Homework Due Feb. 3, 2010

Art 3 - your homework is to complete a significant portion on your scratch boards. If you haven't begun to scratch on the board then you are falling far behind. We will spend another couple weeks on this project in order to complete more of our scheduled assignments this year. Be prepared to work on your board in class on Wednesday. Remember ... do not scratch your drawing into the scratch board. Rather use hatching and cross-hatching techniques to create the appropriate value of each section of your composition. Always have your photo reference close at hand and observe carefully the lightness or darkness of every area of the photograph. I suggested in class that you first scratch out any areas of your composition that are completely white in the photograph. Also make a mental note where all your black areas are in the photograph. Once you have done these two steps then you are ready to compare every other piece of the composition to the white and black areas to better determine the degree of lightness for each element of your scratch board. Good luck - Mr. Kelley

Homework Due Feb. 3, 2010

Art 1&2 - Your homework this week is to complete five (5) Pure Contour drawings. As we learned in class, the Pure Contour drawing method is the most effective way to activate the right-brain functions. These functions are used to help artists perceive more easily what it is that they are drawing. The goal for these Pure Contour drawings is to help you learn how to see what you are drawing... the way artists see. This is much more than merely noticing or looking at and object. You must really understand every detail of the object..... and you will!

Your 5 Pure contour drawings must be the following: 1-crumpled piece of paper, 1-shoe, 2-hand with wrinkled palm, and 1- freebie (you choose an object to draw).

Remember that you must NOT look at your hand while you draw. You must have 10 minutes of uninterrupted time so retire to a quiet room in your house where you will not be disturbed. Pick a point near the center of your object to start with. Now look for a line near or on that point (remember your wrinkles in your hand) and follow that line, or edge, with your eye. Slowly and carefully move your pencil in your drawing hand in the same direction as your as your eyes. Do not let your eyes move faster than your pencil and do not let your pencil draw more than what your eyes are looking at. Your finished drawing should resemble these examples. Good Luck - Mr. Kelley

Homework - Due on Jan. 27th

ART 1&2 - Homework is to do ten (10) one-minute gesture drawings of your family members or friends. Just like you practiced in class, you should be able to draw the full figure in one minute or less, showing basic forms and positioning of the body. You should always keep your pencil moving while you are doing these sketches; don't pay attention to small details. FILL UP THE ENTIRE PAGE IN YOUR SKETCHBOOK. You should have 5 pages of sketches - one sketch on each side of the page. You may use the scribble method, using loose strokes or you may compose the figure out of basic shapes and forms (i.e. cylinders, squares, circles, etc.) PROPORTION is most important. Don't place a blimp-sized head on a tiny body...that's not what your model look like! Good luck

Art 3 - Homework involves completely drawing out your composition for the scratchboard on a sheet of paper at ACTUAL SIZE OF YOUR SCRATCHBOARD. Just a line drawing...no shading. Next, shade the entire back of your drawing (flip the drawing over to the blank side of the paper) with your pencil. Don't press so hard that you tear your paper, but the more shading the better. Now place the drawing on your scratchboard with the shaded side touching the black scratchboard surface. Tape the drawing to the board. Now trace over your drawing, pressing firmly. If you do this properly you will transfer the drawing to the scratchboard. When you are finished tracing everything, remove the paper and verify that you can see all the lines from your drawing on the scratchboard. You are now ready to start your scratching. DO NOT SCRATCH THE LINES OF THE DRAWING ON YOUR BOARD UNLESS THOSE LINES ARE WHITE IN YOUR PICTURE!!!! Scratch the different areas of your composition according to the appropriate values as seen in your photographs. The lines of the drawing are just guiding marks for your convenience. Good luck - Mr. KElley

Figure Drawing Project

Examples of good Contour Line and Gesture drawings

Your new project assignment will involve completing many gesture drawings, contour line drawings and a few drawings rendered with shading. We will be completing most of this project in class, however you will also have additional homework assignments involving the techniques which you will learn in class. Gesture Drawings are quick sketches which illustrate basic shapes and forms along with their placement. You should be able to complete a gesture drawing in 30 seconds at the end of this project. There are no details in gesture drawings; only general shapes. Gesture drawings are a quick way to "map" out a compositional idea. If want to draw a group of objects, for example, but aren't sure which objects to include or where they should be placed on your art surface, you can quickly sketch the basic forms in your sketchbook to decide between several different possibilities. This allows you to see different compositions without spending a lot of time on small details.

Contour Line drawings are more detailed but do not include shading, generally. A contour line follows the perimeter of a shape. When you are using contour lines to draw the figure in class, you will have to show where shadows, wrinkles, folds, highlights, and other details are, such as fingers and facial features. You should not work too fast so that you can pay close attention to the lines found within the subject. You will usually draw contour lines atop gesture drawings. We will do several 1-5 minute contour line drawings.

Lastly, we will spend a couple weeks completing drawings which go from gesture drawing to contour line drawing to a drawing which has shading all in one. These more thorough drawings will be used as your final pieces to be graded.

Homework: You should have two drawings of your hand and your feet (or foot) for class on 20th. Draw these in your sketchbook. One hand and foot should be in contour lines. The other hand and foot may be either gesture drawings or a mixture of contour lines and shading. Each drawing should fill ONE WHOLE PAGE in your skectchbook. (see pics above for good examples of sketches)

New Semester

Once again I hope that all of you had a great Christmas break. I wanted to let you know about our next projects coming up...



ART 3 = Homework due 1/13/10: Bring an 8x10" (or larger) scratch board to class. You can find these at Hobby Lobby...however Hobby Lobby only carries 2 of every size at any given time. So I will try to bring a couple with me to class on Wednesday just in case. Before you go click here to print a discount coupon for the scratch board. Also, you need to take pictures of River Region architecture and scenery for the Draw Montgomery competition which is your next project. Click here to review the requirements for this competition. HAVE YOUR PHOTOS READY FOR CLASS!

ART 1&2 = Bring your portfolios and sketchbooks to class. Those of you who left your Perspective projects at home during the critique need to bring them to class so that I can grade them. If you are one of the ones who is turning in your projects late and you don't want to lose 15pts, please have your parents sign a note stating that you were finished with your project before our class on 1/5/10 and that you simply forgot to bring it to class. If they will vouch for you then you will be spared the 15pt deduction on your grade. We will be discussing your next project in class.

Project #2 DUE Wed. 1/6/10

I hope everyone had a great Christmas break. Remember to bring your projects to class for a critique tomorrow (1/6/10). I hope that the extra couple of weeks helped many of you.

For those of you who entered a "turkey and videogame induced coma" for the entire break and still haven't finished your projects, don't forget that you may turn in your projects late. You lose 15 points for every week late. This is better than a zero!

Projects - ART 1&2 = Perspective Drawing
ART 3 = Color Scales