UNIT # 3 LEARNING TO DRAW- THE BASICS MS. TANGUAY FCHS BASIC DRAWING

LEARNING TO DRAW – THE BASICS The key to successful drawing is allowing yourself to make mistakes. You may feel that what you have drawn is less than perfect. THAT’S ALL RIGHT!!! Drawing can provide useful feedback about what we have not fully observed, learned, or understood. Like all skills, drawing demands practice to achieve fluency and expertise.

OBSERVATIONAL DRAWING Observational drawing: drawing made from direct observation of a subject, rather than from memory. Drawing what you see! More realistic Higher level of detail Tend to be more successful drawings Artists who draw from their imaginations usually have strong observational drawing skills. When drawing from memory, you are recalling observations from the past

Matisse often began with a realistic observational drawing of a subject. Then he redrew it several times, each time trying to put down only what was important until he felt he had arrived at the “essence” of his subject. THE SWAN, 1932 BY HENRI MATISSE

LINE DRAWING Gesture drawings (see notes from Unit #1) Contour line: Lines that define the outer edges of forms and surfaces as well as within a form, such as shapes or wrinkles and folds. weighted Lines may be consistent (all the same weight) or weighted (some lines or parts of lines are darker to indicate shading). A contour line drawing is done slowly with smooth, even, continuous-looking lines (you do not pick your pencil up off the paper or if you do you cannot see the breaks). Forces you to slow down and observe carefully Blind contour line drawing: is done just like a contour line drawing only you do not look at your paper for the duration of the piece.

OUTLINES VS. CONTOUR LINES Contour Lines (describe the interior and exterior linear qualities of a subject) Outlines (defines a shape by only describing the outer edges)

When doing a contour drawing, the inside lines as well as the outside ones are drawn as the drawing is made, not added later. You draw it as your eyes move along it. If you do an outline drawing and then try to add the interior details, the two will not quite fit together.

PLAYING TU LA KA, C BY NGUYEN VAN TRU The young men in this drawing are playing a traditional Vietnamese card game, tu la ka. Notice how the artist captured the idea of each boy’s posture, though he drew only the essential contours.

SKETCHBOOK TIME TRY IT! Unit #3 Try It #1 and the date. Label the back of your page Unit #3 Try It #1 and the date. 1. Look at your thumb and do a contour drawing of it. Move your pencil and your eye at the same time, noting each little bump and wrinkle. Work slowly and carefully. 2. Answer the following questions about your drawing in your sketchbook. What is good about your drawing? What needs work? 3. Now do an outline of your thumb. Compare this drawing to your contour drawing. How are they alike? How are they different? Which do you prefer?

BASIC SHAPES Three basic geometric shapes are the foundation of drawing: circles, triangles, and rectangles

Realistic and abstract drawings alike use the basic geometric shapes JUGGLER, 1952 BY YASOU KUNIYOSHI

ORGANIZING A COMPOSITION Planning the picture plane for your drawing is often done in your sketchbook with thumbnail sketches using small frames. Helps the artist work out both what they want to say with the drawing and how they want it to be understood. Casual perspective: the way we understand the relationships of things in space or on the picture plane. The three principles of casual perspective are overlapping, size, and placement.

Size helps us determine what is near to us and what is far from us. Overlapping is when one object covers part of another, making the whole object seem closer to us. Placement is where on a page we place the objects. Objects higher on the page appear further away and objects toward the bottom of the page are closer.

SKETCHBOOK TIME TRY IT! Unit #3 Try It #2 and the date. Label the back of your page Unit #3 Try It #2 and the date. 1. On one page, draw TWO similar-sized objects of your choice using overlapping. 2. Make sure one object is clearly observed as being in front of the other. 3. Then draw the same TWO objects, but place one of them higher and one lower on the picture plane. 4. Does the higher object appear to be farther away?

Scale refers to the relationship in size between objects or between parts of a single object. We tend to view objects in terms of human scale, or how the size of the object relates to our size.

FINDING INSPIRATION Clip file: a collection of images that an artist can use for reference, or as a means of stimulating creativity. May contain your own photographs Reproductions of master artists’ drawings, paintings, and prints Photocopies Images clipped from magazines, newspapers, and junk mail. The point is not to copy these images but to use them to help you understand whatever you are trying to draw, or to inspire you.

SKETCHBOOK TIME TRY IT! Unit #3 Try It #3 and the date. Label the back of your page Unit #3 Try It #3 and the date. 1.On one page, try drawing the basic shapes in the photographs on page Don’t forget to use a frame.

THE CREATIVE PROCESS We are the most creative with things we know well. When we have mastered skills and ideas, we can put them to use in new, creative ways. Try It Make a list of ideas or activities that you are very knowledgeable about. They may be social concerns, sports, or even computer activities or games. List at least 10 things. Circle the two you know the most about. Start a list for each one of the ways you might create a work of art to catch a viewer’s interest and make him or her want to find out more about your subject. Now repeat this assignment with a list of ten things you know very little or nothing about. Could you create compelling works of art to interest the viewer in these subjects?

ORIGINALITY To be original is to be true to yourself, to explore your experience of life in ways that best serve your vision. Start by choosing a subject that you find interesting. Experiment with different media to find the ones that are best for your subject matter and best express your feelings about it.

THE INFLUENCE OF JAPANESE PRINTS AND DRAWINGS In the second half of the 19 th century, French artists such as Edouard Manet, Vincent van Gogh, Mary Cassatt, and Paul Gauguin encountered Japanese prints that had become widely available in Paris at the time. They were interested in the economy of line and brush strokes, the use of perspective and space used in the prints. Until modern time, the Japanese wrote with brush instead of pen. During some periods in its history, Japan was isolated from other cultures. Early Japanese art was greatly influenced by their religion, Buddhism. In the 15 th century, more emphasis was placed on landscapes and scenes of everyday life.