Advanced Drawing
Introduction to this course (PowerPoint)
Assignment 1 - Illustrating: The Norman Rockwell Process
Presentation - N/A
This is a journey through Norman Rockwell’s process. Based on “How I Make a Picture” by Norman Rockwell. This is a traditional approach to breaking down a planned process. Results in one finished drawing. You will digitally turn in evidence of every stage of this process. Artifacts required for evidence are listed below. For a brief overview of the process read "How I Make A Picture.pdf"
Stages of progress and requirements for submission are below.
1. Ideation
2. Models, props, & poses
READ: "MAKING THE CHARCOAL DRAWING.pdf"
3. Preliminary sketch
Your grade will be determined by the following:
• 10 points/Productive use of class time, project construction, involvement in discussion and critiques, response to readings
• 25 points/Technical Achievement (quality of work and craft)
• 25 points/Applied Thinking (comprehension and response to assignments, ability to work through ideas creatively, thoughtful participation in class discussion)
• 30 points/Completion of Assignment (including showing proper evidence for all stages)
• 10 points/Attendance/Tardiness
Stages of progress and requirements for submission are below.
1. Ideation
- Artifact to turn in: The written idea that was originally shared with class (in Word document or PDF format)
2. Models, props, & poses
- Artifact(s) to turn in: all photo references of poses, props, or environments (in .jpg format)
READ: "MAKING THE CHARCOAL DRAWING.pdf"
3. Preliminary sketch
- Artifact to turn in: Edited photos of sketchbook thumbnails and your refined preliminary composition based on student or professor feedback (.jpg format)
- Artifact to turn in: Professional (properly cropped, and edited) high resolution photograph of the finished drawing (.jpg format)
Your grade will be determined by the following:
• 10 points/Productive use of class time, project construction, involvement in discussion and critiques, response to readings
• 25 points/Technical Achievement (quality of work and craft)
• 25 points/Applied Thinking (comprehension and response to assignments, ability to work through ideas creatively, thoughtful participation in class discussion)
• 30 points/Completion of Assignment (including showing proper evidence for all stages)
• 10 points/Attendance/Tardiness
Assignment 2 - Emerging: Abstract to Representational
STORY:
The Poetry of Painting by Juliette Aristides
Once I joined a weekend poetry class and spent hours on a northwest beach trying to put my thoughts to words. The goal was to distill complex layers of meaning and emotion into a few lines. I went over my poem for days afterward in painstaking deliberation: "Not gray but slate... no, ashen feels right...Then again, perhaps not..." The whole experience took remarkable concentration because nothing could be extraneous. Words which I have always used freely, now had to be pared down to the essentials. In painting [or drawing], when you start exploring ways to organize a scene, the same kind of focused attention and deliberate refinement is necessary to ensure you express exactly what you intend. The pleasing arrangement of tonal shapes in a painting [or drawing] is a form of visual poetry.
In great paintings [or drawings], small shapes are often consolidated into the largest possible groupings.
Woodblock prints provide a clear representation of such poetry. Many examples of simple light and dark value patterns can readily be seen in the elegant, graphic nature of prints. The medium itself requires the artist, like the poet, to work within narrowly defined limits. Many painters in the past, from Rembrandt and Goya to Toulouse-Lautrec and Degas, were also trained printmakers, which enabled them to exchange ideas from one medium to the other. The confines imposed by printmaking forced a real economy in working methods. Artists who trained as printers knew how to do a lot with a little. Furthermore, this understanding gave their work a breadth of vision in timelessness when they express their ideas in oil paint.
In woodblock prints, each color area is printed independently, one registered layer at a time. This process prints each area uniformly. Woodblock prints are not able to employ chiaroscuro, the high contrast modeling of light and shadow that has historically fascinated so many Western artists. Instead, flat shapes alone must say everything there is to say about the scene. This poetry of shape is called notan, the Japanese word for the contrast of light and dark. The chief source of beauty is elegant simplicity.
The idea that flat, decorative shapes could be arranged across the picture plane resonated with certain artists of the late 19th century who were embracing the emerging Modernist aesthetic. Although the harmony of tonal shapes was a feature of work going back hundreds of years, it was distilled and given prominence in more modern times through the work of such artists as James McNeil Whistler, William Nicholson, and Edouard Manet. These tonal shapes can be thought of as scaffolding supporting the smaller elements of a picture. Although great art has always had these shapes, they were hidden; now many modern artists chose to leave the scaffolding exposed.
PART 1: Due: 2/18 for mini-critique/discussion
Create small experimental abstract compositions only using tonal shapes. The studies should be 2.5 x 3.5 inches or 2.5 x 2.5 inches
You will be pairing down and working with only that which is essential first before representation or meaning emerges. Start this assignment with a scaffolding of tonal shapes; the essentials for your composition. Based on an understanding of harmonic proportions and other compositional strategies create 4-5 small experimental studies in greyscale shapes (black, dark grey, light grey, and white acrylic paint or cut paper) on something that can support paint or glued paper. (bristol board, canvas paper, card stock, chip board, etc.)
MEDIA Part 1:
- Black acrylic paint or paper
- Dark grey acrylic paint or paper
- Light grey acrylic paint or paper
- White acrylic paint or paper
- Bristol board, canvas paper, card stock, or chip board
Mini-critique: This critique will consist of two activities:
- Helping your classmates identify their strongest compositions.
- Identifying familiar objects or patterns within the abstract studies presented. Ultimately you will decide what you want to representationally pursue in your own studies.
“Seeing familiar objects or patterns in otherwise random or unrelated objects or patterns is called pareidolia. “ When you look at a stained wall or one built of mangled stones, you might find a resemblance to landscapes, with mountains, rivers, rocks, trees, wide valleys and hills in varied arrangements; or you may see battles and men in action or strange faces and costumes – an endless variety.“
- Leonardo da Vinci
PART 2: Due 3/16 for critique
After the critique of part 1, choose 2 or 3 of your studies. Using pen, ink, pencil, or paint, define the pareidolic images in your studies so that the image is unmistakably representative and no longer pareidolia. Once the selected shape or shapes in each study have become representational you must: ask a model to pose accordingly to photograph (if human), find references to photograph or bring into the studio for direct observation (if objects), or search for photographic references (if anything else) in order to further develop the study on a separate and larger (no less than 24 x 24 inches) surface. This can be paper, canvas, or panel as long as it supports your mixed media. Transform as few or as many abstract value shapes as you desire from the selected study into representational imagery of your choice. Repeat this process for each enhanced study. Working on these drawings simultaneously will allow your technical discoveries to influence each drawing. Produce at least TWO mixed media drawings no less than 24 x 24 inches in size.
MEDIA Part 2:
- adhesive (spray or bottle)
- translucent paper (tracing paper, mylar, or vellum)
- white and toned paper
- charcoal
- soft pastel chalk
- color pencil
- *additional media if desired
ARTISTS for inspiration:
- Edward Povey
- Harry Ally
- Gary Komarin
- David Salle
- David Hockney
- Edward Hopper
- Franz Kline
- @abstract.mag Instagram
Your grade will be determined by the following:
- 10 points/Productive use of class time, project construction, involvement in discussion and critiques, response to readings
- 25 points/Technical Achievement (quality of work and craft)
- 25 points/Applied Thinking (comprehension and response to assignments, ability to work through ideas creatively, thoughtful participation in class discussion)
- 30 points/Completion of Assignment (including showing proper evidence for all stages)
- 10 points/Attendance/Tardiness
Schedule
PRESENTATIONS: 2/11
- Introduction of assignment
- Armature presentation
- Value shape presentation
HOMEWORK: 2/11
- Armature handout
- Compositional strategies reading
MINI-CRITIQUE OF PART 1: 2/18
MIXED MEDIA DEMO: 2/18 or 2/23
Critique Prep Quiz to be taken by 3/15 midnight
Artifacts to submit to Blazeview by 3/16 midnight:
- images of 4-5 studies (.jpg format)
- photo references used (.jpg format)
- Finished drawings - at least two (.jpg format)
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STUDENT EXAMPLE
by Elizabeth Mancil
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Assignment 3 - Collaborate: Supporting a Message
This assignment is about creating a large drawing in support of someone else's message or story.
THOROUGH DOCUMENTED EVIDENCE IS REQUIRED. You will submit the following for full credit:
MATERIAL AND SIZE REQUIREMENTS
PICK A MESSAGE OR STORY
STUDY THE MESSAGE/STORY
PLAN A DEPICTION OF THE STORY/MESSAGE
PREPARE WITH NECESSARY REFERENCES
RECORD THE CREATION PROCESS
PHOTOGRAPH THE FINISHED DRAWING
WRITE DOWN YOUR THOUGHTS
CREATE A VIDEO
GRADING CRITERIA
STUDENT EXAMPLES
THOROUGH DOCUMENTED EVIDENCE IS REQUIRED. You will submit the following for full credit:
- .jpg of thumbnail drawings
- .docx or .pdf of Artist script/statement
- .jpg High quality image of the finished drawing
- .mp4 finished video of time-lapse, finished drawing, and voice over reading the statement
MATERIAL AND SIZE REQUIREMENTS
- Charcoal on Paper 36 x 45 inches
- Time-lapse camera like iPhone or similar
- Tripod or similar stabilizing device or environment
- Voice recording device like iPhone or similar
- Video editing software like iMovie or similar
PICK A MESSAGE OR STORY
- Favorite book
- Moment in history
- Social message
- Political message
- Worldview
STUDY THE MESSAGE/STORY
- Research it – Podcasts? Commentaries? Articles? Scholarly papers? Historical context?
- Empathize with it – What’s important? Who is the intended audience?
- Visualize it – imagine yourself there in the story. What would it look like? What’s important?
- Condense it - Focus on an important moment in the story or aspect of the message
PLAN A DEPICTION OF THE STORY/MESSAGE
- Ideation through thumbnails – what’s the most interesting way to see this story/message?
- Research any past depictions and avoid repetition
- Composition should support the artistic intention
PREPARE WITH NECESSARY REFERENCES
- Use google if necessary but DON’T plagiarize
- Take your own photos if you can because it gives you greater control over perspective and lighting
- Be inventive/creative with substitutes as necessary
- Make a preliminary drawing
- Map out the composition lightly with pencil on your large paper
RECORD THE CREATION PROCESS
- Pick a reliable studio location
- Pick a repeatable and stationary point of view for the time-lapse camera
- Set up the exact same way every drawing session
- Record every drawing session until finished
PHOTOGRAPH THE FINISHED DRAWING
- Follow Digital Image Submissions for the best quality photo
- This file will be used in the final video compilation for this assignment
- This file will also be used as part of your digital portfolio along with the rest of your drawing images later in the semester
WRITE DOWN YOUR THOUGHTS
- Maybe an artist statement
- Maybe looming questions
- Maybe your own summary of the message
- Maybe the crux of the story
- What would benefit the viewer to hear while studying your drawing?
CREATE A VIDEO
- Recording of your voice reading your statement/notes (condensed to 45 to 60 seconds) +
- Finished image +
- Time-lapse
- Use iMOVIE or other video editing software to combine these components into a final polished video for presentation, or posting to youtube/social media
- Save as .MP4 format and submit to blazeview along with other required files listed at the beginning of this assignment.
GRADING CRITERIA
- Ability to follow technical directions
- Craftsmanship of finished drawing
- Composition in service to the message/story
- Expressive style or believability of drawing in service to the message/story
- Overall impact of drawing in support of the chosen message/story
STUDENT EXAMPLES
Assignment 4 - Freedom: A free choice assignment with some guidelines/criteria
This is a free choice assignment that it still has some guidelines/criteria.
Create a drawing based on your own research and interests. A work of art that has a chance of fitting into your coherent body of work. (The work that will be expected of you for your senior exhibition one day)
Concept, passion, and craft are important as always. Intent is prior to content but the best of intentions can fail without the language (craft) to communicate everything well.
The only specific criteria for the Freedom assignment is a high sensitivity to documentation resulting in a detailed view of your process from beginning to end. This should include any and all forms of research: notes, influences, sources, questions, decisions, intentions, plans, tests, failures, etc. Imagine this detailed view as if a narrator is leading us through a documentary detailing a behind-the-scenes “making of” experience for your drawing.
The drawing is anything you want it to be. Any size. Any drawing medium. Any concept. But the finished product should be accompanied by any and every form of process and research you employed to make it. This can take the form of journaling, photographic documentation, social media style updates, video documentation, and audio notes. This evidence will have to be organized and presented in your choice of a video or PowerPoint format separate from the finished drawing.
Make it great. Do it for you, NOT a grade. I’d rather have a coherent body of work that I’ve poured my heart and soul into, work that I can be proud of sharing with the world upon graduating, rather than a collection of A’s and B’s that mean nothing more than the completion of assignments during my undergraduate career.
Great grades follow great work and great work is NEVER about a grade.
Submit the following files:
Create a drawing based on your own research and interests. A work of art that has a chance of fitting into your coherent body of work. (The work that will be expected of you for your senior exhibition one day)
Concept, passion, and craft are important as always. Intent is prior to content but the best of intentions can fail without the language (craft) to communicate everything well.
The only specific criteria for the Freedom assignment is a high sensitivity to documentation resulting in a detailed view of your process from beginning to end. This should include any and all forms of research: notes, influences, sources, questions, decisions, intentions, plans, tests, failures, etc. Imagine this detailed view as if a narrator is leading us through a documentary detailing a behind-the-scenes “making of” experience for your drawing.
The drawing is anything you want it to be. Any size. Any drawing medium. Any concept. But the finished product should be accompanied by any and every form of process and research you employed to make it. This can take the form of journaling, photographic documentation, social media style updates, video documentation, and audio notes. This evidence will have to be organized and presented in your choice of a video or PowerPoint format separate from the finished drawing.
Make it great. Do it for you, NOT a grade. I’d rather have a coherent body of work that I’ve poured my heart and soul into, work that I can be proud of sharing with the world upon graduating, rather than a collection of A’s and B’s that mean nothing more than the completion of assignments during my undergraduate career.
Great grades follow great work and great work is NEVER about a grade.
Submit the following files:
- One .JPG file of your finished drawing appropriately cropped and edited to be identical to the real drawing
- One .PPTX file or .MP4 file of organized and documented process and research from beginning to end
Mid-term ASSIgnment - Artistic dna presentation
You can't pick your relatives but you can pick your hero's. Here's your chance to define or clarify who you are as an artist and whose
shoulders your standing upon. Prepare a digital presentation on your work as it fits into the fabric of art history, with special
attention to how it is contextualized in your discipline - drawing! Your presentation will center on the process and outcome of mapping
your art family tree.
An artist should know art history. Shock value only lasts so long. -Robert Longo
First, identify three contemporary influences on your work both formally and conceptually. Pick one of the three contemporary influences and research that artist. Using subjective and objective terms, identify three artists who influenced your chosen contemporary artist and pick one of them to further research. Follow this pattern back 5 generations of influence. You will arrive at 5 artists that are generations, decades or possibly centuries apart from each other. The purpose of this assignment is not only to identify the history that your work is grounded in, but to also help you understand the plethora of ideas that can be applied to a reading of your work. This experience will prepare you to write and speak effectively and provocatively about your work and allow you to see the work from a more objective viewpoint.
An artist should know art history. Shock value only lasts so long. -Robert Longo
First, identify three contemporary influences on your work both formally and conceptually. Pick one of the three contemporary influences and research that artist. Using subjective and objective terms, identify three artists who influenced your chosen contemporary artist and pick one of them to further research. Follow this pattern back 5 generations of influence. You will arrive at 5 artists that are generations, decades or possibly centuries apart from each other. The purpose of this assignment is not only to identify the history that your work is grounded in, but to also help you understand the plethora of ideas that can be applied to a reading of your work. This experience will prepare you to write and speak effectively and provocatively about your work and allow you to see the work from a more objective viewpoint.
Present your findings to the class as an oral presentation with digital images to support the research (Powerpoint, Keynote, or Prezi). Plan for this
presentation to be between 8-10 minutes. First, use 2-4 images of your work. Then, use 8-12 images of the professional artists work. Provide your
instructor with a written and digital copy of your presentation.
To aid you in your research here are some simple suggestions on how to go about your research from its nascent stages to fruition. To start this assignment it is best to peruse art periodicals like Artforum, New American Paintings, Modern Painting, Art in America, Juxtapose, and ArtNews, all of which are held by the Odum Library. Old issues are in the stacks; new issues are on the magazine shelves on the first floor/back of the library. As you flip through these magazines make note of artists that interest you and take photos of their work with your phone. You may also use your art history textbook in this same manner. Throw your net wide at first, then go back through your clippings and initial notes and examine what it is that attracted you to the artists' work. Was it the style it was executed in, the media, its conceptual meaning, etc.
Now begin mapping your influences by directly connecting your current work to these contemporary influences. At this point you should begin to research more about your selected artists and the artists that influenced them. This examination will take you to unexpected places. You may find links to certain ideologies and "-isms" you would have never noticed; this is the main point of this assignment. To help you in your research of other artists you should employ the library and its resources first. The web is a great research tool, but you need to properly filter the information you find online. Beware! There is a lot of misleading and distracting information on the web. Verify what you discover and consider the quality of your sources. Interviews with your artists are great. A discussion thread full of opinions may fail you.
As you are writing your text, making the connections between your work and your lineage, begin collecting images for your presentation. Do not leave this to the last minute. Once you know which work you would like to use you can scan/photograph the images yourself or find hi-res photos online; high quality images are required. You are expected to meet with the instructor to discuss your progress and the direction of your research PRIOR to the presentation date.
In conclusion, your presentation should center on your influences, with a few examples of your work and those individuals throughout art history who have influenced your current work. Your goal is to help the audience understand your ancestral connections in the art world. I’m also okay if you record your voice and pair it with a video of you presentation using iMovie. I can show you how to do this. Just ask.
SOME POWER POINT TIPS AND SUGGESTIONS
Check-in Progress 1 - DUE 1/26/21 by midnight
I expect to see 6 artist names and an example of their work in a Word document submitted to this assignment. See below to make better sense of this.
To aid you in your research here are some simple suggestions on how to go about your research from its nascent stages to fruition. To start this assignment it is best to peruse art periodicals like Artforum, New American Paintings, Modern Painting, Art in America, Juxtapose, and ArtNews, all of which are held by the Odum Library. Old issues are in the stacks; new issues are on the magazine shelves on the first floor/back of the library. As you flip through these magazines make note of artists that interest you and take photos of their work with your phone. You may also use your art history textbook in this same manner. Throw your net wide at first, then go back through your clippings and initial notes and examine what it is that attracted you to the artists' work. Was it the style it was executed in, the media, its conceptual meaning, etc.
Now begin mapping your influences by directly connecting your current work to these contemporary influences. At this point you should begin to research more about your selected artists and the artists that influenced them. This examination will take you to unexpected places. You may find links to certain ideologies and "-isms" you would have never noticed; this is the main point of this assignment. To help you in your research of other artists you should employ the library and its resources first. The web is a great research tool, but you need to properly filter the information you find online. Beware! There is a lot of misleading and distracting information on the web. Verify what you discover and consider the quality of your sources. Interviews with your artists are great. A discussion thread full of opinions may fail you.
As you are writing your text, making the connections between your work and your lineage, begin collecting images for your presentation. Do not leave this to the last minute. Once you know which work you would like to use you can scan/photograph the images yourself or find hi-res photos online; high quality images are required. You are expected to meet with the instructor to discuss your progress and the direction of your research PRIOR to the presentation date.
In conclusion, your presentation should center on your influences, with a few examples of your work and those individuals throughout art history who have influenced your current work. Your goal is to help the audience understand your ancestral connections in the art world. I’m also okay if you record your voice and pair it with a video of you presentation using iMovie. I can show you how to do this. Just ask.
SOME POWER POINT TIPS AND SUGGESTIONS
- Do not flip back and forth from slide to slide during your presentation. If you are comparing anything put them on the same slide.
- Don’t play with the scroll feature during a prezi.com presentation. It makes the viewer feel nauseous.
- Create an initial outline of what you want to say and accomplish then research and collect material and visuals
- MAKE SURE THAT YOUR JPG’S ARE NOT TOO LARGE!!! Approximately 7.5 in. high and 10 in. wide at 100 ppi. This gives an area of 750 x 1000
- MAKE SURE THAT YOUR IMAGES ARE NOT TOO SMALL AND HAVE TOO LOW RESOLUTION!!!
- If you are making a series of points, organize them from the most to the least important. The less important points can be skipped if you run short of time.
- Consider the overall design
- Slide background should not take away from the main focus on the images and the message.
- Consider presentation pacing and flow.
- ·HAVE AN INTRODUCTION AND CONCLUSION SLIDE (OR “THANK YOU” SLIDE)
- Be clear and concise
- Use simple backgrounds (black, white, or grey)
- Avoid “cool” templates and avoid clip art – keep your PPT presentation clean and simple
- Utilize text, but use it sparingly.
- Avoid too many different transitions.
- Avoid the use of flashy transitions such as text fly-ins.
- Avoid flashy fonts
- Project your voice – speak clearly and distinctly
- Proof read everything, including visuals and numbers
- Practice with someone who has never seen your presentation.
Check-in Progress 1 - DUE 1/26/21 by midnight
I expect to see 6 artist names and an example of their work in a Word document submitted to this assignment. See below to make better sense of this.
Check-in Progress 2 - DUE 2/11/21 by midnight
I expect to see 6 additional artist names and an example of their work in a Word document submitted to this assignment representing generation 3 and generation 4.
The 5th generation artist should be included in your presentation along with the other generations.
I expect to see 6 additional artist names and an example of their work in a Word document submitted to this assignment representing generation 3 and generation 4.
The 5th generation artist should be included in your presentation along with the other generations.
