Media Art Class

8 02 2010

Lessons and examples of our projects-

Selective Focus, Horizon Line, Leading Lines, and a Advertisement.

Students have a better understanding of a well composed image and how to capture the best moments.  Students have also learned how to use the collection of lesson images to create an orginal ad.





One week study in charcoal

21 01 2010

I set up a still-life with various objects with varying heights, materials, and colors.  I carefully set up the lighting and let the students work for one week to complete the drawing.  Here are the results… I think they are pretty good for a two week break for the holidays.





Kick Start the Semester after Break!!!

15 12 2009

5 minute drawings for students to get everything working again. Lessons emphasize the elements and principles of design.

#1 Invented Line

  • Drawing pencil
  • Drawing paper

Line is one of the most commonly used elements of art. Line can be straight or curved, horizontal or vertical, thick or thin.  Line is used to describe the outline of a shape and to show that a shape has volume.  Line is used to show emotion, such as fear, anger, or excitement.  On your paper, use a pencil to invent as many different types of line you can create.

#2 Blind Contour Drawing

  • Drawing pencil
  • Drawing paper

Place your hand in a comfortable but interesting pose.  Using a pencil, make a blind contour drawing of your hand.  Be sure to focus on your hand and not on your paper.

#3 Landscape Proportions and Value

  • Drawing pencil
  • Drawing paper
  • Magazine images of a landscape

An artist creates space in a landscape with proportion.  Look at the landscape picture.  What size and value are the objects at the bottom of the page?   The objects that are closest to you are known as the foreground.  Objects located in the middle of the picture are the middle ground.  The images in the middle are smaller and lighter than the objects in the foreground.  This helps with the illusion of distance.  Objects high up on the page are drawn smaller and lighter, which makes them appear farther away from the viewer.  The space farthest from the front of the page is your background.

Lightly draw a landscape in pencil.  Keep the objects towards the bottom of the page larger and more detailed than the objects you draw farther away.  Apply the values needed to clarify the various areas of the drawing.

#4 Simulated or Implied Texture

  • Variety of drawing tools
  • Drawing paper

Begin by folding your paper into small squares for small thumbnail sketches.  Fill each area of your paper with a different group of marks that suggest a texture.  Try individual tools and then combine the drawing tools.  Look around the room for textures.

#5 Holes in the Page

  • Drawing paper
  • Colored pencils
  • Scissors

Cut a small hole somewhere in your paper.  On the back of your paper, write down five things you can think of that have a hole in them, such as a keyhole.  Now, create a drawing that incorporates the hole in your paper.

#6 Drawing How It Feels

  • Drawing paper
  • Assortment of drawing tools
  • Paper bag
  • Objects in bags

Take a paper bag and reach into the bag without looking.  Feel the object inside the bag: you will draw the object the way it feels to you.  Do not guess with the object is and just draw what you think it should look like; instead of representing what you think the object is.  Look at the available drawing tools and select the tool that will deliver the qualities of the object.  Draw how the object felt to you.





Trying to encourage working with recycled materials

10 12 2009

I have been working at creating art pieces in my studio with items that would end up in land fills such as shoes, old textbooks, magazines, packing boxes, and styrofoam.  The following lessons all utilized recycled materials and the lessons are posted on Artsonia.com.

Altered Books, Shoe Sculptures, Cornell Boxes- Artists Street, paper quilling.





Experimenting with Monoprints

2 09 2009

Everytime I teach beginner’s about monoprints, I have some monoprints where the ink did not  turn out the way the artists would like them to look.  Now, instead of looking at the prints as mistakes, we view them as an opportunity to embellish them even more.  Recently, I have been experimenting with layering our monoprints (cast-offs) with chine-colle and with a “mock” lithograph method.  Here are some of my experiments.





Second go around with this lesson

1 09 2009

Tattoo Collage- Mixed Media Drawing

Criteria: Merge three human observational drawings into one.  Select one modified contour line drawing from a skeleton drawing, figure study, and a self-portrait drawing.

  • Overlap the drawings onto one piece of paper.
  • Skeleton drawing enlarged to break-up the negative space.
  • Layer the figure drawing leaving some space for a portrait.
  • Place the portrait on the composition, making an artistic choice of how much of your portrait will be included in the drawing. tattoo teacher example

Patterns and Designs:

View several native designs used for artifacts, ceremonial tattoos, and fabric.

Select a specific style and apply the pattern to selected areas of your drawing.

  • Wrap the design around the bones, facial features, and clothing to follow the volume of the object.

Add color or value using pencil, colored pencil, watercolor pencil, pen/ink, pastel, charcoal and tempera paint. Use more than one medium.  See student results soon at Artsonia.com





Progress on Lessons

29 08 2009

Painting I Class – we worked on reviewing one and two point perspective before going outside to sketch the school buildings. We looked at Hopper’s work to look carefully at the contrasting shadows. Our studies were then washed with a range of black india ink layers to build up the dimensions. I am pleased with the small studies we produced. Now- we will complete a longer study during a block day to have the opportunity to accomplish some work using direct observations and capturing the shadows as we see them in time. See examples on Artsonia.com