F-F-F-Fabric

For my final drawing 1 class I taught how to plan and execute drawn fabric.

With some basic notes on the whiteboard and a handout we formulated a plan of attack. each student pinned the draping fabric along the wall before beginning.

 First by getting a good line drawing.

 Then by toning the overall value of the drapery.

 They by emphasizing the cast shadows and adding darker tones.

 Then erasing out for highlights and cleaning up around the drawn object.

 Ii think their pieces turned out fantastic.

We had a little critique and discussion at the end. Now my little birds have the skills to leave the nest and fly. (A small tear forms)

Fabric Folds

In a continuation the work with tone, in the previous post and discussed in my latest video which you can see above, we focused on more work with value. This time working on toned cream coloured Canson brand paper and drawing a study of draped fabric. This is an amazingly valuable exercise in building your observational skills and technical capabilities.

 Take a look at some of the pieces mid process.

 And how the darks and lights have been treated.

 And how solutions are developed alongside the work.

 How the values are observed then pushed further.

 And softness and texture applies.

 Adding in material....

 Then taking it away...

 Building up tone and background values, and adding shadows and highlights

Until it looks as real and velvety as it feels.

Figure drawing class Feb 18/2016

Hi all, I've been hiding away in my studio when I can and I'm not working one of 5 jobs or teaching. When it rains.... as they say. In the in-between time I've been working on something new in the studio which you may have seen in the background on my Episode 5 - Youtube channel video.

You can watch that here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qwx8IOFGx3o

 I have my french Arches paper taped to a drawing board. I begin blocking in the dark values and background tone focusing on simplified shapes and trying my best not to get distracted and focused on favorite areas of interest until I have material down over the entire surface.

As I progress I leave some areas more sketchy, these areas are often like gems so I like to keep them for as long as I can.
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Back to school.

I'm instructing a figure drawing course at the Alberta College of Art and Design one evening per week.  We are already on class three, but because there is a model in the room I am hesitant to take photographs out of respect for the model. I took these after the model left the room, when on break or at the end of class to give you an idea what the work looks like on class 3 when we focused on creating values on toned drawing paper.

It is awfully bright in the classroom but you need to see your paper when you are drawing. The best tool the artist has is to squint to simplify the shapes and values.

I loaned a student one of my figure drawing reference books, this picture is to remind me who has what.

When the lights are turned back on the pieces do look quite different and you get a sense of the depth and breadth of the values in the pieces.

Some quick poses on the neutral concrete classroom floor.

The lights and darks by adding more material to the paper or by erasing out help to create the illusion of form on a 2D surface.

My favorite part of this drawing is the foot that just gives us a sense of detail of what is there. Our eye only focuses on one area at a time so this helps bring the attention back up to what the artist wants you to look at the head area.

The students discovered the push and pull of darks and lights in the final long pose of the session and the work turned out great.

Drawing 1 - still life

This Saturday we are fortunate enough to draw things that don't move - still life. Each student brought in their own objects to set up and study. I demonstrated the technique of constructing transparent shapes along side the proper use of proportions at the start of the class and gave them step by step notes of the process as one moves toward the finishing details and shading.

The first key to getting it right is to get it right from the start. Its too difficult afterward to change placement or proportions, best spent the time observing, measuring and ensuring the overall placement of the composition is correct before moving onto the details.

If and when the overall forms are well constructed, you can remove the construction lines and move toward values of light and dark. It is far more interesting to have varied textures, shapes and sizes when planning a still life drawing.

Interesting objects juxtaposed make for visual narrative, then you can move into creating the convincing illusion of depth using shifts in the values of light and dark.

and then you just observe what you see and translate it onto your drawing surface. Sounds easy, but it could be a serious endeavor, one that can definitely take more time than the allotted class length. But once you learn the steps in the process you have the necessary tools to take it wherever you want to go.

The students were super quiet and focused the entire class, and the work really showed their focus and concentration. Great work guys and gals! Next week all sorts of graphical perspective drawing techniques!

Drawing 1 class at ACAD - Value studies

My drawing class this semester is fantastic!  We have been studying the FUNdamentals such as values, tone and proportion as well as how to set up the drawing space and see a little bit differently.

I love this picture, its Philips back and the classroom set up, it has a certain melancholic quiet, at the top of his paper is his value chart and he studies the subject matter, my plaster shapes. This would make a great image for the back of a business card in my opinion.

Here they are all on their own. Of course, once the lights go out the artists need to adjust their eyes in a way that this camera has not to really see the variation of lights and darks and translate those with their pencils onto paper.

Here a student is getting shaded tones including reflected light one of the platonic solids. Nice work.

I start with values to help my sutdents visualize how light and dark, even in the absence of colour, plays a huge role in describing three dimensional objects on a two dimensional surface(the paper). To me this is one of the hurdles and challenges of good representational drawing skills.

The following session we work on toned paper and focus on getting proper relative proportions before we begin shading from light to dark. I think their works were very successful and will miss not having class next week due to the Thanksgiving holiday.

Acrylic Studio course at ACAD

I was asked to teach a week long acrylic studio course at ACAD.
What an exciting way to spend a week in the summer!!!

 I bring in new samples and examples with each lecture and demo every mroning and start of the afternoon.

We start in a blank room, as fitting as our black canvases.

The majority of the students have never painted before so we start with handling and mixing basics.

Light to dark, the values in paint. Then simple shading of a sphere to show the highlights, core, cast and reflected shadows in straight forward vlaues.

We then begin mixing the colours of acrylic paint. There is a strong air flow quickly drying the pigments, another challenge for the participants to face early in their studio experience.

The challenge is to use only the three primary colours to make the remaining colours on their colour wheel sampler for practice and future reference.

They then discover what adding complementary colours can do around their wheel.

The students gather their reference materials and rub in their supports in order to make a practical colour study for future reference to create a larger finished painting.

Each student transfers their image in a different way, some are doing portraits, others landscape....

 Some are gridding and painting busses or gem stones.....

Others have fun getting abstract!

The study allows them time to experiment and practice their strokes, values, mixing and application.

 First timers face challenges with a smile and plenty of support.

Their skills quickly improving with each lesson and minute put into studio practice.

I look forward to seeing how their pieces continue to develop during the week long course.