Samplers at Swintons

It is the first Sampler of the new year at Swinton's  and what a fun one.
This one was Acrylic and next weeks sold out one is on oils.

I moved from Studio 2 into the big studio and was super early to set up everything, so I feel I did my best one yet. Below are a few pics I managed to snap during the acrylic sampler.

If you'd like to try a sampler with me go to Swintons website and sign up!

Animate it!

Kids animation camp at ACAD.

I taught a new camp this past week and made a little video of what my 6 boys created during the week, check it out below.

Colour Theory class opportunity

I was asked to substitute teach a colour theory class. I imagine walking into a class much like a cold call. I dread it in many ways. It can be nerve racking. I know my stuff so all I can I hope is to liven up the room and make learning enjoyable, but you never know the dynamic of the group.

 This Monday night I got my chance to instruct a Colour Fundamentals course for another teacher who was away.  I had built  a curriculum for a similar course in the hops to teach it last fall, but it didn't run due to low enrollment. Now I got my chance and my fingers are crossed it went well.

 I think I offered a "colourful" FUN-damental class based on the outline and assignments I had to give. I managed to scrape together 3 corresponding slideshows for the monochrmatic, analogous and complementary colour scheme assignments.

I really like all the different set ups an materials they were experimenting with. And the chicken soup can reused and recycled for art. I also appreciated the bright colour true lighting in the colour fundamentals classroom.

Near the end of the class I offered additional notes on Plutchick's (colour) wheel of emotions and showed a video about colour and storytelling in cinema that is a real eye opening approach for any artist to understand the value and use of colour in motion pictures and how it can relate to their artwork. It was a great class and I hope to be able to offer some of the teachings again in the future.

I also wanted to share the beautiful colourful painting I saw created live at the latest Swinton's Demo night featuring artist Donna MacDonald. Its a cheap event to attend on a Friday night that I highly recommend. Her workshop is already full but who knows there may be another listed for the fall so keep your eyes peeled.

SWINTONS ARTICLE AND SAMPLER

My latest article for the swinton's newsletter just came out.

Read it on the link below:

http://www.swintonsart.com/blog-articles/item/the-artistic-method

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Here's some  pictures from the recent Acrylic Sampler I hosted down at the studios.

If this looks like colourful fun and you'd like to try it out sign up for a sampler on the Swinton's website:D

Sunday Sampler (September 20)

Always a pleasurable to share my Sunday with Swinton's to teach a sampler. It was gorgeous out so I am really happy people decided to spend their day learning the basics of painting in Acrylics with me:D

Keep in mind these pieces are done by first time painters first paintings done in under 3 hours. Adequate proof of their talent and my ability to teach.

For the love of teaching & art….

Things are really starting to get rolling and I'm feeling vibrant, excited and enthusiastic about my upcoming students this term. Helping others by teaching them these skills makes me feel a deep sense of achievement. I taught my Drawing 1 class the importance of value in creating depth with their tools of choice. I began with a demonstration of how to use graphite/pencils (I used just a regular old HB pencil) to create a value chart that we will cut out and use as a shading reference. Below are the students at work on their first assignment this class.

After they completed their value charts I did a demonstration by shading a sphere to show how the fall of light creates the core and cast shadows. Then I outline what to observe and how to use the value chart.  Time to turn out the lights. I set up the single source lighting and allow them to move around my collection of shapes so that they have something they find visually appealing to draw for the remainder of the class.

The class circled their stations. They set up their drawing tables, larger white sheets of paper and drawing materials. First and most important is to look. It is said that most masters of the craft look more than they actually draw. They take the time to understand and plan their drawing before making their first mark.

Here are an assortment of white shapes. Notice the different values of shadows that help describe the depth of the shapes. A circle is a shape with no shading, that same circle with graduated shadows becomes a 3 dimensional sphere. Light and dark is what depth is all about.

Notice the reflected light and how in drawing, no lines are really used, it is the contrast between light and dark that make the shapes. I discussed the three main types of lighting styles used in art and pointed out what areas of the values scale are used in each.  Most of the art students I trained with dreaded the shapes, personally love them, otherwise I would not have my own collection of teaching aids. After my class I went over to the Southwood library to teach a room full of kids how to make flip books, can't take pictures though so I'll continue writing about my Sunday class.

On Sundays I often instruct sampler's at Swintons art supply. I got in the student grade goop and showed basic colour wheel mixing as well as changing the value by tinting with contrasting colours, darks and whites. I love colour so much. It is kind of like candy. Here I use the bright chromes but there are also both warm and cool versions of each of the primary tones and a few choices for browns to work with but we do keep a very basic palette at first so they get an experience and a try at using the material.

I try and cover as much as I can about the process in a very short period of time.  Sometimes I am jealous how true and honest their application is at first. It will take me a lifetime to get back to this level. I really like how it looks at this stage. Artists learn when to stop, but you have to go too far to actually know when that is. This is still bit early in the process but her painting turned out wonderfully by the end of the allotted class time.

 The tones and values she used are wonderful. I love that she work a matching shirt. I take the class on a tour of the important and relevant areas and products int he storefront. What one does not need and how to save money as I am still as thrifty a creator as it gets. It is important when first starting out because it can be expensive to get the initial stockpile of equipment to begin, and then you just add on and replace whatever runs out.

Believe it or not, these are for the most part first time painters making it look easy. this mother and daughter made two very different styles of trees. I love their palettes too.  If you want to try out oil or acrylic paint one Sunday, its only $40 and all the supplies and me are included.  Sign up for a sampler online at Swinton's Art Supply. Here is where to find it on the website: http://www.swintonsart.com/instruction/samplers

There are tons of other great demonstrations and courses to check out where everything is art http://www.swintonsart.com

Food for Thought. Art school or not?

Check out this You tube video. It raises a number of good points challenging the status quo of the institutional art education system. Share your opinion in the comments section below.

here is something else I found interesting: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/f-scott-hess/is-deskilling-killing-you_b_5631214.html

Values, light and Dark

I began teaching my Drawing 1 course at ACAD again . This post is for the students who missed last class in order to help them catch up on anything they may have missed out on and for any followers and readers who find this stuff as fascinating as I do!   =:D

Last week we began in the realm of imagination and using line. Line is very powerful, as you draw it is like you are cutting through light. A drawing can be made with a line which separates dark and light.  But line only describes a form but does not give mass and body to it. We need to learn to describe three dimensionality with shading. In order to accomplish this we need to develop our value scale.

Using the tools of drawing each student completed a value scale by utilizing the variety of pencils H - HB - B - F, charcoal or pen and crosshatching. In this way we have a base line to compare the values in  the drawing.  In the above image of the value scale the lower strip has the middle grey value added as a comparison. This is incredibly useful information especially if you are using a neutral ground as your starting point.

The next step is understanding how to see how these things play out in reality on any given object. For this I brought out SHAPES!!!! Some people dread the shapes, I remember the groans at art school for spending days at this. I think they are a valuable tool for understanding drawing. It is such a powerful way to understand what you see and I still practice it from time to time.

We used white painted plaster and wooden shapes under a single light source to create very defined shadows. If you are working from home, find white stuff around the house, you can make shaped out of white paper, paint stuff yourself, use what you have, or buy these at art supply stores. The goal is to use the value chart as a comparison in order to  create drawings of the simple shapes defined in space by lights and darks. Below is an example as to how the values relate on the drawing surface.

At this point it isn't as important to me that you have the proportions absolutely correct, as we will be working on that tons later, what we are really after is the ability to blend the values to create smooth transitions of shadow. Hard edged shapes tend to not have blended shadows. This exercise is to draw what we see! To understand the core and cast shadows and to have the relationship between the light and the dark on these shapes relate properly to create a realistic drawing.  Remember: Draw what you see!

I have included some snap shots taken on my iPhone so they are not "superfantastique" by any means but they were from the class set up for those who missed and would like an idea what we worked on.  It is helpful to work with white painted shapes as they are less confusing to break down. It is also better to try this from life rather than photo as the camera does change the way we look.

There was no homework as we used the 3 hr class for demos and exercises and finished off by looking at what we created in the class. Next class we add to this by working on still life using what we learned with values and we will begin our pursuit of proportions. Ciao for now. Have a great week-end and CANADA DAY!

Exquisite corpse - teen cartooning class

I love my Saturdays now that I have to be responsible Friday night in order to be up early in the morning Saturday to teach two classes at ACAD. This week, in my Adult Drawing class, we worked on proportions while drawing a still life.

 We set up two lights and a bunch of stuff from ACAD's still life room.

 I also brought my guitar, banjo, a cow skull and a few other items to add to the collection.

The students did a very good job sketching the objects into space in the proper proportions.

After lunch, I teach a teen cartooning course at ACAD. One of the days activities was my favourite surrealist drawing game the Exquisite corpse. To do this a piece of paper is folded up and passed around so that each panel can't be seen by one another. I gave each student 15 min. to draw the head, body and lower half of a body. Here is what they came up with in the time given.

There are some really good and sometimes funny creative solutions.  A few looked like they were thematic or stylistically planned out, and yet nobody knew what anyone else was drawing. Cool, eh?!