Beginning drawing
Beginning Drawing
Purpose: Drawing is an important skill for everyone to have. In almost any career, the ability to execute a quick sketch to explain your point is very valuable. Pencil drawing is also one of the most accessible art forms available. While paint, clay, and other media can be very expensive, almost everyone has a pencil handy, and can therefore create a piece of art if they choose.
Goals for this unit
Develop skill in observation
Learn several techniques to improve your drawing
Essential Standard: VA:Cr2.1.7a
Demonstrate persistence in developing skills with various materials, methods, and approaches in creating works of art or design.
Beginning Drawing
Choose a reference
Find the basic shapes
Block out your subject
Measure, check, and refine
Lesson 1: reference photos
Key vocabulary:
Foreshortening: when an object is distorted because it appears to be coming toward the viewer
Contour line: the outlines of an object
Watch the following video
Think about why a reference photo is important to use when you draw
How can choosing the right reference photo improve your drawing?
Vocab check in
Why is a foreshortened figure more difficult to draw?
What is a contour-line drawing?
Time to Practice!
Find a photo of 3 items in your ability level: a fish, a tree, and a bird
Save each photo into your camera roll
Lesson 2: Finding basic shapes
Key vocabulary:
Foreshortening: when an object is distorted because it appears to be coming toward the viewer
Proportion: how the parts relate to each other and to the whole object
Watch the following video
Think about how breaking something down into basic shapes can help you to see the item more clearly
Time to Practice!
Use the photos of the tree, bird, and fish from assignment 1 that you saved in your camera roll. Suck them up into a drawing app and use the drawing tool to find the basic shapes in each item. Save each photo with the drawings in your camera roll so you can upload your work to Gclass.
Lesson 3: Blocking out a drawing Video in 3 parts
Key vocabulary:
Proportion: how a part relates to the whole. Measuring a piece to compare it to the size of another piece.
Ratio: a way to describe how to things relate to each other
Horizontal and vertical lines:
horizontal = straight line that is parallel to the horizon
Vertical = a line that is straight up and down
Negative space: a space created by what is NOT there
Watch the following video
How can you “measure” different parts of your subject matter if you don’t have a ruler?
How is the term “proportion” similar to “comparison”?
Attachment points: where appendages (parts) attach to the main body
Time to Practice!
Choose either your bird or your fish to block out into basic shapes. Draw lightly.
Continue to the next video.
Be able to answer the following questions:
What is negative space, and how does it help you to draw more accurately?
How can observation help you to add items to your drawing in the right place?
Time to Practice!
Using negative space, angles, and dividing of the subject, refine the basic shapes you drew and try to make the size, shape, and angles more accurate.
Watch the next video.