"My Best Drawing..."

Overview
Whenever beginning artists are challenged with a project, it's always effective to go back and practice the basics.  This helps get the drawing blood flowing as well as possibly sparking creativity and a new motivation for creating art.  

These first few lessons we will be diving back into some beginning drawing techniques and challenges to create a 4 panel drawing composition.

Lesson 1

Loosen up with Line & Gesture
Exercise:  
Loosen up with gesture line.  On a large sheet of paper, draw 10 different hand poses.  Don't be concerned about overlapping.  Let it happen.  

4 Panel Drawing Composition
With a view finder, select the best, most interesting area from the large paper.  Use contour and blind contour techniques to draw what you see.  

Lesson 2

​Shape in Space
Exercise:
​Create depth in space by creating an abstract linear perspective "shatter" effect.  Then shade in the forms to depict a deep space effect. 

4 Panel Drawing Composition
​Process:
  1. Trace a circle.  Add cross-contour lines to give the circle a sphere effect. Use a white ornament (provided in class) as a reference form.  
  2. Break up the shapes made form the cross contour lines on the sphere and give them a "geometric / polygon - shattered" effect.
  3. Draw one point linear perspective lines towards a chosen vanishing point.
  4. Shade from dark to light beginning in the inner most depth of the drawing.   

Lesson 3

​Layering Form & Value
Exercise:
The biggest rule here is:  SKETCH LIGHTLY!  ...at first...
Create layered organic, stretched shaded forms.

​4 Panel Drawing Composition
​Process:
  1. Near the center of the composition, sketch a very loose, wobbly oval.  
  2. Repeat the wobbly oval shapes 6 times.  They should not be uniform.  
  3. In each oval, draw crisscrossing lines that look like stretched goo, stretched taffy, caramel, or spider webs.  Start in the foreground by tracing over the lines to establish their visual dominance.  Continue this working to the background layer. 
  4. Erase lines needed to accent the overlapped forms to enhance the depth of the drawing.
  5. Shade the deepest background the darkest values.  Lighten the values as you get closer to the foreground.

Lesson 4

"Crumpled" Study
Exercise:
Draw a crumpled thing.  Study the contours (edges), proportions of planes, and values created through shading.  

​4 Panel Drawing Composition
​Process:
  1. Find a thing...crumple it...draw it as accurately as possible.
RUBRIC​​
​4 = Masterful, exceptional accurate portrayal of value and form.  Deep contrasts are shaded from the darkest darks to the lightest lights.  Contours are drawn with precision and care and masterfully define the form of the object.
3 = Good, proficient, mostly accurate portrayal of value and form. Acceptable contrasts are shaded to depict fairly accurate use of value. Contours are accurate and believable and define the form of the object.
2 = Needs improvement, basic, values are inaccurate and depicts a lack of definitive light source.  No great sense of shadows and highlights. Contours are weak and do not define accurate form.
1 = Developing.  No values or form evident.  
 

Summative Composition

​
After completing all of the formative drawings from Lessons 1-4, combine all of the concepts into one final creative, unique figurative composition.  The composition should include the following:
  1. from Lesson 1 - A figure, or a hand, or an arm, or series of hands and arms.  Draw from life or an original photograph
  2. from Lesson 2 - "exploding parts" depicting understanding of linear perspective with a vanishing point.
  3. from Lesson 3 - layered forms that depict foreground, middleground and background (could look like goo, pipes, rails, etc.)
  4. from Lesson 4 - observational study of something crumpled or folded
The composition should be finished in defined value tones from the darkest darks to the lightest lights. The composition should look unified, shaded and finished with care.  The composition needs to be drawn on 11x17 white drawing paper found in art room.

Make this as exciting or weird or unique or elaborate as you want.  

Salvador Dali - Surrealist Artist

...having trouble?

Here's another idea:  Take a photograph of a friend or family member.  Print out the photo and draw it.  Add your own surreal experience through the drawing.