Hi everybody,
Please forgive me for not being in class today, but I've been pretty sick this week, and out of TCI since Monday. Nonetheless, the practice must continue.
This week there are no downloads. Instead, please follow the instructions for what you are to draw this week below.
Next week, I will check homework for both week 3 & week 4. Please make sure you have them both for me at the beginning of class.
Please bring $4.00 to class next week so that I can distribute the picture planes. I'll explain what we will be using them for in class next week.
Current:
- HOMEWORK
- Execise 1:
- Clear a table surface, preferably a table that you can walk most of the way around;
- Place a cup on a saucer or plate on the table;
- Place a lamp nearby shining on the surface of the table with your cup and saucer; a desk lamp is best because it gives good directional light;
- Sit or stand looking at the cup and sauce. Before you start drawing notice how the light falls on them. Some sides and edges will be brighter than others. Notice the shadows that fall onto the table top and how the shading on the side the cup gradually goes from light to dark. Look for the darkest area and the lightest area. If you squint your eyes you will see these areas with more contrast. Now notice the shape of the cup and saucer. If you gradually move yourself lower or higher, notice how the curves along the top edge of the cup changes: the opening on the top of the cup if you're high up looking down looks like a circle, but if you're lower down, sitting down for example, the opening at the top of the cup appears to be more of an oval. Noticing all of these things is important to drawing. It is the first step to learning how to draw well what you see.
- Now, take your sketchbook and a 2H pencil and draw a frame similar to size and shape of what we have done in class and for homework.
- Get a stopwatch or an alarm clock and set it for 5 minutes;
- Switch to a 2B pencil, and giving yourself only until the alarm goes off, quickly sketch the cup on the saucer. Keep in mind it doesn't have to be perfect. This is only a very quick sketch.
- When you're done, look at what you've done. If you don't like it, don't worry, most people won't. In the bottom right corner, write the number "1" and then just turn the page. Here, draw another frame like the first one.
- This time, set the alarm for only 2 minutes.
- For the next two minutes you are not going to draw anything at all. During this time, you will only stare at your subject, the cup and saucer. Try to notice as many details as you can of the SHAPE. If the cup has a picture on it, pretend like it isn't there. We are only concerned about the shape of the different parts of the cup. Notice also light and dark areas and the shades in between.
- When the alarm goes off, set it for another 2 minutes. Then, take your paper and pencil, close your eyes, and draw the cup and saucer. Draw quickly, you only have 2 minutes and you don't want to forget or run out of time before you are able to draw everything you can recall!
- Once again, look at your quick sketch. Compare to the first one. Chances are, it doesn't look much like a cup, but only a bunch of squiggly lines. That's perfectly all right. In fact, that's what we're after. Don't worry about it. Let go and allow it to be what it is, a drawing that you did very quickly with your eyes closed.
- Now, write a number "2" in the bottom right corner, turn the page, and draw another frame. Repeat this 2 more times on the following 2 pages for a total of 3 pages each with a frame drawn on it.
- Set your alarm for 30 minutes.
- In the next 30 minutes, you are going to do three quick sketches, each approximately 10 minutes. After you do the first one, move to a new position to the other side of the cup, or stand or sit down somehow differently from your first position. Change your position again for the third drawing so that you'll be sketching the same cup, but from 3 different points-of-view. Instead of moving yourself, you may also rotate the cup, but for at least one of the sketches, you should move yourself higher or lower in reference to the cup. Number these sketches "3, 4, and 5".
- For the final (6th) sketch in this exercise, you'll pick a comfortable position and spend 20 minutes drawing the cup. Number this drawing with "6" as the others when you're finished.
- When you're complete, you will have done six sketches in about an hour. Not Bad!
- Execise 2:
- Set your alarm for 1 hour.
- Pick a simple composition of objects, a pitcher and a glass, a bowl with fruit, or some such thing. I mention these objects because their shapes are simple, so if you don't choose these kinds of objects, make certain they have relatively simple shapes. Try to choose things that don't have pictures or text on them as they will distract you from the shapes of the objects.
- You will spend more time on this drawing, so it should look more finished than the ones from the previous exercise.
- Execise 3:
- Looking at that last exercise in your sketchbook, draw this in Adobe Illustrator. The idea here is not just to recreate the shape, but to make it as similar to your drawing in your sketchbook as possible. Vary the shade of your strokes and thickness where necessary.
