adult drawing syllabus course 1 copy 2 - daniel...

ADULT DRAWING SYLLABUS COURSE 1, 2016

ADULT DRAWING SYLLABUSCOURSE 1: THE ART OF PERCEPTION

TO WORK LIKE A SLAVETHE FINITE TOWARD THE INFINITE

Samuel Prout 1848


LESSON 1: GETTING A FEELING FOR THE REINS - LEADING WITH LINE “The pen should, as it were, walk slowly over the ground, and you should be able at any moment to stop it, or to turn it an any other direction, like a well managed horse” . Ruskin

Intro: Robert Beverley Hale, ”… a matter of being able to think of several things at once”

Process: Introduction: Explain the elements of design (LINE, SHAPE, COLOUR, TONE, TEXTURE, SIZE, DIRECTION). • Varying the line: write name progressively lighter,

progressively lighter/slower, progressively lighter/slower/smaller (longer/wider?).

• straight lines - horizontal and vertical - moving to parallel lines (varying the distance between)

• form a square using distance and direction • Find the centre of a square with diagonals (distance from direction). • construct circle from square- using the aeroplane method • Learning to correct the free-hand circle using radius around the centre point (direction

from distance). • Continue to ellipse (constructed from a rectangle) - small (10x5cm) then large

(20x10cm).

•Ink brush demonstration: varying line - heavy/light, pull/push, slow/fast. •Slow, deliberate line across bottom of page (checking direction with distance from edge of page). •Adjacent curved/bent line. •Sequence of repeated and varying lines. •Sharaku study demonstration: one line at a time using ink brush. •Sharaku drawing 1: line only.

•Sharaku drawing 2: reinforce with subordinate elements - size, shape, tone ('siblings to pull him into shape and take him down to size').

• Extension: try larger size (say, A2). (Illustrations clockwise from top: Student RP, Student RP, Student RP, Tōshūsai Sharaku)


Sharaku drawing 1: line only. Sharaku drawing 2: reinforced with additional elements


2: FORMING UP SIMPLE SHAPES “You should practice drawing cylinders, cubes and spheres. These are the simple, basic forms; the artist feels that all other forms are composed of these forms, or parts of them”. Robert Beverly-Hale. Process: 1. Last lesson used solitary LINES; this lesson uses lines that relate to create meaning. • Simple relationships: Parallel lines; infinity -

the point where parallel lines meet. • Draw ellipse using box. • Draw ellipse using line. • Adjust centre line - cross/egg. • Create cylinder. • Explore different variations - perspective

and sides. • Draw cone. • Chop up sphere using tangents and

ellipses - 'fruit Ninja'. • Combine shapes: e.g. spaceship, pear.

2. Deconstructing SHAPES: • Introduce a series of simple objects: strawberries, mushrooms, helmet, water bottle,

avocado chopped in half, shells, for example. • Demonstration of how each object is a variation of simple shapes ('as military

manoeuvres are variations to a march, the basic drill'). • Add light tonal wash to strengthen and unite shape.

(Illustrations clockwise from top: Student JC, Student JC, Student MR, Matt Groening)


LESSON 3: TONE “Tone” from the Greek word “teino": to stretch/ tension; e.g a well-toned body. < Greek tónos strain. The tension between light and dark. Also known as VALUE.

Process: 1. Develop a sense of value - feeling the

weight of black. Adding a sense of weight and emphasis to symbols constructed with LINE and SHAPE (Lessons 1 & 2) •Dynamic tonal range exercise (black and white). •Ink brush - Tommy McRae and Picasso's Don Quixote. •Drawing from the inside - identify with inner spirit. •Create a light pencil scaffold, then fill the 'container' with ink. Pencil provides the form, ink provides the content.


2. Develop a sense of pitch • Constructing a tonal palette. • An untrained eye identifies primarily with light tones in nature and dark tones on

paper; an accomplished artist identifies with full tonal range in nature and on paper.

• Identifying five major tonal distinctions from reference (e.g. Donald Duck).

• Order of sequence: lightest shade first; separate the light from the dark.

• Add tones (tints) in order of value. • Once tones are all assembled, evaluate

outcome and adjust to form composition. • Note: any further observations must be

perceived in context of broader tonal scheme.

(Illustrations clockwise from top: Student JR, after Tommy McCrae, Student JR, after Tommy McCrae, Student RP- after E.Segar, Teacher-after W.Disney, Student RP- after Picasso)


LESSON 4: DIRECTION: THE MOVEMENT OF LIGHT AND SHADE "Direction" from the Latin dīrēctiōn - (stem of dīrēctiō) arranging in line, straightening. A sequence grows out of order, as variety grows out of repetition.

Process: Explain movement of light and shade over cylinder - the basic drill, "....[K]now by heart the movement of TONES on a column lit by direct and reflected light.” Beverly-Hale •Follow diagram examples: learn how to invent your own light source - disregarding, if need be, those which pre-exist in nature. "....[The artist] must be the creator and destroyer of light.” Beverly-Hale. •Geometric mechanics of light and shade on a cylinder: top view, side view, oblique view. •Passage of light as it hits an object from different directions. •Learn to chart perpendicular points on top plane using perspective ('watching the clock').


LESSON 5: BREADTH AND THE CONCEPTION OF MASS Conforming to a broad teatment "Breadth" definition: A broad or general effect due to subordination of details or nonessentials.

"When an accomplished artist shades a form, his drawing will be strongly influenced by the tones he conceives to be on the controlling mass or masses…visualising his model in terms of simple masses and by lighting these masses in his mind….” Beverly-Hale

Process: Develop from previous lesson, moving from charted investigation on paper to actual observations of an object • Begin with geometric cylindrical block (plaster cast toilet-paper roll, tennis ball, for

example). • Breaking tonal movement down into simple, broad masses. • In order to capture the breadth and passage of tone, limit to two tones: “…

recommended that studies… should be made in two colours, such as black and white,

a variety of tints being a temptation to deviate from effect and divert the eye from broad and simple treatment”. Samuel Prout. ('He separated the light from the darkness.' - Genesis).

THE DEVIATION OF DETAILS deviate: Late Latin dēviātus turned from the straight road • Identify with passage of light, “…tracing the progress or path of light, through a

picture….” Samuel Prout. Best achieved in moonlight - highlights most evident - drawing in dim light.

• Imaginative process of identifying with light source: shade provides the scaffold, light is illuminated by imagination.

• Cylinder then the sphere. • Geometric then the organic (the egg, for example).

No tones in nature constant. Rather, they are graded (from Latin gradus - step).


• Pitch precedes grading: first, create tonal pitch charts, adjusting them to include grading.

• Start with geometric shapes then move to organic shapes (eggs/carrots/bananas, then abstract (eg rocks).

• Consider mechanical/rational conception vs sensual perception: being guided by reason rather than feeling and having an experience of both.

“Even though he may understand the process intellectually, the effort of visualising mass, and creating light, quickly exhausts the poor beginner. After a short time, he invariably returns to his old method of exact copying, as a tired traveller returns to his fireside”. Beverly-Hale (Illustrations from top: Teacher, Teacher, Student JC, Student RP)


LESSON 6: CONTOUR LINES "Line" from Old French ligne "guideline, cord, string; lineage, descent"; also "track, course, direction.” "Contour" from French, equivalent to con- con- + tour a turn.

Process: Investigate the value of line in creating the illusion of reality • Start with cube. Identify functions of

line: to outline, to divide planes, to delineate colours, to represent an actual line (e.g. of edge of bottom lip).

• Draw ellipse then draw half ellipse. • Draw cylinder subdivided into quarters with

half-ellipses • Draw cone subdivided into four half-ellipses -

render one-quarter width. • Draw cone with receding ellipses. Maintain

proportion. • Draw transparent spiral. • Draw shell composition.

• Move from charted investigation to observation of real objects, e.g. shell.

• Detach from perspective and identify with the track/course of the inherent lines of the shell.

• Reconstruct shell structure with line. • Question of what is real: the perspective or the object; the subjective or the objective.

(Illustrations from top: teacher, Student RP, Student JC, Student JC)

http://www.dictionary.com/browse/con-


LESSON 7: TEXTURE from Latin textura "web, texture, structure," from stem of texere…"to weave, to fabricate, to make; make wicker or wattle framework" (cf. Sanskrit taksati "he fashions, constructs," taksan "carpenter;" Avestan taša "ax, hatchet," thwaxš- "be busy;" Old Persian taxš- "be active;" Greek tekton “carpenter,”…Lithuanian tasau "to carve;”

PEN AND INK - THE HARD-POINTED INSTRUMENT “…it is better to take, in early practice, some instrument with a hard and fine point, both that we may give some support to the hand, and that by working over the subject with so delicate a point, the attention may be properly directed to all the most minute parts of it”. Beverly-Hale

Process: constructing a more complex rendering of TONE, SHAPE and LINE into the more complex medium of pen and ink • Ruskin (“Elements of Drawing”). Square of silk

exercise. • Draw box (small postage stamp), lay on one tone

properly without gradations. • Follow with tonal chart and graded strip. • Pale tint done lightly and swiftly. • Translate tones from earlier brush study - identify

values then render accordingly. • Start with geometric shapes: cylinder, sphere,

box, etc. • Move to organic shapes: eggs, shells, bones,

ears, etc. • Move to references: e.g. Durer, Michelangelo,

Cloudy with Chance of Meatballs.

(Illustrations clockwise from top: Student JR, Student JR, Student TLJ,Student TLJ, Student RP,

Teacher)


LESSON 8: SIZE MATTERS "Size" definition: the spatial dimensions, proportions, magnitude, or bulk of anything. From Middle English syse - control, regulation, limit. "Scale" from late 14th C English scealu - of a balance.

Process: Proportions of the head (the one object we identify with relative size most of all) • SIZE inseparable from DIRECTION in estimating

proportion. • Quick anatomical lesson. • Geometric anatomy of head: “The divided ball

and plane”. • Da Vinci proportions of head - demonstration

with images on whiteboard. • Draw Da Vinci head, profile first.

• Lambert pencil portrait. • Demonstration on board - focus on the element of SIZE (utilising the additional

elements of LINE, TONE, SHAPE, DIRECTION, etc to support SIZE).

(Illustrations clockwise from top: Student TLJ, G.Lambert, “Pencil drawing for Fun”,


Da Vinci)Task: take a ruler and a pencil and mark up the proportions of a skull as accurately as possible. Once a comprehensive amount of notes have been taken recreate theses measurements into a finished drawing.

Warning: the perils of measuring! Developing a SENSE of proportion.

In artibus et scientiis, tanquam in metalli fodinis, omnia novis operibus et ulterioribus progressibus circumstrepere debent But arts and sciences should be like mines, where the noise of new works and further advances is heard on every side. — Sir Francis Bacon

http://todayinsci.com/B/Bacon_Francis/BaconFrancis-Quotations.htm


LESSON 9: DECONSTRUCTING THE OBJECT/ CONSTRUCTING THE CONCEPT “…in figure drawing you must analyse the body until you can break it down into forms you wish to draw; you must decide on the shapes [and directions] of these forms; and then you must decide on the lighting conditions that will best bring out these shapes”. Beverly-Hale

Anatomy: the science dealing with the structure of animals and plants…from Greek anatomia, from anatome "dissection," from ana- "up" (see ana- ) + temnein "to cut" (see tome ).

Simplify elements down to the broadest possible state

TASK 1: outline hand in pencil place in skeletal structure- building anatomical features freehand draw right hand- building

TASK 2: Taking the hand of the great masters

•Demonstration: the hand (the second most-familiar object after the head). Start with general size, direction, shape.

•Layers of perception: identify dominant change/conflict for each element - attempt to orchestrate all other dominant elements in harmony. •Reconstruct light source. Use tone to reveal shape. Shape reveals line. Bringing elements together to support/bolster structure.

http://www.dictionary.com/browse/ana-

http://www.dictionary.com/browse/tome


LESSON 10: ASSEMBLING THE ORCHESTRA Greek orchḗstra - the space on which the chorus danced; derivative of orcheîsthai to dance.

Process: Combining elements of LINE, SHAPE, TONE, TEXTURE and DIRECTION to create composition of an object - the head.

• Develop ability to identify with and distinguish between one element at a time. (Alchemist: 'Only that which has been properly separated can be properly brought back together.')

• Learning to detach from other elements in order to focus and engage one at a time. • Identify with the nature of perception: remaining true to perceptions, feelings. • Identify with the direction of perception: which element you are engaging with.

Demonstration: Rembrandt - size first, then direction, then shape, tone, line, texture. Students choose reference (with considerable element of tone added - Michelangelo, Da Vinci, Rembrandt…) • Don't get burnt ('leaving an element on the stove for too long; don’t overcook the

broccoli' (don't spend too much time cooking one element). • 'Don't get thrown off the horse' (leaping to subordinate elements- keep a broad

command of the body beneath you).

• Feel for the element as it emerges from the page. • Feel the weight of each additional element contributing to the structure, e.g. adding

dark tone to entire design to increase sense of weight. • Follow the weight: feel the weight of the central vision; identify with the centre of

feeling within the artist; building the concept within. THE ART OF CONCEPTION (to be continued Term 2)!


Samuel Prout

adult drawing syllabus course 1 copy 2 - daniel...

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