texture, structure, depth or a landscape and a self-portrait

I teach a foundations course, students learn basic drawing skills. It is clear to me at this point the class understand the value of careful observation.

We spend the last 2 weeks working outdoors. They learn to focus at an even greater level considering all the distraction outside the classroom including the curious passerby, the almost perfect weather and the continuous change of their subject-matter (nature).

Enjoy these examples of their outdoor study and their self-portrait homework…

Maw – Fake Perception, Oil Pastel

Kado – Shipwrecked

Alondra’s Inconsistent

Jessica – The Heart of Everything

Tyra – I Love It

Esmeralda – Cacti

Deborah – Regrowth

Jordi – Untitled

The homework assignment, a life-size (or larger) self-portrait, is an important and  challenging process. They have all the necessary skills at this point to complete one. They work with marker (no pencil or eraser) all semester and here they can use media of their choice (many still choose the marker). The drawing brings honest conversation.

We leave this particular class critique knowing each other just a bit more.

On the drive home I think every one (every single person)  should be so lucky to have (give themselves) this assignment at some point in their adult life. #theselfportraitforeveryone #gottahaveart

Edith

Alondra – Spirit Desire

Veronica

Jolissa

Deborah – Self Portrait 1

Esmeralda

Tyra, Dear Aisa Don’t Stop Loving Me

Jordi – This is Who I Am

Kado- KMS lol

Kado – Voiceless

Jessica

Maya – Anyone can draw one eye, but drawing two is an art

This is it with the marker – we move on to charcoal.

every picture tells a story

Wouldn’t you know, they get their marker act together and it comes to an end. We move to charcoal next.

But before we do…
Here are samples of (larger than life) self-portrait work. They use media of their choice. This study moves students into understanding art is a form of communication.

Every portrait tells a story. We learn a lot about each other during this critique.

Brittany

Susan

Michael

Kanyata

Maygin

Kanata (#2)

Victoria

Collin

Kestin

Robert

Karen

Natividad

Jen

Alma

I include a few of the outdoor assignments. Students spend 4 days on the campus, drawing landscape.

…and there’s Susan, an advanced student who learns how to collage. She’s never done it before and this is practice. The image does tell a story but it’s not about birds, it’s about a fox.

Basically we cover texture, structure and depth. Next week is value.

enter – illusion of depth

  “Maybe a person’s world can grow bigger in all the right ways, not too wide that it becomes shallow, just large enough to preserve its depth.”
― Deb Caletti, The Fortunes of Indigo Skye

Phoenix provides great weather and landscape and we’re outdoors for 2 weeks to complete the in-class assignment. Students have to consider foreground, middle-ground, and background as they work out a composition. They include different textures and deal with shapes that overlap. For homework, they create a self-portrait.

I explain illusion of depth in a 2 dimensional artwork. A drawing, a painting, and a print have height and width and the depth is illusion. Three dimensional work is real object / sculpture. It has height, width, depth and maybe volume.

These two assignments mark the end of the use of marker. Next we start charcoal.

Below are some examples.

Mariah’s tree in marker.

Robert’s Fig Tree

Tammy’s Study

Popay’s study.

Josh’s Bed Head.

Kayla’s Knots and Leaves

Adriana’s Fig Tree in pastel and charcoal.

… and the self-portraits …

Adriana – There’s a party in my head and no one else is invited, charcoal

Alexssa’s works in pastel and charcoal.

Angie’s marker and color pencil.

JT’s works in marker.

Cassidy’s works in marker.

Vicki’s works in marker.

Popay’s self-portrait in graphite.

Kayla’s self-portrait in marker.

Both assignments require students use everything they’ve learned up to this point, along with working out spatial depth. The critique shows everyone’s progress.

self-portraits

A self-portrait is the last marker drawing of the semester. Charcoal is near on the horizon. This last ink assignment is to draw oneself while looking into a mirror…real life, no photo. The students will use every skill they’ve acquired to now. Though their attention and willingness become a bit more intensified before it’s all over and done.

They are instructed to include something in the drawing that informs us (the class, the audience) about them, making the work narrative.  If someone’s going to deliberately miss one assignment, the self-portrait might be the one. A few always try to avoid it.  I require they hand it in, even if it’s the last thing they do before the semester is over. It’s such a valuable learning experience.  And it’s one of the few drawings that allows for a bit of creativity, in this beginning drawing class.

Elizabeth

Elizabeth above, tells us about a video game she enjoys. She also informs she us through her use of line, she is observant, careful and deliberate.

Erica "Elf Madness"

What exactly is Erica communicating while wearing elf ears and making a face? What is elf madness?

Chase "Frustration"

Chase captures himself.  He’s always more than a bit concerned about his progress.  The clock numbers are backwards…a nice added element. And it allows us to know he is working off a reflection.

Gabrielle "Gnomes"

Gabrielle has a garden of hundreds of gnomes. We learn some interesting things about gnomes and elves…a first appearance of either, in my drawing class.

Julietta "Venus and Me"

Julieta, artist. It’s her world.  She’s focused and content.

Diana, below, from last semester.  I include the drawing because I only photographed the completed work after the semester was over. She really did turn this drawing in the last week of school.  Not because she didn’t want to do it, but because that’s how long it took her to finish it. I told her it was worth the wait.
What does Sunburn (the title) tells us about Diana…maybe she loves the outdoors, or she lives in Phoenix where the sun always shines. Maybe both. One thing we do know for sure, the girl looks closely and knows how to put it down carefully!

Diana "Sunburn"

Eric Fischl and Andres Serrano will be on campus this week.  Should be exciting. MORE