FINAL CRITIQUE/PORTFOLIOS

The Self Portrait is to be completed for a critique on exam day. After the critique I will take up your final portfolios, which should include five (5) drawings, including the Self Portrait plus any four (4) other drawings from the semester that you feel best represent your skills and abilities.

Final exam schedule:

8:00 class will meet on Wednesday, Dec. 16 from 8:00-10:00. Portfolios will be available to pick up after 1pm.

2:20 class will meet on Monday, Dec. 14 from 1:30-3:30. Portfolios will be available to pick up after 6pm.

ART SHOWS

If you haven't finished the three 150 word art event write-ups, pay close attention... Tonight is the First Thursday Art Walk here in Clarksville, and this Saturday is the Art Crawl in Nashville. Some opportunities to see art shows include:

CLARKSVILLE ART CRAWL TONIGHT - Thursday, December 3, 5-8pm:

-DAC Gallery, 96 Franklin Street. Holiday Arts and Crafts Bazaar.

-APSU Downtown Gallery, 116 Strawberry Alley. APSU Faculty Exhibit.

-Spring Street Studios, 616 N. Spring Street. APSU First-Semester Senior Student Exhibit.

-Framemaker, 705 N. 2nd Street. Greg Sand Exhibit.

Also here in Clarksville is an exhibit of area high school students at the Clarksville Customs House Museum, 200 S. 2nd Street. It's open from 4:30-6pm tonight and will be open during regular hours for several weeks.

If you want to ride the APSU Art Bus to the Nashville Art Crawl this Saturday, December 5, be sure to sign up in the art office. The bus leaves at 2pm sharp, and the trip is free to APSU students. All you need to bring is money for dinner. The plan is to visit Cheekwood Botanical Gardens and Museum and then head downtown for the monthly exhibit openings of many local galleries.

END-OF-SEMESTER CALENDAR

11/24: Self portrait photo shoot. Eat food. Edit photos. Visiting Artist Joan Linder might stop by.

11/26: NO CLASS (Thanksgiving)

12/1: Self portrait work day

12/3: Self portrait work day

12/8: Last day to work in class


FINAL CRITIQUES:

12/14: Afternoon class only. Meet 1:30-3:30. Pick up portfolios after 6pm.

12/16: Morning class only. Meet 8:00-10:00. Pick up portfolios after 1pm.

SELF PORTRAIT PROJECT

DRAWING II: SELF PORTRAIT

So far this semester you have worked from direct observation of live models. Working from photographic references is also a valid form of artmaking. You will have some freedom in this next project, and I want you to be creative. On Tuesday, November 24, we will spend class time as a photo shoot for self portraits. Your job is to plan the “design” of your photo shoot. The self portrait will be a traditional bust composition (upper chest and all of the face.) Decide if you want to wear special clothing or a costume, and bring that and any props you need to class on Monday. To make it more interesting, you must have a background from a different photographic source, which you must find and bring to class. Maybe you want the background to be Paris at night. Maybe it’s from one of your own photographs. Maybe you want it to be a microscopic view of DNA. Or perhaps thousands of bicycles. Be creative with the choice of background, and be thoughtful about it. Don’t just pick a random image to be your background. We will use a grid to draw from the photographs – a technique that you will find helpful for keeping accurate proportions. We will also use Photoshop to combine the faces and backgrounds. If you bring an actual photograph for the background, we can use the scanner to turn it into a digital image.

For Tuesday you need to bring:
Clothing or props
A photographic source for the background
Mechanical pencil
Ruler (if you have one)

If you do not want to draw on your regular drawing paper, you are free to bring in your own choice of paper (minimum size 22x30".) Hobby Lobby has a decent selection of papers sold by individual sheet. You also might consider a colored paper. If you do decide to buy a special sheet of paper, use this rule of thumb -- if you can afford it, always buy an extra sheet! And consider the tooth of the paper - if it's really smooth your drawing will be smooth; if it's really rough, the texture will show up.

Check out these drawings from former Drawing II students for inspiration:

GRADING RUBRIC - GREEK STUDY (JEROME)

I will give you a feedback grade based on the following:

Proportion
Value
Faithfulness
Composition
Presentation

HOMEWORK DUE 11/19

I handed out packets of the figure drawing examples you all submitted in class. Look at the packet and do 5 minute gesture drawings of the figures on the first 5 pages. (This should take a total of 25 minutes.) Do as much as you can in that five minute period - you should start out gesturally, but keep working the drawing for the full five minutes, all the while getting more and more precise.

Note - The pages in the packet might have more than one figure - if this is the case, choose only one figure from that page to draw.

UPCOMING EVENTS

Thursday, Nov. 5 - Grand opening of APSU Downtown Gallery. 116 Strawberry Alley. 5-8pm

Saturday, Nov. 7 - Bus trip to Nashville for First Saturday Art Crawl. 2pm-9pm

Monday, Nov. 9 - Opening in Trahern Gallery. 7-9pm

Ongoing Nov. 1 - 25 - "After Birth Spectacular" digital artwork exhibit at terminalapsu.org

STUDENT BFA EXHIBITS IN GALLERY 108 (hours vary):

Nov. 2-6 Evelyn Matherly

Nov. 9-13 Janelle Costello

Nov. 16-20 Rayven Collins

Nov. 23-27 Lindsey Ward

Nov. 30-Dec. 4 Megan Hydrick

Dec. 7-11 Claire Meriwether

Dec. 7-11 Zak Parrish & Tina Gould, Visual Communication Group Show, Trahern Gallery

UPCOMING EVENTS

Thursday, Nov. 5 - Grand opening of APSU Downtown Gallery. 116 Strawberry Alley. 5-8pm

Saturday, Nov. 7 - Bus trip to Nashville for First Saturday Art Crawl. 2pm-9pm

Monday, Nov. 9 - Opening in Trahern Gallery. 7-9pm

Ongoing Nov. 1 - 25 - "After Birth Spectacular" digital artwork exhibit at terminalapsu.org

STUDENT BFA EXHIBITS IN GALLERY 108 (hours vary):

Nov. 2-6 Evelyn Matherly

Nov. 9-13 Janelle Costello

Nov. 16-20 Rayven Collins

Nov. 23-27 Lindsey Ward

Nov. 30-Dec. 4 Megan Hydrick

Dec. 7-11 Claire Meriwether

Dec. 7-11 Zak Parrish & Tina Gould, Visual Communication Group Show, Trahern Gallery

UPCOMING EVENTS

Thursday, Nov. 5 - Grand opening of APSU Downtown Gallery. 116 Strawberry Alley. 5-8pm

Saturday, Nov. 7 - Bus trip to Nashville for First Saturday Art Crawl. 2pm-9pm

Monday, Nov. 9 - Opening in Trahern Gallery. 7-9pm

Ongoing Nov. 1 - 25 - "After Birth Spectacular" digital artwork exhibit at terminalapsu.org

STUDENT BFA EXHIBITS IN GALLERY 108 (hours vary):

Nov. 2-6 Evelyn Matherly

Nov. 9-13 Janelle Costello

Nov. 16-20 Rayven Collins

Nov. 23-27 Lindsey Ward

Nov. 30-Dec. 4 Megan Hydrick

Dec. 7-11 Claire Meriwether

Dec. 7-11 Zak Parrish & Tina Gould, Visual Communication Group Show, Trahern Gallery

HOMEWORK DUE 11/5

This week you will do research in lieu of drawing...
Find a drawing of the the human figure in a magazine, in a book, or on the internet. Bring a photocopy of that drawing to class on Thursday. You do not have to draw in your sketchbook this week.

HOMEWORK DUE 10/29

Look at the fantastic contour drawings of hands in the hallway. What makes them fantastic? They have a lot of details and dynamic poses - the fingers are bent or curved in interesting ways. Using a graphite pencil, draw your own hand in your sketchbook TWICE... with as much detail as possible using only lines. I want to see creases, wrinkles, fingernails, etc. The overall proportions of your hand and fingers should be perfect. The two poses should be significantly different and both should have some foreshortening. Draw as large as possible while still keeping the whole hand on the page - each hand should take up most of the page.

HOMEWORK - FALL BREAK

I was going to give you a sketchbook assignment for Fall Break, but changed my mind - you've got a whole week off. Woohoo! (However, if you really want some homework I'll happily give you an assignment.)

Enjoy the break and be safe.

Einstein/Marilyn drawings

I will not be taking up your Albert Einstein/Marilyn Monroe drawing unless you choose to include it in your midterm portfolio. For those of you who need more time on these, I have posted the images below.

MIDTERM PORTFOLIOS DUE 10/15

Choose ANY THREE drawings from the semester and turn them in next Thursday, October 15. These should be drawings on the big paper - sketchbooks don't count. These drawings will be graded and will amount to 25% of your total grade for the course.

There is no sketchbook homework for this week.

Please ask if you have any questions.

GRADING RUBRIC - STRUCTURAL FIGURE #2

These drawings will be graded on the following criteria:

- Proportion
- Specificity to Details
- Line Quality
- Composition
- Presentation

HOMEWORK 10/8

There is NO HOMEWORK due in your sketchbook this week. Please bring your sketchbooks to class so we can do exercises in them.

HOMEWORK DUE 10/1

I want you to be familiar with both the outside AND inside of the human body; knowledge of human anatomy will help to make your figure drawings more believable. Your assignment is to copy the following three images of skeletons/body contours. Use a pencil, not charcoal - this will allow you to get greater details. I want you to add some shading to the skeletons in order to show depth, but the outer contour of the body should be only an outline - don't add shading to the flesh. We will not have class next Tuesday, September 29, which means that you should have plenty of time to make these three drawings perfect. Draw one image per page in your sketchbook. Enjoy the day off, and I'll see you next Thursday.

HOMEWORK DUE 9/24

A continous line contour drawing is similar to drawing with an Etch-A-Sketch. You look at the model and draw as much detail as possible without lifting your pencil off the page. You will find that your line wanders around the page as your eye wanders across the model. Unlike a blind contour, you are allowed to look at the page as you draw. Using the two images below as inspiration, draw two continuous line contour drawings of entire figures (not just the face.) You may draw a friend or yourself from observation, but do not draw from a photograph. You may use a mirror if you draw yourself. The figures should be clothed - I think you will find that drawing clothing on a figure is challenging and fun.

GRADING RUBRIC - STRUCTURAL FIGURE

Your structural contour drawing is due on Tuesday, September 22. It will be graded on the following:

- Line quality
- Composition
- Proportion
- Presentation
- Specificity to details

HOMEWORK DUE 9/17

Feet and hands are hard to draw, right? The hardest is the face. I won't overwhelm you by making you do realistic portraits in your sketchbook (...yet). But I do want you to start familiarizing yourself with the portrait.

For this homework exercise, you are to:

1) use a pencil

2) draw 3 blind contour faces (one face should be yours, and two faces of other people)

3) look in a mirror and/or directly at the two people - no photos!

4) try to get as many details as possible

A blind contour drawing is when you draw without looking at your paper AT ALL. Yes, yes, I know... It will look ridiculous. But the objective is not to make a great drawing - the objective is to sloooowwwww down and really look at the object you're drawing. Many times when we draw, we spend 95% of the time looking at the drawing, when really you should spend 95% of your time looking at your object. When you do a blind contour drawing, it's best if you do not lift the pencil off the page - if you do, it's hard to know where to put it back down. Your drawings will look something like this:

GRADING RUBRIC - RUBENS STUDY

Your Rubens drawing is due on THURSDAY, September 17. I will show you how to attach a tracing paper cover sheet. It will be graded on the following:

- Line quality
- Composition
- Proportion
- Presentation
- Faithfulness to details of original
- Value (you can use your own style)

ANNOUNCEMENTS

Thursday, September 10
> 5 - 7pm: Pizza and volleyball welcome back party, Trahern Front Lawn

Friday, September 11
> 10am - 8pm: Riverfest Fine Arts Exhibit open, Smith-Trahern Mansion

Saturday, September 12
> 10am - 5pm: Riverfest Fine Arts Exhibit open, Smith-Trahern Mansion

HOMEWORK DUE 9/10

In your sketchbook, you are to do contour drawings of the following three photos as faithfully as possible. You should use one page in your sketchbook per photo - three pages total. Your drawings should take up most of the page, and you want to fit the whole image on the page - don't draw really tiny or too big. You should NOT add any value (shading). Aim for a clean, precise contour drawing, and include fingernails/creases/wrinkles. Use the page wisely - think about composition as you make your initial sketch, and don't be afraid to erase and re-draw.

This is due at the beginning of class next Thursday, September 10. Any questions? 

Welcome!

Hello Students, and welcome to the Drawing II blog. 

This is where your sketchbook and/or homework assignments will be posted every week. Announcements about upcoming APSU art events will also be posted here, as well as a mish-mash of other pertinent information.      

Your first homework assignment, which is to be completed by this Thursday, Sept. 3:

Find a website with drawings or paintings by a contemporary figurative artist. We will look at these websites during class on Thursday and discuss the role of figurative art in the world today.