Final Portfolio

For your final portfolio, you must hand in your version of all of the assignments that we have done over the course of the term.  You may go back into or rework any of them or completely redo them . . . as long as each drawing that you hand in follows its respective assignment.   Hand in your portfolio in a standard clean and intact portfolio folder large enough to comfortably fit all of your drawings.  I strongly suggest spray fixing each dry media drawing (outside and away from any buildings or cars).  You must slide a clean sheet of loose sketch paper to separate each drawing from the drawings next to it. This will ensure that my taking your drawings out of your portfolio will not smudge them.  Do not include anything else-- especially no paperclips, tape or lamination.  Be sure to put your name on the back of each drawing and make sure your name is on your portfolio folder. 

Neatness and presentation counts!  You could have the best drawings in the world, but if your portfolio folder is less than desirable I will have no desire to look inside, get it?  This constitutes 30% of your final grade.

Check list of Assignments

_____Mark Making (3 objects)

_____negative/positive space bicycle

_____cut paper contour line

_____cross contour

_____value

­­­­­­­_____Abstraction

_____Linear Perspective

_____Final Assignment

Due at the end of Final Critique on Thursday, Dec 13.  No exceptions.  NONE.  You will be able to pick up your portfolios starting the following day.   

Final Assignment!

Due Dates:

Constructed Object: 11/29

6 detailed thumbnails: 12/4

Final Drawing: 12/13 (Final Critique)

For your Final Project, you are to find an interesting object. Then you are to construct a larger-than-life replica of that interesting object using any DIY materials—found or otherwise—necessary.  The scale of your replica must be at least the mass of your head. You may NOT use materials that the original construction might normally be made from.

Then, observing your version of the object, you are to draw 6 thumbnail views (each about 4x6) in pencil on your drawing paper with as much detail as possible.  Those views should be Front, back, left side, right side, top, and bottom.  Treat these views like the relatively formal technical drawings of an owners’ manual, but also use them to explore the surfaces and textures of the object.

Finally, on 4 sheets of 18x24 paper (attached in any non-overlapping configuration appropriate-minus the boring configurations I pointed out to you on the chalk board) you are to make a drawing of the constructed object.  This drawing must be a finished, richly textured drawing across all 4 sheets of paper.  Your drawing may use any drawing media (or combination of media) appropriate.  You are to not only give the viewer an accurate sense of the form of the object, but also of the materials used to construct it.  Also, there should be very little cropping of the object on the 4 sheets of paper.  At least 90% of it should be visible. Be ambitious!  This should be your best drawing of the semester!

Good luck!

Assignment #8: Observational Linear Perspective

Linear Perspective

You are to make a drawing in soft graphite (if we can’t see it across the room well enough during crit, that’s points off) on an 18x24 white paper rectangle--using lines only, no shading—of an interior room in perspective that has at least one door or window through which you can see at least one other room (a hallway counts as a room).  Include the objects that are in the room and draw them in one or two point perspective as appropriate (i.e. furniture, framed pictures, appliances, shelving, etc.)  So there will be a room--with the objects in it--in the foreground as well as the background. 

--OR--

You are to make a line drawing (no shading or value of any kind) using soft graphite of a group of buildings in one or two point perspective (as appropriate) on 18x24 white paper.  A group of buildings means at least two buildings that exist in the same space.  Include everything around the buildings: walkways, roads, shrubs, trees, other buildings, etc.  You must make your drawing entirely from life.  You may not use photos or 2D reference images of any kind. 

Use 1 and/or 2 point perspective, but also things as you see them.  Do NOT include the extended orthogonal lines of perspective (erase them)!  This should be an interesting finished drawing, not a sterile sketch, so take as much time as you need to finish it.  Mind that you don’t choose a subject for which the rules of linear perspective break down.  Instead, choose a subject that will lend itself to perspective with dramatic diagonals and angles moving away into space!  It’s your choice, and therefore your responsibility.  Use the whole page; as always, composition and all the other formal elements that go into a good drawing will be noted during grading.  Obviously you won’t be able to draw things life sized, but take the time to think about how big stuff will be on your page.

Hints:

--pick a relatively small cone of vision to draw, as it is easier than trying to draw a whole wall.

--find a composition that has dramatically tilted lines. 

--move around while choosing!  A single area may be boring from one angle but exciting from another.

Assignment Grade Sheet for _________________________

First Perspective Assignment

Did you follow directions?        ___/20

Convincing Perspective Space? ___/40

Craftsmanship/Neatness/Finish: ___/10

Composition/Balance:               ___/20

Overall Design:                        ___/10

                                                _________

           

Final Grade:                            ___/100

Assignment #7: Invented Birdhouse

You are to design a birdhouse as complicated and outlandish as appropriate and draw it in linear perspective.  It must be recognizable as a birdhouse and look possible to build (at least in theory).  That is, it must have the accoutrements normally associated with birdhouses.   In addition to drawing the mass of the birdhouse, your drawing should also include a notion of the materials used to build it (wood, stone, metal, etc.)

Grading Rubric

Did you follow directions?                                                            ____/20

Does your birdhouse exist in linear perspective?                ____/30

Is your drawing finished appropriately?                                  ____/30

Balance/composition:                                                                    ____/20

                                                                                                _____________

Final grade:                                                                                        _____/100         

Assignment #6: Abstraction

 Abstracting Assignment

You are to make a full value drawing on at least 18x24 paper (no sketch) using any combination of black, white and gray media based on the drawing of the cow skull drawing that you did in class.  You are to abstract your composition (to the point of making the cow skull image unrecognizable), and to refine it to make a composition that is formally strong. The word “abstract” means to use the chosen drawing as a point of departure for the new drawing.  Because this drawing is no longer recognizable, the formal elements of the drawing will be all important.  Edit and/or rearrange them in any way necessary.  Every square inch of the paper must be worked to the best or most appropriate way possible.  Plan it out!  It is better to overwork this drawing than underwork it!  Again, this new drawing should not be recognizable as originating from the skulls, but every element in the new drawing MUST somehow come from the previous one.  You may be asked to display both drawings in critique.  There is no absolute right or wrong solution.  In fact, there are an infinite number of solutions.  You only have to find one.  In other words, your drawing (solution) just needs to simply “work”.  Lastly, you need to trust yourself!  Good luck.

Assignment Grade Sheet for

____________________________

Abstracting Assignment

Did you follow directions?        ___/20

Are there any outside ideas that

shouldn’t be there?                   ___/20

Is your drawing formally strong?

                                                ___/30

Is every square considered and

Appropriately worked?             ___/30

_________

Final Grade:                           ___/100

Assignment #5:Value

Value Project

Part 1-- 40%

Due: Oct. 16

As we did in class, you are to make a drawing of the large white sphere.  You are to remake the classroom drawing in black conte crayon on drawing paper, utilizing lessons learned during the “first draft.” The emphasis of this drawing is in the craftsmanship and control that you exert over the conte crayon.  Fill in all the values of the drawing in such a way that no individual marks should be evident as discussed in class.

White Sphere

Did you follow directions?        ___/20

Did you control your edges well? ___/30

Craftsmanship/Neatness/Finish: ___/40

Overall Design/Composition:    ___/10

_________

Final Grade:                           ___/100

Part 2-- 60%

Due: Oct. 23

You are to make a drawing on 19x25 neutral paper using only black and white conte crayon.   Choose a subject using the desirable traits from all past projects: strong negative space, sculptural volume, dramatic light and shadow, in addition to a dynamic composition.  Whatever you choose, there should be a conscious effort to actively arrange a subject.  Ultimately, I’d like to see how the light hits the subject, and that in turn will tell me all I need to know about it. This involves the same thought process as the subtractive process from class: starting from middle gray simply lighten or darken areas where appropriate.  If an area or form is the same value as the tone of the paper, leave it the tone of the paper.  Remember, you can’t easily erase conte crayon so you must draw lightly at first to figure out where things will be on your paper.  Once you are satisfied with the composition you may go back and draw forms more solidly.  There should be a minimum of outstanding lines—I’d like to see edges where different forms meet, not black lines . . . the difference between forms should only be apparent by the difference in values, so if two areas are the same value they might simply melt into one another.

B & W Conte on Gray Paper Rubric

Did you follow directions?        ___/20

Did you control your edges well?                                                                                                                                              ___/20

Craftsmanship/Neatness/Finish: ___/20

Did you minimize visible/outstanding marks?

                                                ___/20

Did you choose an interesting subject?

                                                ___/20

_________

Final Grade:                           ___/100

Assignment #4: Cross-Contour in Pen

Cross Contour Assignment

You are to make a finished drawing on 18x24 white paper with a black Micron pen  using the cross contour approach.  There should be no evidence of any other media. Set up an interesting still life using at least three INTERESTING objects with a STRONG light source. Your still life must include at least one fruit or vegetable, it must include cloth with wrinkles or folds, and at least one cylindrical or rectilinear object.

This project describes volume and value (light and shadow).  Use dense cross contour lines in the shadowy areas and sparsely drawn lines (or none at all) in the light areas, but more importantly show me the cross contour direction of the planes on your objects!  Also, do NOT forget about the background—that has a value to it as well.  When you set up your still-life choose your objects and set them up with care.  Carefully set up your objects with a balanced, interesting composition and negative space in mind.  That way you can ensure that you will have a better drawing, even if you don’t do so well in your technique.   This approach to drawing could take a long time (several hours), so use your time wisely!

Hints:

-FOLLOW DIRECTIONS—enough said.

-craftsmanship—pay close attention to making your marks in the most appropriate direction.  Remember that value is relative.  Something looks dark only because it’s next to something light.  Also, make a well balanced composition.

-innovation—make sure to follow directions, but try to come up with a way of “solving the problem” that is more interesting . . .

Assignment for  _________________________

Cross Contour Assignment

Did you follow directions?        ___/20

Do your objects feel like they have volume?                                                                                                                              ___/20

Did you describe light and shadow effectively?

                                                ___/20

Craftsmanship/Neatness/Finish: ___/20

Overall Design:                        ___/20

_________

Final Grade:                           ___/100

Assignment #3: White Paper on Black Contour

Assignment #3

Stevenson

White Paper on Black Contour

Make a contour line drawing in pencil or charcoal.  Then make it again with white drawing paper on 19x12.5 black paper.  Just like the original, it should be a drawing with black lines on a white field. To do so, cut or tear shapes out of white paper and, with a glue stick, adhere them to the black paper so that the only exposed black paper is in the shape of the original drawn lines. Though you are arriving at it in an unusual way, this assignment is simply a contour line drawing.  Pay close attention to line quality—a line should look exactly how you want it to look.  A good composition in this case means to keep the drawing balanced and well crafted.  Make sure that your lines are neat and clean, and be as true to life and you possibly can.  Spend as much time as you need—maybe several hours. Life size!  Since you are concentrating on making a whole composition, you must use the page as a whole—to all four edges.  Got it?

Get the feel of your subject through this drawing.  You will be graded by the rubric below:

Assignment Grade Sheet for _______________________________

Cut white paper on black

Did you follow directions?                 ___20%

Craftsmanship/Neatness/Finish:         ___40%

Composition/Balance:                        ___30%

Innovation:                                          ___10%

                                                            _________

           

Final Grade:                                      ___100%

Assignment #2: Positive/Negative Space Bicycle

Due Tuesday, September 18 at the beginning of class

You are to make an interesting drawing of a bicycle with compressed charcoal on 18x24 drawing paper (no sketch paper).  You are to make a composition using only negative space (the areas through and between the bike parts) and positive space (the bike parts themselves).  To do so, leave the positive space white and fill in the negative space with an even jet velvety black.  This assignment is mainly about SHAPE.  A good composition in this case means to keep the drawing balanced.  Don’t let all the negative space happen at the top of the page.  Be sure that you have negative spaces at the bottom as well as the top! Make sure that the edges of your shapes are neat and clean, and be as true to life and you possibly can.  Also, make sure that in the resulting silhouette you can still feel the visual mass of the bike!  Plan to spend several hours. Life size!  Since a bicycle is much bigger than your paper, you cannot fit the whole thing in your composition!  Since you are concentrating on making a whole composition, you must use the page as a whole—to all four edges.  Got it?

Get the feel of the bike through this drawing.  You will be graded by the rubric below:

Assignment Grade Sheet for _______________________________

Positive/ Negative Space Project

Did you follow directions?                             ___10%

Craftsmanship/Neatness/Finish:                     ___40%

Composition/Balance:                                    ___30%

Ambition (A Drawing Less Ordinary):          ___20%

                                                                        _________

           

Final Grade:                                                  ___100%

Assignment #1: Mark Making

You are to choose on interesting object; no smaller than an apple, no larger than a toaster. Then, in vine charcoal on a single side of an 18x24 sheet of sketch paper from your new pad, you are to make three (3) observational line drawings of that same object.  You are to draw each version of the object once in the following three ways:

1) continuous line: the entire object must be drawn in one unbroken, controlled, single width line, as if you were to take an extremely long piece of spaghetti an arrange it in the shape of the object

2)colligraphic line: a colligraphic line is a line that goes from thin to thick or thick to thin by either twisting your drawing tool or changing its pressure.  It is NOT a constant width along its length.  You may use as many lines as neccessary in this drawing.

3)angry line: an angry line tends to be a fast and aggressive line. It also tends to use a lot of pressure in its execution, making it fairly dark. 

The Rules

•         Each version of the object must be at least life sized, and they must all be the same size

•         You are to arrange the three renditions of the object on the paper so that the entire composition is balanced.

•         You may not crop any of the three objects.

•         The three versions of you object must more or less fill the page

•         You may arrange your paper in the most appropriate format for you objects, either vertically or horizontally.  Whatever your decision, you must defend it in critique

•         When finished, spray fix your drawing (outside and away from cars) so that it will not smudge.

Artist Presentation Guidelines

Basic Drawing

ARTIST PRESENTATION CRITERIA
Kyle Stevenson, professor

Instructions:
Next week you will be assigned an artist on a specified date to give a 5-10 minute presentation to the rest of class.  You will need to collect images and know your artist well enough to discuss their work in a conversational manner.  I will not collect a written report.  In order to get an A*, you may not have written notes--it must be completely oral!  Your grade will depend on the quality of your research and image collecting and how well you deliver the material you found.

Questions to address when Researching your Artist Presentation:

1. What is the Artist’s Background? (1-2 minutes)
                                    A. Where are they from?
                                    B. What time period were they alive and making work?

C. What Cultural Events/ Environments were affecting their art?

2. Collect 10 to 15 visual examples of their work for us to look at while you are presenting. (3-5 minutes)

A. Use digital images in the form of a folder of jpegs, a PowerPoint, or a Google Slides presentation  

B. If you are using folder of jpegs, name and number the images in the order you want to present them and save them on a flash drive or arrange to email them to me. 

C. Ideally get your images to me the class before you present.

D. Your images should be large enough to cover most of a 600x800 pixel screen with a minimum 72 dpi.  Google Images is a great website for image collecting.

You must know the names and approximate dates of all the works you choose, and be able to elaborate on 1 or 2 of your artist’s most important art works by discussing the important elements contained in each.  Explain why these works were important to history or their career.
           
3. What main elements are important to looking at and understanding their artwork or process (1-2 minutes)?

4. Do you like their work? Why or Why not (1-2 minutes)?

The Rules

*In order to get an A, you may NOT . . .

·          . . . Read from any notes or consult a cheat sheet.

·         . . . Have any PowerPoint slides (or jpegs) of only text.  You may have some text on image slides, but the majority of the slide must be the image.

·          . . . Take more than 10 minutes.  I will have a timer and warn you when you are getting close, but you must finish before 10 minutes, not merely stop.

·          . . . Have poor quality images (see above image specs) or inaccurate information.

·         . . . Deviate from the directions in any way.

Breaking any of the above rules will result in a full letter grade deduction per rule broken.

Syllabus and Materials

ART 102 –Basic Drawing @ Mercer County Community College

Fall 18

Kyle M. Stevenson, professor

Room: FA118

Office: ET 124, WWC

stevensk@mccc.edu, kylestevenson@yahoo.com

Blog: www.basicdrawingprofessorkylestevenson.blogspot.com

________________________________________________________________

Course goals and objectives:

Students will investigate such essential principles as:

Line                 Scale                           Light and Shadow

Proportion       Contour                       Abstraction

Perspective     Foreshortening            Value/Tonal control    

Balance           Illusion of Space        

At regular intervals you will present a drawing project for critique (Every Monday).  This will be your personal drawing solution to a given drawing problem.   This work will receive a letter grade based on the following general criteria:

1.    Following directions (using assigned subject matter and/or assigned media)

2.    Neatness (technical skills—clean work)

3.    Imagination and interpretation of assignment

Each project will be handed back with a completed rubric specifically describing strengths and weaknesses.  My Late Project Policy is as follows: you are allowed up to two late projects over the course of the term without incurring a grade penalty.  Any late project after those two will simply not be accepted.  However, the window of opportunity to hand in those two late projects is one week from the time they are initially due.  After that they will not be accepted.

All projects and related material will be posted to the above blog.  Always check it before and after class and on weekends.  You are responsible for any documents posted.

I will make every effort to return each project within one week of its submission.  A single letter grade will be given.  50% of the final grade will be an average of all these project grades.  The remainder of the grade average will be based on class participation (10%), artist presentation (10%), and final portfolios (30%).

Attendance

Three unexcused absences will result in your final average dropping one full letter grade, but only on the third absence will attendance requirements affect your grade, so essentially you have two freebies.  After that, each additional absence will count for a third of a letter grade.  Arriving to class substantially late, leaving substantially early, or taking unreasonably long breaks will cost half an absence each time.

           

Required Materials

-drawing board and clips—large enough for an 18x24 inch pad

-18x24 pad of “sketch” paper (no newsprint)

-18x24 pad of heavy white (or slightly off white) drawing paper—at least 50 sheets

-at least one sheet of 18x24(ish) black charcoal paper (Canson Mi-tientes is a typical brand)

-at least 3 single sheets of 18x24(ish) tan or gray charcoal paper (Canson Mi-tientes is a good brand)

-glue stick or equivalent

-pencils—an assortment of “H” type and “B” type

-kneaded eraser (at least one, probably more)

-pencil sharpener

-soft vine charcoal-- it’s worth it to buy a whole box and share with a couple people; it’s cheaper and you’ll go through the sticks pretty quickly.  Also, the thicker the sticks the better.

-soft box of compressed charcoal

-Soft conte crayons-black and white

-spray fixative (Krylon brand works best)

-Sakura Pigma Micron brand fine point pens (black); size 03 to 08

-Art-bin or tackle box

-portfolio folder large enough to comfortably fit 18x24 paper

-masking tape

-collection of “found” materials to build an object for the final drawing.

One last thing: RESPECT ME, EACH OTHER, AND THE CLASSROOM.  WE ARE ALL ADULTS AND WILL ACT THAT WAY.

*Subject to change at the discretion of the professor