Assignment #4, due Wednesday 10/2

THE DRAMA OF LIGHT AND SHADOW:

Picking up where we left off in class, in this assignment you will be using continuous tone shading to achieve the full range of values to create convincingly volumetric shapes.

Begin by obtaining a clamp lamp that you can use to shine strong “directional” light onto a tabletop or desk. Next, select an object to draw that creates interesting shadows but that is not too detailed (things with patterned surfaces are not recommended).

For this piece you will be drawing your object twice, dramatically altering the direction of the light source between the two times. Spend some time playing around with the lamp, paying particular attention to the shadows cast by your object. Be sure to move the lamp and not the object, and choose two lighting situations that create shadows that differ considerably from each other.

Using charcoal and/or charcoal pencil, make a single drawing on your regular homework paper that incorporates both sets of light and shadow configurations. The two drawings can sit side by side on your paper, but arrange them so that they relate to each other in an interesting way (don’t divide the picture plane with a line!). Concentrate on drawing the tonal values (highlights, shadows, and mid-tones) as interlocking shapes. Keep the shapes general and simplified.

Materials: Charcoal (vine and compressed), charcoal pencil, eraser.


Below are the images we looked at in class:

Georges Seurat

Pablo Picasso

Seurat

Picasso

Albrecht Durer

Durer

Durer

Durer

Giorgio Morandi (from here to the end)

Welcome and First Homework Assignment

Welcome, incoming class! I'm excited to be working with you for the upcoming year. My hope is that you will all participate as much as possible in all facets of the course and in so doing inspire each other to make the most of your freshman year at SVA.

As we went over quite a bit of material on the first day of class, I want to urge you to take a few minutes to reread the syllabus on your own. Please let me know if you have any questions, and if you do just send me an e-mail at the address listed above. I'll make every effort to respond to your mails as quickly as I can.

For your first homework assignment (due next week), I'd like you to purchase the basic materials you'll need for the course (see page titled Basic Materials List to the right), and then to make a contour drawing following the specifications below. Please read the entire assignment carefully.

CONTOUR DRAWING

On one of your sheets of sketch vellum, make a contour drawing using only Ebony pencil. Your contour may be a continuous contour or not, but it should not be a blind contour (i.e., go ahead and look at your drawing as you draw).

Set up some kind of familiar object on a windowsill in your room. Before beginning to draw, take a few minutes to study your object, the windowsill, and the images you see in the panes of the window, taking special note of small details. Concentrate on discerning edges -- both those that delineate the objects from the space around them and all the internal edges. As you begin to draw, concentrate on letting your pencil "feel out" the edges you see; let your hand respond to their various qualities by applying and releasing pressure, speeding up and slowing down, etc. Remember that in a contour drawing, you are working with line only (i.e., no shading or modeling of any sort).

Be as selective as you wish, but your drawing should include something of the object on your sill, the window itself, and whatever you see through the glass (foreground, middleground, and background). The quality of your line should reflect the differences in visibility (i.e., objects closest to your eye will call for bolder lines than those furthest away, etc.).

Do not use photographs for this assignment! It is important that you work from direct observation, so set yourself up in a place where you can work for several hours.

Follow-up to critique day and portfolio turn-in

Dear class,

Once again, thanks to all of you our final critique was a great success! I was very impressed not only by the number of excellent scroll drawings I saw but also by all the wonderful comments I heard. I hardly had to say a thing. Great job to all of you who contributed so generously!

I also want to let you know what a real pleasure it's been teaching your class this year. Yours has been a class that has reminded me every week why I love teaching. Thank you all for your enthusiasm, your passion, and your commitment.

And finally, a final piece of instruction:

PORTFOLIOS AND NOTEBOOKS:

I will be reviewing portfolios and notebooks this Sunday, April 29th, from 1pm-3pm. All homework assignments from this semester other than the midterm and final projects should be included in your portfolio, and your notebook should be neatly stacked in the locker.

If you need to access the class locker before Sunday, the combination is: 30-4-34.

For your convenience, here is a list of the assignments. (Please place them in order, and be aware that presentation counts. A sloppy portfolio will affect your grade, as will a missing assignment):


1. Cubist collage
2. Paper cut-out drawing
3. Monochrome pastel
4. Altered masterpiece pastel
5. Movement drawing (or flip book)
6. Informational image drawing

RETRIEVAL OF MATERIAL:

You may come any time after 3pm on Sunday to retrieve your material.

Have a wonderful summer, and do stop by and visit me from time to time! I would enjoy that very much.

Information for Final Class

Dear class,

As you know, next week's class on Tuesday, April 24th, will be the last class of the semester. On this day we'll be doing an all-day critique of your final projects. Please come prepared to present a section of your music to the class as you present your scroll. Bring your piece of music on either an i-Pod or a CD.

Some important things of which to take note:

1. As you know by now, it will be a long and very busy day. I cannot guarantee that we'll have time to take a lunch break, so please bring a packed lunch with you. I'll be providing some breakfast for everyone.

2. As always, please make every effort to be as generous as possible with your feedback on other students' work. I want to hear from everyone next week! The more generous we all are, the more rewarding the day is for everyone.

3. YOU MUST ARRIVE ON TIME for our final class. We will begin at 9:00am sharp. You are hereby forewarned that any late arrivals may be dismissed immediately at my discretion!

4. I will be reviewing portfolios and notebooks the Sunday after our final class (that is, on Sunday, April 29th). All homework assignments from this semester other than the midterm and final projects should be included in your portfolio. For your convenience, here is a list of the assignments. (Please place them in order, and be aware that presentation counts. A sloppy portfolio will affect your grade!):

1. Cubist collage
2. Paper cut-out drawing
3. Monochrome pastel
4. Altered masterpiece pastel
5. Movement drawing (or flip book)
6. Informational image drawing

Final Project Guidelines and Samples

Dear class,

Below are the guidelines for your final project, which is due on Tuesday, April 24th (our last day of class), and some samples of previous students' scrolls.

As I mentioned today in class, I will be giving you each a piece of 10" x 80" sketch vellum during next week's class to use for your scroll.

Your homework for next week is to BEGIN WORKING by selecting a piece of music and doing a number of sketches in your notebook exploring various marks and possible materials.


THE MUSICAL SCROLL:

For this project you will be creating a “scroll” (or a drawing with dimensions that suggest a scroll) that is a visual interpretation of a piece of music. Beginning with a piece of music that holds some personal significance to you—and preferably one that you’ve listened to again and again so that you’re intimately familiar with its nuances—the challenge will be to translate the audible (sound) into the visual (form) without relying on representational imagery. In other words, the idea is not to illustrate the story that your song is about (if it has one) but rather to convey through the language of abstract form the music itself. Both the individual notes made by different instruments and the emotional overtones of the music will constitute your central “cast of characters” in the composing of your piece.

On the scroll format:

The scroll format is important for several reasons. First, because it is long and narrow, it requires that the viewer “read” it from one end to another as he/she would a piece of writing. This is a nice way to incorporate the element of time into a drawing (and time is the “medium” through which music moves). As the viewer scans your piece, the development of the music and its temporal changes will be evident. Second, when oriented horizontally, the elongated format strongly suggests a bar of musical notation (as in a score). By the format alone you will already be suggesting time (or temporal succession) and musicality.

The aspect ratio of the format will be 1:8. I will be providing each of you with a piece of 10” x 80” sketch vellum the week before the project deadline. If you’d like to use a paper or surface other than the one provided but with the same dimensions, you may do so.

You may choose either the horizontal or the vertical orientation for your scroll. Be sure to give this some thought, since the different orientations read very differently.

Selecting your piece of music:

Because the idea is not to rely on representational imagery to illustrate a story, it is suggested that you use a piece of music without lyrics. However, if you decide to use a song with lyrics you’ll have to make an effort to stay focused on the formal and emotional content of the music rather than on its narrative content. Some representational elements may be included in your drawing, but the emphasis should be on abstraction.

Analyzing the music:

After selecting your piece of music, the next step will be to analyze it (literally: to break it apart) by listening closely and separating its different components conceptually. Drawing/sketching is an excellent way of figuring things out conceptually.

- Instruments: First, you’ll want to figure out what kinds of instruments are being used to make the different sounds and make a series of sketches exploring different kinds of marks to convey each sound.

- Overall structure: Next, you’ll want to make a sketch or diagram that breaks the song down into its various “movements.” For example, it might start off slow and mellow, then progress into something loud and dramatic, then return to slow and mellow (three movements).

- Emotional range: Finally, you’ll want to think about what kinds of emotions your piece of music expresses and come up with a palette that accurately reflects them.

Choosing your materials:

You may use any drawing materials (including ink washes and other watery media) for this project. However, restraint is advised! More than anything else, you will want your drawing to be a coherent piece of visual art that can stand alone (i.e. without the music that inspired it).

Presentation:

In the final class of the semester we will be doing an all-day critique of your scrolls. At the beginning of each presentation you will be playing a short section of your music for the class, followed by a brief explanation of how you approached the project and the various kinds of decisions you made during the process.

Some samples of Musical Scrolls from past years (in the following order: Alan Tung, Jessie Tsai, Darragh Rosenberg, Kanae Hatanyama, Yasmin Malki, Inkyung Park, and Alexi Burns).

(Click on images to enlarge):

Materials for Tuesday's class

IMPORTANT NOTE: See post below for this week's homework!

Dear class,

Please bring with you on Tuesday a bottle of Sumi ink and at least one brush. You may also want to bring an ink pen with various tips, but this is optional.

Also, please bring a magazine or newspaper clipping of a recent event that captivated your attention. Stories without accompanying pictures are preferable.

Homework Assignment #9

EXPLORING ABSTRACTION WITH "INFORMATIONAL IMAGES":


This week’s assignment is about exploring an approach to abstraction that takes its cues from the world of information. “Informational images” are non-art images that can be anything from maps, charts, diagrams, and scientific photographs to musical scores and other forms of written notation. Your task for this week is to make an abstract drawing that is based on one (or a combination) of these images.

Source material: Using either the web or the library, begin by looking at a variety of images that fall outside the category of art and somewhere inside the category of information. Some suggestions to begin with are: astronomy photographs taken by the Hubble Space Telescope, microscope images of cells, molecules and bacteria, maps of any kind, Or the scientific photographs of the photographer Felice Frankel. Since most of these images will be visually abstract (although they certainly represent various things), what you’re looking for are intriguing shapes, lines, forms, rhythms, textures, etc. From these images, select between one and three to base your drawing on.

Your drawing: Using the source material as a point of departure, make a drawing that incorporates the forms from your image/s into a dynamic and interesting abstract composition. You may, of course, deviate substantially from your source material; feel free to select, omit, distort, alter, exaggerate, colorize, etc. At a certain point you may want to abandon the source material altogether and let what’s happening in your drawing determine your moves. Be sure to bring an image of your source material to class next week so that we can understand your process and the evolution of your drawing.

Materials: You may use any materials for this assignment, and your drawing can be in either grayscale or color.