Welcome to Drawing 1

The following information should be used as a general pacing guide for the course. More information will be added as we go through the year. I will upload units of study with explanations of assignments, resources, helpful videos and guided lessons. Don't forget to check out the drop down tab under the "Drawing 1" for syllabus and our videos page.

-Our first week in Drawing 1 we will review the Elements and Principles as a refresher while looking at artwork. I want to know what you see and what you think makes a piece successful or not.

-Then we will begin exploring "mark making" of different types in our sketchbooks. You will experiment with several types of drawing media and styles. Some examples are hatching, cross-hatching, stippling, scrumbling, etc. We will explore pen and ink, different degrees of graphite, and calligraphy style pens.

We will draw an object from life 9 times on one large sheet of paper. Each time we draw the object we will experiment with a new drawing media.

After getting warmed up with a few drawing exercises we will learn about automatism and a few artists who enjoy this technique. We will practice this style while loosening up our drawing methods. We will practice drawing from life and mixing styles with objective vs. non-objective art.

Write a short story about your character to help you develop your narrative and give you insight to your thumbnail sketches.

Creative expression, mixed media, and surface manipulation will be explored in this unit...

Students will construct and deconstruct a drawing surface with mixed media to create an interesting background. Once students are satisfied with the results we will practice our contour drawing process as an added layer. More mark making will continue until students feel their work explores and pushes the boundaries, but yet feels complete and satisfied.

Look at the still life set up in class, use a view finder to select a portion of the still life that you would like to draw. Make sure you have at least 5 objects within your viewfinder. You may take a photo with your phone to use as reference when you go back to your seat to draw. A grid can be placed on top of your photo to help you with placement and proportions.

Sketch your drawing out lightly on pastel drawing paper. Designate areas for shadow and include folds in the cloth, textures, etc.

Begin adding the midtones first, then add shadows and lastly, add highlights. Be playful with your colors and consider how some colors reflect onto other surfaces. Blue and violet tones can be added for shadowy areas. Yellows, lime greens and oranges can be used for warmth in highlight areas.

Start adding color with pastels (pastel pencils are also good for this project) on the opposite side of the paper from your drawing hand. So, if you are right handed- work from the left side of the paper towards the right and vice versa. Expect to build up the layers of pastel. You will use at least 3 layers of pastel in every part of your drawing.

Rubric:

Rendering of at least 5 objects in still life arrangement= 50 points

Full range of values (levels 1-10) midtones, shadows, and highlights= 20 points

Craftsmanship= 10 points

Use of color to add visual interest when creating form= 10 points

Shadows on surfaces beside and around still life objects= 10 points

French artist, Paul Cezanne, often used still life's to practice rendering and play with color. Notice how his green pears have red mixed in for shadows. His creamy stone pitcher has splashes of violet and green on the surface to show reflections. Recognize the shadows on the surface of the table around the objects. Some shadows even have hints of blue in them.

In the 1860's Cezanne began painting with artists like Monet and Camille Pissarro. In the 1870's he began painting from life outdoors (plein air) and started using more vibrant colors and loose brush strokes. He exhibited with the other Impressionist painters in the first ever Impressionist Art show. He was very well respected by his peers with his creativity and exploration of new techniques loved by the Impressionist artists. "Cezanne is regarded as no less than the father of modern art, an opinion strongly held by Pablo Picasso, among other major figures of this century and the last." https://www.paulcezanne.org/ Picasso was also known to have said "Paul Cezanne was my one and only master."

We will begin with writing the terms to know in our sketchbook and a practice 1 point perspective drawing. We will then draw a practice 2 point perspective. There are additional activities and recorded videos to try for anyone who wants extra practice (drawing the hallway, drawing your bedroom, drawing a city scene).

This drawing lesson will be combined with the next lesson on drawing people. Our final drawing project (assessment grade) will show our skill and mastery using both of these lessons.

For our last sketchbook and classwork assignments on this unt we will practice drawing gestures. We are fortunate to collaborate with the dance classes here at SAA to visit and draw live models practicing, just like Degas!