Homework & Projects Due - Feb. 17, 2010

Art 1 - Your homework is to complete 2 new hand drawings using the Picture Plane tool. These must include shading. Do not repeat the same hand position more than once. It is key that you follow the instruction posted last week without any deviation! I expect to see EVERY detail in your hand! Don't generalize what you see; DRAW only what you see. Remember: If you have a picture frame at home which is the same size as your Picture Plane opening or larger, you may use the glass from the picture frame to draw on instead of the flimsy transparency you received in class. This is MUCH better and easier when tracing your hand underneath because the glass won't shift under the marker as you trace. These two drawings will be a part of your Project grade along with the one you finished from last week. We will critique the drawings on Wednesday. Gook Luck

Art 2 - You are to complete 2 new Picture Plane drawings: 1) a new hand position and 2) a landscape or still life. A still life can be anything inanimate, like a floral arrangement, car, fabric, anything. Simply hold the Picture Plane up at eye-level and at arm's length and move it around until you find a pleasing composition inside the Picture Plane opening. Once you find a good composition, carefully trace it with the marker while keeping your head still and one eye closed. Tone the paper, erase, and shade after copying the Picture Plane drawing to your paper. Please use the cross hairs we discussed in class to copy from transparency to paper.

Art 3 - Your scratch boards are due Wednesday. Continue working on them over the week. If you have any questions or problems (attn: Mr. Newton) contact me immediately. I won't have sympathy on you if it is obvious that you wasted the entire week due to some small issue. Good luck - Mr. Kelley

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

Scratchboard and Duck Stamp Exmples

Art 1&2 - Scratchboard Examples

These are some excellent examples of scratchboard capabilities which illustrate a variety of techniques. If you click on an image you will be able to view it at a larger scale. These should give you a goal to shoot towards in your Draw Montgomery projects. Don't settle for mediocrity!!!

Art 1 & 2

Draw Montgomery Project

All Art 1&2 students are to be working on the Draw Montgomery competition project. I gave each of you the links to the competition along with the requirements in a previous posting this year. Please review that post. You were each given your scratch paper cut to size. Art 1 students are to complete an 11x14" scratch paper and the Art 2 students have 1/2 sheet of poster board to work with as long as it is larger than 11x14".

STEPS :

1. Photograph a Montgomery building or other Montgomery scene.
2. Crop this photograph until you have a pleasing composition. Your building should be the focal point so remove excess background imagery, like sky, in order to make your building the focal point. Remember, crop your photograph using the measurements that I gave you in class: 2 3/4 x 3 1/2" or 5 1/2 x 7"
3. Draw the cropped image in your sketchbook. You can remove or adjust elements from the photograph when you draw it in your sketchbook. For example, you can remove people or cars from the photograph when you draw it in your sketchbook to see if this enhances your overall composition. Once you complete a final sketch, redraw the sketch onto the larger sheet of Newsprint paper which you received in class. This larger drawing should be 11x14", the same size as your final scratch paper. The easiest way to do this is to trace the outline of your scratch paper onto the newsprint. Cut away the excess newsprint.
4. Shade the back of your newsprint with a layer of graphite. Use a wood pencil and shade it at an angle so that you shade with the side of the lead and not the point. This way you can shade much faster.
5. Place the newsprint on top of the scratch paper with the shaded graphite side down, touching the scratch paper, and you drawing face up. Make sure you tape the newsprint to the scratch paper so that it doesn't move using TWO small pieces of tape in the top corners.
6. Trace the lines of your drawing with a colored pencil so that you can see where you have traced. Press slightly harder than normal so that you transfer the graphite on the back to the scratch paper surface. You can periodically lift the newsprint to see if your transfer is successful. If not than you either need to press harder or add more graphite to the back of the newsprint.
7. Once you have transferred the drawing to the scratch paper you are ready to start scratching. You will have to purchase a scratch board drawing utensil from Hobby Lobby or Baker's Art Supply (Coliseum Blvd.) if we don't have any at school by the 14th. They are about $6. Use hatching and cross-hatching marks to scratch away the black paint from your scratch paper, leaving the white poster board underneath to show. BE CAREFUL - you cannot "unscratch" an area once it's been scratched so pay close attention to your photo reference and scratch only the areas that are needed.
8. ALL PROJECTS ARE DUE OCT. 21st. Good luck - Mr. Kelley