White Charcoal on Black Paper

The student will:

learn what a still life is (basically subject matter for art that is not moving)
create and complete a full drawing of a still life
be able to correctly use charcoal in the additive and subtractive manner
produce a wide range of values and understand contrast
experience working with reverse values (dark to white, which is the opposite of how we normally work... see example to right)

Practice creating values with white charcoal on black paper by creating a value scale with at least 6 values.
Then draw a simple sphere on a surface (remember to create a cast shadow/choose light direction).
Lastly, draw a simple white paper curl with a full range of values (at least 6) to show the illusion of form.

In your sketchbook, sketch out at least three (3) thumbnail sketches of interesting areas of the set-up still life to decide which area you will use. Make sure it has some interesting positive and negative areas, fills up the picture plane and has about 3-5 objects in the frame. (See info on thumbnail sketch examples below, and a page with more info to the right.)
Take a photo of your thumbnail sketches and submit them on Google Classroom for a grade.

After working with thumbnail sketches to define where you want to take your photo, use the available lamps to create interesting shadows and highlights on your area of choice.
Then take a clean and in-focus photo of your still life arrangement (around 3-5 items), making sure to light it well enough to create strong highlights and interesting reflections of light and/or color and that your items have a sense of unity.
Once you have taken your photo, crop and enhance it as needed and then upload it to the posted assignment on google classroom so that it can be printed out for you (Daily Grade)

Using your sketches as a guide, very softly sketch out the contour line drawing of each object in your composition/still life, with white charcoal onto your large black paper.
Apply white charcoal pencil, keeping your directional strokes following the form (think cross contour lines), starting with the brightest highlight areas...remember that you will be avoiding the shadow areas and allowing them to be created by the black of the paper.
Keep looking carefully at each item, looking for where/how the light hits the item as well as where the shadows are. This will help define the items and the space around them. Do not just draw an item as you think it should look like, but how it actually looks.
Work in layers, adding more charcoal pencil to areas that are brighter in value than the areas next to them. You may have to go back and add more layers several times as you adjust which areas are brighter than another.
Every form has a texture (even if it is smooth) and will require a unique solution to create ...practice on the side of your paper first. Each item should have it’s own realistic texture which helps define it and separate it from the rest of the items on the page.
Don’t forget the background and surrounding environment, all areas of the image needs attention, items should not be floating in the air, but grounded into their own world.

Each day you work on your artwork, be careful of where your hand is, use a scrap paper under your hand to avoid smudging your hard work.
When you put away your work into your portfolio, add your newsprint sheet onto the top to help protect it.

How I will grade your work for this project -

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