Colored Pencil Drawings

Thursday evening we started working with colored pencils.  In the first example shown, the drawing was initiated in red.  Next, I went over all the red with blue.  And lastly I went over the red and blue areas excluding the contours with yellow.  Notice that the yellow doesn't cover the entire skull.  Some areas utilize the tone of the paper for highlights.  In the scribble gesture drawing, again I started with red, switching to blue and then yellow.  At that point, I began to alternate more rapidly between the colors.  Being a gestural approach to drawing, I tried to maintain the energy and spontaneity not only with the mark-making but with the color handling as well.  As I approached completion of the drawing, I added the black with yellow on top.  Finishing a drawing with a warm color like yellow is a great way to add a sense of luminosity and depth, not unlike "glazing" in painting.  In Arianna Preston's drawing (cow skull), she has separated the warm and cool colors which gives the drawing a sense  of time and place.  As in the last glowing rays of the sun as it sets.

Self-Portraits

Tuesday night we continued working with the "face".  This time focusing on self-portraits.  First, students worked up the background (negative space) by creating some atmospheric marks and swashes or toning the whole paper with charcoal.  The portrait it self was drawn in charcoal.

Homework is to draw a couple of scribble gestures with ball point pen (self-portrait).

NEXT CLASS: Bring colored pencils: crimson red, ultramarine blue, canary yellow, black.

Portraits

Thursday night students drew portraits of each other.  Forgot to snap a picture.  Homework is to draw a self-portrait in your sketch book (any medium).  Click here for a link to proportions of the head.

NEXT WEEK: Bring colored pencils.

No Class Tuesday Nov. 10, 2009

See you Thursday.

Ink Drawings "Skull and Antlers"

Thursday night we continued drawing with ink.  We drew from various skulls and antlers.  Again the techniques ranged from cross hatching to stippling. What makes this drawing particularly successful is not only the wide range of values achieved but the various textural qualities as well.  Note the stippling technique applied to the skull and the wavy, dimpled contours accented with short hatching and cross hatching on the antlers.  Drawing by Arianna Preston.

India Ink

Tuesday night we made drawings using India Ink.  Ink is probably the least forgiving of drawing mediums due to the fact that you cannot erase.  In order to make tonal gradations, you must employ a hatching (lines) or stippling (random dots) technique.  The closer the line or dot patterns the darker the value.  Cross hatching, parallel hatching, short hatching and stippling techniques were discussed during the slide lecture.  We returned to drawing from wine bottles as our subject. The drawing here is my demo drawing.

Simulated Texture

Tuesday and Thursday evenings we worked on "simulated texture" drawings.  Students had the option to draw a texture study or fill a silhouetted shape with a texture that is different from the original or what you might expect.  The first option, texture study, is to be within a 4 x 6 in. rectangular format, drawn in graphite.  The composition should be "continuous field".  In other words, the image goes off all four sides of the composition.  The focus is on the texture; there should be no definition of the shape or form the texture is derived from.  The entire image is a rectangle of the texture. The second option, the silhouetted shape composition, is inspired by the artist Rene Magritte.  Compositions should consist of a central shape filled with a texture other than its original or natural texture.  The background should consist of a second texture contrasting the one within the silhouette. In the drawing above, an egg shape is filled with snake skin texture. Drawing by Chris Clark.