Assignment 4: 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. 

Select your objects now! Do not wait last limit to select objects.

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

-Strategic Use of Contrast: Maximum detailing and high contrast in foreground progressing to decreased detail and low contrast  into the background space

-Strategic Variation of Edges: Sharp (in focus) edges in foreground progressing to softer (out of focus) edges in background (Variation of mark making plays a part in this) Absorb all lines into shaded areas!

- Progressions of Space: 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.

-Surface Plane & Composition: Depict the plane or surface the objects are set up on and consider the atmosphere around the objects in the entire composition.

-Variation of Objects: In addition to being thematically layered,  select objects that are visually interesting or at least set up objects in an interesting way. Once again consider the visual movements created by objects in composition.


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.

 

The above example presents a very good depiction of reflective and transparent objects. As well the objects are given a context that suggest thematic content with the anticipation of the knife cutting into the vegetable. This work at a basic level begins to convey possible symbolic or metaphorical content.




Grayscale:
The above is an example of a 16 step digital grayscale. All rendered black and white drawings are required to utilize the grayscale for each black and white material used in the course.

The grayscale in a drawing is achieved by layering a black medium and allowing different levels of the white of the paper to come through in a drawing, OR a grayscale is achieved by mixing black and white mediums to achieve the range presented in the above grayscale. Often drawings use a combination of both methods (utilizing the white of the paper AND mixing the white with black drawing mediums together)

Creating your own grayscale for each drawing medium will assist in learning about each drawing materials characteristics, plus will allow you to practice depicting and to be more sensitized to the full range of grays in a drawing. Once each grayscale is completed it can be used to compare grayscale levels in a drawing ultimately assisting in the overall success of any given drawing.






Value, Tints and Shades:

The drawings above demonstrates a depiction of value. Colour has been translated into grayscale. During most of the rendering assignments the objective will be to ignore translating colour and instead will focus on light and shadow and at times will depict surface qualities of texture, reflection and transparency.

 





detail

detail


The drawing above demonstrates a depiction of value. Colour has been translated into grayscale.

The drawing above uses white drawing mediums on black paper to depict an excellent level of transparency and texture in objects.

 

 

 

 

 

See Links Below of Additional 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