Week 10
We will continue drawing the entire figure with the head, hands and feet.
Your observational drawings or your master copies and tracings are DUE THIS WEEK!
Week 09
Week 9: Continue Indirect Lighting and Tone. Discussion of head, hands and feet.
Continue to work on your observational drawings or your master copies and tracings. Remember they are DUE NEXT WEEK.
Week 08
Week 8: Lecture: Indirect Lighting and Tone.
Continue to work on your observational drawings or your master copies and tracings.
Week 07
Lecture: Anatomy. Anatomical Drawings - Realistic and Exaggerated. Tonight should be really fun!
Continue to work on your observational drawings or your master copies and tracings.
Extra Credit
Copy master painting from reference, using color gouache or acrylic on illustration board (no bigger than 4 x 5). Due on the last day of class.
Partial list of Master Painters:
Dean Cornwell
Norman Rockwell
J.C. Leyendecker
Alphonse Mucha
Nicolai Fechin
Sergei Bongart
Dan McCaw
Joachin Sorolla
Kazuhiku Sano
Robert Hunt Anders Zorn
Gustave Klimt
Maxfield Parrish
N.C. Wyeth
Gregory Manchess
Steve Huston
Drew Struzan
Thomas Blackshear
Bob Peak
Frank Frazetta
Howard Pyle John Singer Sargent
Rembrant
Sebastian Kruger
John Asaro
John LaGatta
Saul Tepper
Ilya Repin
Burt Silverman
Morgan Weistling
Dan Gerhartz
Scott Burdick
You may choose a painter from the list below. If you want to paint from someone else not on this list, let me know.
Week 06
Week 6: Lecture: Basic Procedures.
Assignment: Lay-ins - Realistic and Exaggerated.
Create two drawings, one with a figure based on a lay-in with realistic proportions. The other, a figure base on a lay-in based on exaggerated proportions. You can use any reference and costume for your figures that you like. Use graphite or charcoal to do this. I will show you a couple of graphite techniques.
Week 05
Week 5: Lecture: Ellipses and Cylinders. Midterm Due: All 100 tracings/masters/observation drawings. No Homework.
Week 04
Lecture: Combining Spheres and Boxes. Due: 25 tracings/masters/observation drawings. Assignment: Same assignment as last week.
We will start moving our focus toward paying attention to shapes and edges.
Next week is midterm. All 100 tracing, master copies and your observational drawings are due.
Week 03
A discussion of foreshortening will preface our drawing session. Emphasis will be on the following skills: 1) developing observation, and 2) reducing complex images to simple components drawn in the correct proportion to achieve the illusion of form in space. Longer poses will provide an opportunity to implement these theories.
Due: Second set of 5 tracings, 5 master copies and 5 observational drawings.
Before going in to lecture there there are a couple things I want to touch upon:
First of all, some of you are not understanding what the homework is. I will again bring in the example as well as show the students who got it right. This is a life drawing class. When I said to do five observational drawings, I meant that you observe and draw PEOPLE and not inanimate objects. I think I also mentioned that it was okay to draw animals. The one thing I said was to NOT draw from photographs. I have gone through and made comments on the homework. Let's improve them this next time round.
I will also discuss how I intend to grade the homework. In addition, if you do more than what I ask for, I will count that towards extra credit.
Secondly, take a look at these videos:
Consider Stephen Wiltshire. The thing about autistic people is that their brains work a little differently. In many ways these incredible abilities lie within all of us. It's only a that autistic savants have access whereas the rest of us do not. In many cases we're just scratching the surface of our actual potential. Last week, I asked you to remember a pose to draw it from memory. That's just one pose. And being able to draw from your memory or your imagination should not be out of the ordinary for visual artists. It's really not too much to ask of you if this guy can remember an entire city from a single helicopter ride. If it's any consolation to you, while he has this ability, he can't cross the street by himself.
Up till now, we've been working with simple geometric shapes. Let's take a look again at Esref Armagan. I showed this last week. For those of you who were not here, get this: This guy was born without eyes. That means he has never seen light or color. Take a look at his paintings. How does he do it? What is truly astounding is that he understands perspective. How does a blind guy understand that things appear smaller the farther away they get? This man has never seen 'farther away.' What this tells us is that there is some inherent understanding of perspective in all of us.
Don't let it depress you if you don't get it right away. Just know that if you put forth a constant genuine effort, eventually you will see results. Take a look at Sungha Jung.
This kid has only been playing for two years. Mastering something requires persistence and determination.
Part of becoming good is letting go of that fear of screwing up and looking at your own work with a critical eye. Don't just look at your stuff and say, "I suck." Say "I suck, but today I will get better at ________" As long as you try and improve on your weaknesses one by one, you will make progress. Trying to tackle it all at once is like trying to lose 100 lbs in a week. If try and lose a little at a time you'll see realistic results, but you have to change your behavior. Everyone knows the trick to losing weight is eat less exercise more. The trick to getting better at drawing is practice. There's no getting around it. There is no shortcut to gaining this mileage.
Bringing the discussion back to art, I met a guy who said he was the worst artist in his graduating class. But through practice and perseverance, he became very successful. His name is Justin Kaufman AKA El Coro. Take a look at his work. Realize that, you too are on a path.
Remember this quote from the movie "The Karate Kid":
"Daniel-san, must talk. Walk on road. Walk right side, safe. Walk left side, safe. Walk middle, sooner or later, you get squished just like grape. Here, karate same thing. Either you karate do, yes, or karate do, no. You karate do, "guess so," just like grape. Understand?"
One of my friends taped a quote to his Wacom tablet in big bold letters: "Be not half-ass."
I will post images that I do in class later.
1. Warm up
2. Discuss Gesture and alternate methods of layins.
3. Show the pillow technique and discuss the stretch and compression.
4. Show the flow in the arms and legs.
5. Discuss the position of the light for right handedness vs. left handedness.
6. Short poses 3 min. Gestural - Focus on Axis, END TO END, SIDE TO SIDE
7. Next set of poses will continue to be gestural in focus, however this time we will be focusing on accurately recording the terminator.
After the break, we will go into foreshortening.
8. Talk about foreshortening. Show the plastic caps.
9. Stacking shapes, Circle, Square, Triangle
10. Building a lay-in from the back first.
11. Using a Tube for the torso for foreshortening
12. The model will strike seated poses and point in various directions.
After the break, we do longer poses till the end of class.
Week 02
The importance of visual measuring and proportion will be reemphasized. The concept of contour and blind contour drawing will be the introduction for a section devoted to improving the student’s observational accuracy. The class will draw with an emphasis on negative shapes.
After warm-ups, we will be working with a few blind contour exercises. The purpose of this exercise is to sharpen our hand/eye relationship. In a nutshell, this are basically Betty Edwards type exercises.
Next we will be doing negative shape drawings. These exercises will strengthen our ability to see off the form as well as on the form. By learning to think abstractly, you can increase speed an accuracy, and begin to start pushing some skills into your subconscious. We will continue with negative and positive shape exercises and add to them contour lines to express volume.
Before the long break we will be returning to use the lay-in as a basis for drawing the figure. We will continue with emphasizing the gesture and using spherical forms (egg shapes, cylinders, spheres, etc.) to create our lay-ins.
We will be doing some exercises to make sure that our lay-ins are not only clear to ourselves but also to other people. We will also be focusing on developing our visual memory. The class will continue with longer poses in which the student will try to incorporate his/her observation, visual measuring and hand-eye skills.
Once you can comfortably draw a lay-in for a figure, and then add either anatomy or costume to it, you are then ready to begin drawing with shapes. When you draw with shape rather than line, you will increase your speed. Think about it. When you draw with an ink pen, doesn't it take FOREVER to hatch in the shadows? And when you think about it, you're not really hatching for the sake of drawing a lot of lines, you're doing it so that those lines will read as shadow value. If that is the case, why use line? Doesn't it make more sense to draw shadows as big shapes of value? And if you can draw shadows as shapes of value, can't you do the same with the lights? This is the mind set behind using middle value toned paper. The point is to get you to STOP thinking about line and START thinking about shapes.
The more you think in terms of shape, the more efficient you will become. You will be able to express more ideas with less effort. This is the key to painting and it is also the key to digital painting.
All of these exercises are designed to get you to stop thinking about the literal figure, and begin thinking in an unconventional manner.
Due: First set of 25 tracings, 25 master copies and 25 observational drawings.
Assignment: Same as last week.
Week 01
Each class session will begin with quick sketches andgesture drawings. Every class will begin with warm-up gesture drawings (30 minutes). I will lecture and demo briefly on the topic at hand and then the remainder of the class will be devoted to developing observational and representational skills. Poses will lengthen in time and complexity as the course progresses. This schedule is subject to change.
Personally, drawing is very important to me. Professionally, my ability to draw is one of my most valuable assets. I suggest you develop your ability to draw and think. By all rights, your ability to think and solve visual problems should not be hampered by your inabillity to draw. You cannot simply say, "I have great ideas, I just cannot draw them." If you cannot draw them, they do not exist. Becoming a good draughtsman may take you a lifetime, but becoming good enough to express your ideas is the goal that you should be pursuing. To that end, I am going to assign you a LOT of drawing homework. This is intended to make you better at drawing, not an exercise in me being mean to you. Be aware that at competing schools, some teachers require 100 drawings a week. In general, the only way to get better is mileage. What really bugs me is when students say they cannot do something or I what I am asking is impossible. If you want something bad enough, you can make it happen. So to that end, LET'S LEAVE FEAR AT THE DOOR.
The Eyewriter from Evan Roth on Vimeo.
The class will begin with a general discussion of the importance of figure representation in all majors. There will be a discussion on this syllabus and on the materials. This session will focus on the lay-in and gesture. A demonstration will be given on how to being a drawing with a lay-in. Emphasis will be on the following skills: 1) creating a dynamic lay-in. 2) proper proportions. 3) Speed. 4) Accuracy.
After discussing the syllabus, I will demonstrate how to sharpen your pencil properly. We will then begin with gesture drawings and then I will talk about the lay-in. This is covered in Chapters 1-3 in the book.
ART105 Homework (the class formerly known as FS105)
Homework: First set of 25 tracings, 25 master copies, and 25 observational drawings.
You will use your tracing paper to analyze the structure of 25 tracings and master drawings. These will be done in red pen on tracing paper or vellum. Turn in a photocopy with your red pen lay in. THEN, you will copy the original eyeballing it on to another sheet. This copy is also to be done in black or blue pen. You are to put all of your drawings into a 3 ring binder. You will also do 5 observational drawings. These are to be done from life, not photographs.
Ignore that this says to do 10 and do 25. However, be aware that this will be the same assignment for the next four weeks.
If you do more than what I ask for per week, I will count that toward extra credit. If you get all 60 done before midterm, you won't have any new homework other than the 3 portfolio pieces.
Master copy List (A partial list) – Draughtsmen
| George Bridgeman | John Vanderpoel | Michelangelo |
| Raphael | Tiepolo | Tintoretto |
| Andrew Loomis | Steve Huston | Harry Carmean |
| Karl Gnass | Burne Hogarth | Charles Dana Gibson |
| Leonardo Da Vinci | Peter Paul Rubens | Pontormo |
| Gustave Klimt | Nicolai Fechin | Ilya Repin |
| Sargent | Bouguereau |
Egon Schiele |
Make sure that you choose figures that are complete figures from head to toe as best as you can find. If you would like to draw from other artists, let me who you would like to use or bring in an example of their work.
Weekly Outline
Each class session will begin with quick sketches/gesture drawings. Every class will begin with 5 warm-up gesture drawings (5 minutes each). The remainder of the class will be devoted to developing observational and representational skills. Poses will lengthen in time and complexity as the course progresses.
Schedule subject to change according to classroom needs.
Week 1: Disbursement of syllabus. Overview of Life Drawing Techniques and materials.
Lecture: Gesture.
Homework Assignment: Every week until midterm, you are to do 25 tracings, 25 master copies and 25 observational drawings. This is the same assignment every week, but you simply do different drawings.
Week 2: Due: 25 tracings/masters/observation drawings.
Lecture: Spherical forms.
Assignment: Same assignment as last week.
Week 3: Lecture: Box Forms.
Due: 25 tracings/masters/observation drawings.
Assignment: Same assignment as last week.
Week 4: Lecture: Combining Spheres and Boxes.
Due: 25 tracings/masters/observation drawings.
Assignment: Same assignment as last week.
Week 5: Lecture: Ellipses and Cylinders.
Midterm Due: All 100 tracings/masters/observation drawings.
No Homework.
Week 6: Lecture: Basic Procedures.
Assignment: Lay-ins - Realistic and Exaggerated.
Week 7: Lecture: Anatomy.
Assignment: Anatomical Drawings - Realistic and Exaggerated.
Week 8: Lecture: Indirect Lighting and Tone.
Assignment: Value Exercise.
Week 9: Lecture: Indirect Lighting and Tone.
Discussion of head, hands and feet
Assignment: head, hands and feet drawing.
Week 10: Lecture: Foreshortening.
Head, hands and feet drawings due.
Discussion of final project
Assignment: final project.
Week 11: Final project due. Discussion of life drawing portfolio.
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