Project 6: Landscape Pastel Project

Steps for Landscape Pastel Drawings

1. Pick your image 
2. Establish your color palette – use a strip of paper and draw a swatch of each color that is in your painting you are re-creating – most artists don’t work straight out of a tube of paint – they mix their colors, meaning you’ll have to mix colors as well.  Once you feel you have all of your colors from your painting picked out, you need to get your color palette approved by me
3. Put all of your colors in a baggie, will keep your color bag on your board.
4. (Optional)Grid sections of the artwork and draw the same grid on your paper to enlarge the image onto your drawing paper.  Make sure your grid is super light and done with vine charcoal or pencil
5. Draw in basic shapes of the detail in your image. Impressionist paintings are very abstract and generally don’t have very many defined shapes, but you should still have some detail to draw in. 
6. Erase your grid lines, but leave the detail of your drawing and begin adding color.
7. The finishing touch is using pastel pencils – these are only for finishing details.
8. You will use spray fixative or laminate your drawing when you’re finished so the pastel doesn’t smudge after completion. If you are planning on framing your drawing please let me know that you do not want it laminated

IMPORTANT TIPS for working with pastels:

!!!!!!!IMPORTANT!!!!!!! Start at the top corner opposite of your drawing hand and work your way down and across so you don’t smear all of your hard work with your hand

Be sure to not over blend, or your colors can become muddy.  

Also, don’t add to much pastel to start. Pastels are a loose medium that is pretty forgiving, but the paper can only hold so much pastel before it begins resisting the color

Project 5: Exaggeration of the Human Form

For this project, you will be working in the style of EXAGGERATED HUMAN FORM.

We will be doing figure drawing during class for several class periods to learn all about drawing the human form as practice.  Once we feel comfortable drawing the human form, we will learn how artists exaggerate the human form in the Fashion and Comic industries. You will then be designing a fashion line, or doing a technical recreation of a comic book character.  You will be using a color medium of your choice.

Project 4: Design Your Own Town

For this project, you will be designing your own town.  You will be working in the style of PERSPECTIVE and COLOR

You will be required to do the following in your town drawing:

• Use 1 and 2 point perspective (3 point perspective is optional)
• Use texture (texture should be stronger in the foreground, and lighter as you go back in space)
• Use atmospheric perspective (colors will be lighter and more gray further back in space)
• Use a light source
• Buildings should have signs with letters in perspective 
• Objects in the foreground, middle ground, and background (below, at, and above the horizon line)
• Objects other than buildings should be included in your drawings (roads, sidewalks, trees, lamps, mountains, power lines, etc)

Project 2 - Scientific Illustration

Overview: 

For this project we will begin our work with shading and value, we will be working in the style of REVERSE SHADING.  

For this project you will find a scientific illustration to recreate using white colored pencil on black paper.  For this style, you will be "shading" in the highlights, rather than the shadows of your subject.  

How to do it: 

• Step 1:  Turn your "specimen" into a line drawing on a piece of tracing paper
• Step 2: Enlarge your line drawing onto a piece of 9"x12" white paper so that it fills most of the paper without going off any of the edges
• Step 3: Use graphite paper to transfer your line drawing onto your black paper.  Stack the white paper on top of the graphite paper (graphite side down), on top of your black paper.  Use a pen to trace over your lines of your contour drawing.
• Step 4: Begin shading with white colored pencil.  Be sure to leave the darkest areas totally black, not all edges will have an outline, so be aware of this when you are shading in the information on your black paper.  White colored pencil cannot be erased, so work slowly and carefully

Examples:

Setting up your blog

Setting up your blog

• Go to blogger.com
• Sign in using your school google account
• Click on “Create a Limited Blogger Profile” (if you already have a google+ account, there may only be an option to continue to blogger – that’s okay too!)
• Click the “Create a new blog” button (if you are using a limited blogger profile you may need to give a title to your blog before this button appears)
• Create the title of your blog – name it by your full first and last name (how it appears on Illuminate).  For example, my blog would be called Lindsay Behr Art, and the address would be: Lindsaybehrart.blogspot.com.  Choose a template for your blog. Click okay
• Email your blog link to me at LBehr@sccs.net – I will include a link to everyone’s blog on the class blog.   
• Keep your login information – write it down and keep it somewhere important.  We will be posting our images on our blogs throughout the semester
• Your blog is now set up!  You can click on new post to create a post for your assignments

Project 1 - Contour Drawings

For this project you will be doing observational drawing.  You will be working in the stye of CONTOUR LINE DRAWING.

We will be doing lots of practice on observational drawing skills during class time.  Your final product for this unit will be 4 large format line drawings.  You will be drawing a toy, a shoe, a hand, and part of a bike.  The requirements for the 4 drawings are:

• You must use the paper space wisely - your drawings should go off at least 2 edges of the paper, and should fill the paper to make for an interesting, dynamic composition.  
• Your drawings should be done in pencil first, and then inked in.  Make sure to fully erase your pencil marks, so draw lightly!
• You need to use thick, thin, and broken line where appropriate, varied line quality makes for a much more interesting drawing
• We are working on learning to SEE like an artist in this project - I will be looking at accuracy of shape, form, scale, and space

Examples of past work:

Syllabus

Art Syllabus

Santa Cruz High School

Ms. Behr

I am excited to be teaching the Art (Drawing and Composition) course at Santa Cruz High School and look forward to working with you. Please sign and return this paper by the first Friday of the semester.   

Brief Course Description

This is a first year art course, with no pre-requisite, focusing on developing the necessary skills to meet the California State Standards in Visual Art on a beginning level.  The Elements of Art and Principles of Design are the foundation for the units covering concepts, philosophy, history, technology, cultural context, application, and appreciation of art works of the past, as well as current student production.

Course Goals and/or Major Student Outcomes:

• Students will respond to sensory information in art and nature at a beginning level
• Students will apply skills in a variety of media and techniques that reflect knowledge of the elements of art and principles of design
• Students will experience cultural and historical research through projects, writing, and reading.
• Students will find meaning in artwork of their own and others through critiques and effective evaluation processes
• Students will recognize connections between visual art and performance art, as well as non-art areas
• Students will use current resources, such as technology, as creative medium and become aware of art applications and careers

Unit 1: Contour Drawing and Observation

Unit 2: Reverse Shading: Scientific Illustration

Unit 3: Value and Shading with Graphite: Animal Drawings

Unit 4: Perspective

Unit 5: Human Figure – Fashion, Cartoons, Comics

Unit 6: Intro to color, pastel landscapes

Grading:

Standard letter grades will be given based on the following:

• 50% - Employability Skills
• Proper use of class time and time on task
• Participation and paying attention during demonstrations
• Punctuality and attendance
• Adherence to safety rules
• Ability to follow instructions – respect for teacher and peers
• Presenting yourself as an artist – you will keep a blog to document projects
• 50% - Projects
• Craftsmanship
• Proper execution of techniques
• Meeting project guidelines
• Degree of difficulty/challenge and improvement of skills and abilities

Classroom Rules:

• Cell Phones are NOT allowed, except as a learning tool (image research) with teacher permission only!
• Food or drink other than closable water bottles are NOT allowed – this is not only a distraction, but can damage materials and art work, and is a health concern when working with art materials
• No homework or work from another class is permitted unless instructor approval is given
• Hall passes will be given only in case of an emergency

Required Materials:

• You must have a sketchbook – two types of sketchbooks are recommended – either Black Hard Bound 8 ½ x 11” or spiral bound 8 ½ x 11”.  Both Types are sold at Palace Arts or Lenz Arts.
• Materials fee – see attached letter

I have read and understand this information:

Parent Signature: ____________________   Student Signature: _______________________

Sketchbook Requirements

Inside the Front Cover Write: “If found, please contact: (Your name and phone number)”

Glue this page into you sketchbook on the 1^st page of the sketchbook

Glue (all 4 corners) down the sample image, and write the style you’re working in (contour line) on the back side of the first page

Glue list of drawings on first page - Write Down 1^st Due Date from board below list. Your first list of sketches and 1^st art review are due on this day

Criteria:

• Work in the style I introduce (there will be different style each quarter)
• Do not work back to back on the pages of your sketchbook
• Always use 3 qualities of line – thick, thin, and broken
• Use pencil first, once the sketch is “finished” ink it in
• Spend at least 1 hour per sketch
• Fill the Page
• They have to be in order in the sketchbook
• Draw when you are relaxed
• Enjoy!