Drawing for Non-Art majors - Portrait project

Learning the full range of pencils from 6B - 6H while drawing a portrait.  Looking at the artist Chuck Close.  Breaking down an image into the grid, and not getting destracted by what one thinks it should look like.  But simply following lights, darks, geometry and relationships.  

Making art also requires a mindset of peace. Patience. Perseverance. To sit for hours and simply shade. To trust the process and take the journey.  

Drawing for Non-art majors - Colored Pencil study

To further basic color theory, I introduce the students to Wayne Thiebaud, and have them create a drawing with colored pencil.  They experiment with warms and cools, creating and using a light source, cross-contour line work, and working with light media on a dark background.  

Drawing for Non-art Majors - Monster Drawing - Pen/Ink

A creative project for the students to make up a creature / monster.  This builds on the use of atmospheric perspective, line weight,  cross-hatching techniques and creativity.

Intro to Painting - Brush Types with Value

Gaining familiarity with brush sizes and what is possible, while also looking at light, shadow and value range, the students each did a series of six paintings.  The paintings were of one object, and each painting had to be completed with a different size brush.  Acrylic black and white only.  Additionally, two paintings were done on a white ground, two on a middle gray ground and two on a dark ground.  Color was allowed in the ground. 

Intro to Painting - Color Mixing exercise

Taking Mark Carder's method of color mixing with Permanent Alizarin Crimson, Cadmium Yellow Pale, French Ultramarine, Burnt Umber and Titanium White, rather than doing color tabs and swatches, they selected a photograph of a lovely landscape to show atmospheric perspective and a wonderful range of hues.  

The project was to match the colors of the image as exactly as possible, testing the mixed color on the laminated photograph.  

Done with oil paints on 11x14 canvas sheets.