Welcome -

This blog is here for Cornerstone Christian Academy art students to use as a tutorial and troubleshooting site for the completion of their various yearly projects. Use this blog to find periodic updates and tips. Please leave comments: ask questions, comment on your progress, or leave helpful tips for your fellow classmates to read regarding a particular class project. Good Luck!

Wednesday, February 3, 2010

Picutre Plane Drawings

The Picture Plane is a visual tool which artists employ in order to realistically draw or paint three dimensional things on a two dimensional surface like paper or canvas while retaining a 3-D appearance.

You are using a literal "picture plane" for your next projects. Your first assignment using the picture plane is to draw your hand. Please read below and follow the steps I have listed.

Fig.1 Select a hand position to trace.
Step 1: First select an interesting hand position to draw. This must be a position that will allow you to balance the Picture Plane; using the back of your hand, for example, may not work as well as using your fingers. Do not draw your palm simply held flat with all fingers extended; you must create a unique hand position.
Step 2: Now close one eye and hold your head completely still. With one eye closed, use the wet erase marker which you received in class to trace every detail and line that you see inside the Picture Plane opening (background included)


Fig.2 Example of finished line drawing on the Picture Plane
Step 3: You next need to trace your line drawing to your paper. To do this, remove the transparency from the Picture Plane carefully. Now place your clean sheet of sketchbook paper on top of the line drawing. Now hold them both up to a window with plenty of sunlight coming through and re-trace the line drawing onto the paper using your PENCIL. You should be able to easily see the line drawing behind the paper when you hold them both up to the window. Make sure that your marks on your paper are dark - this is important... no faint lines that are hard to see! Draw the Picture Plane opening around your line drawing (see below)

Fig. 3 The line drawing has been traced to the paper using pencil

Step 4: Now tone the entire composition using the side of your pencil lead. After you tone the entire composition area, use a paper towel or Kleenex to blend all your pencil shading. You should notice that everything evens out to a fairly equal tone. (If your drawing was too light to begin with then this is the step where you will notice it disappearing as you blend with the paper towel. )

Fig. 4 Tone the entire composition with graphite and then blend with a paper towel

Step:5 You are now ready to begin "removing" the highlights. At this point you will need to first do two things: 1) tape your paper to the table top so that it won't move while you work and 2) get your hand back into the exact position it was in earlier for your Picture Plane tracing. Now look closely at any area that has light touching it. Think of your toned paper as the middle value and anything lighter that should be erased slightly. Be careful not to completely erase your contour lines; you are simply showing which parts of your hand have light hitting them. You may also show where the light hits the background like in the example below.

Fig. 5 Show highlights by carefully erasing the light areas of your hand and background

Step 6: The last step is to now add all the darker shadows in the appropriate areas. This is why it is important to keep your free hand in the same position that you selected earlier. You must look carefully at every detail on your hand. Ask yourselves "Which wrinkles appear to be the darkest?" "Where are the shadows/highlights on my fingers?" "Does my shading look accurate to what is really on my hand?" This is the final step and the point in which you should do your most diligent work. Take your time, work carefully and stand back when your finished to see how you did. I want to see that you spent time on this - not that you rushed through it on Tuesday night.










4 comments:

Alabama Dipper and His Thoughts said...

yeaaaa +1 point

Haileybug_7 said...

Hello! :)

Unknown said...

this is kaylee....the post really helped when I read it, thanks!

Anonymous said...

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