MON. 2/6 PROPORTIONS: Organizing the Picture Plane

Alisha Ascencio

Class began with a brief lecture on the work and technique of Alberto Giacometti. His drawing technique clearly illustrates the connections required to render accurate proportions. We also discussed the importance of locating the ideal solids within everyday objects.  Notice the spherical shape in the base of the object above. Attached is a cylinder and lastly the handle and spout. Locating the ideal solids will make a more volumetric drawing structurally and aid in the placement of values. Also note in the drawing above the "reductive" technique of creating white lines and highlights with the eraser. The addition of atmospheric marks in the negative areas adds a sense of place allowing the object to settle into the space.

Thurs. Feb. 3 PROPORTIONS: Simple Forms within Complex Shapes

Thursday 7A  focused on developing accurate proportions. When drawing a shape such as a wine bottle, it helps to draw all the individual forms that make up that shape.  Looking closely at Andrew Robles' drawing above, we can see that a bottle is a cylinder (body), a cone (shoulders) and another cylinder for the neck.  Defining these parts will make proportions more accurate as well as revealing to the artist how the tonalities are to play across the surface of an object.

Avi Scheuenstuhl's drawing is an example of planar analysis. By flattening the curvature of a round object, one can see the planes more clearly.  This is important because placement of values is determined by the planar structure of an object.

Tony Topacio's drawing expands on both of these themes to make an organizational line drawing.  Organizational lines, enclose the positive and negative areas allowing the artist to organize and visualize the parts and their relationships to one another.  Looking closely, one can see the interior structure of this object revealing top and bottom ellipses, the planes around the cylindrical body and the cone on top.

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.