A new semester is upon us!

And dag! It's cold!!

Regardless, I am looking forward to a new class of F100 drawing students. I love to draw, and I especially love to teach drawing at the foundations level. It allows me to analyze the drawing process, and it reinforces my firm belief that drawing isn't a magical process. I've seen students time and time again learn how to draw -- using the same thoughtful process as one might use to learn a foreign language, or read music, or learn biology or chemistry in a science lab.

So from the get go, we will be thinking of the drawing process in terms of teachable steps -- each step bringing the student closer to drawing realistically and illusionistically. This is a class that emphasizes observation and realism, so don't expect gimmicks or black or white answers to problems. Drawing is a process that is built through steps -- steps that become more complex and integrated as you learn.

But the best part is that drawing is fun, especially when you allow yourself to engage in the process. Drawing takes the mind to a peaceful and relaxing place. It's also hard work, but there's nothing more exhilarating than creating a drawing where you can visibly see your own learning and thinking process. It's a very cool thing to do.

Project 3

Bring still life objects to photograph for Project 3 next Monday (October 26). Also, I've downloaded the pdf of MC Escher's work -- just so you can see the kind of surfaces, gradations, and attention to textures and details that we're going for in this drawing.

Scaling up your image!

For Project 2 (food), will will be scaling up an image of food to fit your 18" x 24" drawing paper. Your image will be photographed with directional lighting, using a digital camera. Most digital cameras take 4" x 6" images, and enlarging that to fit an 18" x 24" size will require cropping that image to a 3:4 ratio. Probably the easiest thing to do is to scan your image into Photoshop and crop the composition to a 6" x 8" size. Print the 6" x 8" picture and draw a grid directly on it using 1" squares. The corresponding grid on the drawing paper will use 3" squares. Both the photo and the drawing paper will have squares of 6 rows by 8 rows.

Important dates to remember

Just a reminder about some important dates that are coming up:

October 12 -- Individual critiques and open studio. You will have an individual critique with me (see the sign up sheet). The remainder of the class time will be spent working on outside Project 2. Outside Project 2 must be 75% complete at the time of your individual critique. I will also review your current progress in the course.

October 14 -- Midterm critique. Attendance and participation is mandatory (see your syllabus for critique requirements). Outside Project 2 must be 100% complete. The class will discuss these completed projects for the full 3-hour class session.

October 19 -- You will finish and turn in the project begun during our last class session (October 7).

Project 2

I've just posted the pdf with examples for your second outside project (see on left side).

Quiz on Monday 9/28!!

We spent the first half of class on Wednesday reviewing the principles and elements of design in preparation for the quiz on Monday. I am posting the handout here for those of you who may have missed class. In addition, please review the pdf on composition -- this will also help you to prepare for the quiz.

Attendance was dismal today. I know it's an early class -- but it is your responsibility and you all are well aware of the attendance policies for the course. Some of you have already missed more than the limit, and with each additional day you miss there will be a deduction in your final grade. These are departmental rules, and they will be enforced.

Water, water, water!!!

I missed you all this morning. I hope everyone got the message about school being closed. what I think we should try to do is have an informal critique of the perspective drawings that are due on Wednesday. I really want to see how you all are doing, so please bring your drawings to class. We'll see how things pan out once we meet again in terms of the due date for this -- all this postponing is getting ridiculous -- but on the other hand, if classes are canceled due to a holiday or to a water main break, we'll have to factor that into the schedule.

I hope that many of you used the extra time to work on your drawing. That's my hope, anyway;)

See you all on Wednesday. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that pipes will be replaced and we'll soon be back on track.

Deb

Some two point perspective drawings

I searched the web for some sample drawings that might relate to your assignment -- just to give you ideas.

Perspective

We've been discussing perspective in class and here are a few websites that discuss this topic (hat tip to Professor Jones):

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Perspective_(graphical)
http://studiochalkboard.evansville.edu/lp-intro.html

Also, I've added a PowerPoint about perspective that can be downloaded from this blog. Take a look at the PowerPoint "heading" on the left side of this page. I will continue adding materials that you can review as we continue in class this semester.

See you tomorrow morning.

At Last...

Welcome to the "The Mind's Eye!"

I've been wanting to get this up and running since school started, and finally it's happened. We'll be using this blog for Deb's F100 classes, and possibly other classes in the future. This will be the "go to" place for news and information about our F100 class this fall. I will be posting course related materials, so you'll want to check back often. I'm also hopeful that there will be some lively discussions about topics, ideas, and most of all, the artwork we'll be doing for class. I envision this to be a place to celebrate your work and your artistic growth. So yay!