Syllabus For Drawing

Week 1   Class 1 Introduction to Course, Introduction to Materials Assignment: Buy supplies. Week 2   Class 2 Lecture: Gesture, Thumbnails, Sketching, the Sketchbook In Class: Loose gestural drawings, weather permitting, outdoors Sketchbook Assignment: 10 gesture drawings and 10 "landscape" thumbnail gesture drawings. Class 3 In class: Move-around-class gesture drawings Sketchbook Assignment: 15 gesture drawings Assignment: Reserve Reading: gesture examples Week 3   Class 4 Lecture and Slide Show: Line and Line Quality Emphasis on line quality using different media: pencil, pen, brush, "found" materials. In Class: Grid a 22' x 30" page, experiment with different line quality in each square. Assignment: Reserve Reading, Creative Drawing Point and Line. Make b/w (not color) Xerox images of objects interesting or important to you. Class 5 In Class: Complete Grid. Cut up Xeroxes and incorporate into grid. construction paper project Assignment: Complete grid project. Reserve Reading: Freehand Drawing: A Primer Week 4   Class 6 Lecture and Slide Show: Rendering With Line In Class: Contour and Blind Contour drawing (pencil and pen) Sketchbook Assignment: 5 blind contour drawings, 10 contour drawings (blind or not blind) Class 7 Lecture and Slide Show: Cross Contour In Class: Contour and Cross-Contour (brush and ink) Sketchbook Assignment:15 contour and/or cross contour drawings Week 5   Class 8 In Class Lecture: Seeing Basic Forms and Shapes, Positive and Negative Space In Class: Small still life drawings, and still life cut outs Assignment: Reserve Reading: Notan: The Dark-Light Principle of Design Sketchbook Assignment: 10 drawings emphasizing positive/negative space tension. Class 9 In Class: Large positive/Negative Space Drawings. Assignment: Read Abstraction Handout. Sketchbook Assignment: Take any five sketchbook drawings, Xerox them, then simplify, abstract them. Week 6   Class 10 Lecture and Slide Show: Abstraction and Metamorphosis Field Trip: Rare Book Room Sketchbook Assignment: Review abstraction handout. Put any object through a 3 stage abstraction/metamorphosis progression. Do this with three different objects. Bring objects your would like to draw into class. Class 11   In Class: Large Drawing: Metamorphosis. Transform one object into another in 7 stages Assignment: Complete Drawing Week 7   Class 12 Lecture: What is a critique? What is its purpose? Handout, questions to ask yourself and others in a critique. Critique: Metamorphosis Project Sketchbook Assignment: Go to Art library and research the drawing of five different artists. Xerox examples that appeal to you, and insert into sketchbook. Class 13 Lecture and Slideshow: Creating Space and Depth Without Perspective. Relative size of objects, overlapping, texture, spacing, focus, value, shade and shadow Sketchbook Assignment: Find two examples of each method of creating space, and insert into sketchbook. Label each method. Week 8   Classes 14,15 Spring Break Week 9   Class 16 Lecture and Slide Show: Creating Depth with One and Two Point Perspective In Class Project: Short Perspective Drawings at the State Historical Society. Assignment: Complete perspective drawings until you have ten different ones. Read and absorb perspective handout. Class 17 In Class: Choose the strongest of the ten compositions. Begin work on a long term drawing of that composition Assignment: Continue work on drawing. Reserve Reading: Perspective Drawing Handbook, and Principles of Perspective. Week 10   Class 18 In Class: Continue large perspective drawing Assignment: Complete perspective drawing Class 19 Lecture: Articulating Form through Tonal Value Emphasis on dry media In Class: 3 still life drawings Sketchbook Assignment: 15 small drawings emphasizing tonal value Week 11   Class 20 In Class: Still Life concentrating on Tonal Value Sketchbook Assignment: 15 small drawings emphasizing tonal value. Also, read and absorb anatomy handout Class 21 Lecture and Slideshow: Introduction to the Figure and Very Basic Anatomy In Class: gesture drawings of the figure Sketchbook Assignment: 5 drawings from any of the anatomy books on reserve. One of some part of the skeletal system. Re-read anatomy handout. Week 12   Class 22 In Class: The Figure, Continued. Gesture, Contour, Weight Drawings Sketchbook Assignment: 10 gesture drawing and 5 contour drawings of ENTIRE figures. Class 23 Field Trip: Anatomy Lab at the Medical School In Class: Drawings at the Anatomy Lab Sketchbook Assignment: Sketch from the anatomy books on reserve, or make other figure drawings. Week 13   Class 24 In Class: Anatomy of the Head and Face Sketchbook Assignment: Choose a few artists, and copy three kinds of noses, eyes, ears, mouths. Class 25 Lecture and Slide Show: The Figure: Putting it All Together In Class: Draw the Figure: Long Pose Sketchbook Assignment: Small figure drawings. Week 14   Class 26 In Class: Draw the figure, Long Pose completed Class 27 Lecture and Slide Show: Portraits and self-portraits In Class: Portraits Sketchbook Assignment: Self-portrait thumbnail sketch ideas. Also, one realistic rendering of your face. In Class: Flesh out self-portrait ideas, Begin self portrait. Assignment: Work on Self-portrait Week 15   Class 28 In Class: Work on Self-portrait Assignment: Work on Self-portrait Class 29 In Class: Work on Self-portrait Assignment: Work on Self-portrait Week 16   Class 30 Critique: self-portraits Class 32 Individual Critiques