Thematic Objects (Minimum 3 Thematic Objects)

Materials Required:

-Drawing Board
-Options: charcoal pencils and white chalk or black & white conte sticks or black & white 

oil pastels or black ink and white acrylic. (Must use one or more combinations of these listed art supplies)

-Eraser (or scraping tool)

-Bulldog Clips

-Objects (Minimum of 3 thematic objects)

-Clip-on light


Objects must be Thematic      (10 % of Assignment):
Consider potential layers of thematic content in selective objects such as personal narratives, cultural references and expressive characteristics in objects and the way objects have been set up. Overall to have successful thematic content consider the selected object, composition, view point of object and lighting - these will all have potential in developing thematic content in drawing.

Formal Characteristics of Drawing    (80 % of Assignment):
-Consider progression of space in relation to various levels of detail, contrast and edges 

-Maximum detailing and high contrast in foreground progressing to decreased detail and low contrast  into the background space

-Sharp (in focus) edges in foreground progressing to softer (out of focus) edges in background (Variation of mark making plays a part in this)

- Have progression not only in a broad sense, but also at each level of foreground, middle ground, background. For example, on a round or cylindrical object, the center will be higher in detail and contrast because it is closer to the viewer.



Process (Steps to Assist in Addressing Formal Characteristics):

-Position your subject matter and drawing board in a way that you don’t have to tilt your head or create much movement to see your subject (doing so would change your perspective every time)

-Try to use and explore different mediums for each assignment and consider mixing black and white materials and absorbing line into planes of light and shadow (variation of edges)

-Drawing is a layering process, don’t just focus on completing one part of the drawing in one session, consider the whole of the drawing

-Always start by drawing very lightly, and gradually layering up to darker tones, shadow areas and selected details (details should be strategically depicted late in process)

-Highlights can be made with eraser or white drawing material such as white conte, or white chalk pencils or potentially white oil pastel!


Unifying Formal and Thematic Content       (10 % of Assignment):
Consider how thematic content is reinforced by formal decisions such as composition, view point of object and lighting.  As well, the way the object is depicted in terms of mark making and the observational drawing style can also have potential thematic content in the drawing.

See Links Below as Examples for Some Formal Ideas:
http://derekbruecknercourseinformation.blogspot.com/2009/10/rendered-shaded-drawing-objectives.html

http://derekbruecknercourseinformation.blogspot.com/2008/04/blog-post_12.html