Representational Drawing of an Odd Shaped Object.

I admit that I borrowed this idea from a class my daughter took.

The purpose is to develop observation skills.

It is a good practice to draw something that is not part of your mental inventory- you have to look at it.

We took a soda can and partially crumpled it. This reduced the cylinder shape by giving it wrinkles and folds. The crumpled can will have many angles with light reflecting that require observation.

This illustration was done in a sketchbook with an hb pencil.

Illustration of drawing by observation.

One of my many rules is to look at the thing you are drawing as much as you are looking at the drawing you are making of the thing.

Thank you for visiting my blog.  I hope this project is fun and helpful for you. 

To find more like it see the labels at the right, use the search-box above, or choose one of the favorites in the left sidebar.  I am sure you will find one you like.

Adron

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(C) Adron 11/1/14 ©

Home School Art Lesson, Drawing A Focused Highlight

Spectrum Home School Community 5/9/13

Effecting a highlighted area in a drawing.

In class pictures were distributed for the students to find inspiration off of.  These pictures were from old calenders; most were of lighthouses or structures that had a major area of white or negative space.

Using pencil the students drew the lighthouses and surrounding seascape. Since the light house is white little is needed to do except a gradual shading.

The white lighthouse is lost in the sky since most students want to leave the sky blank but by using a dirty blending stub the sky is stained so that the sky was a value darker than the lighthouse. Some have problems keeping the sky smooth and not showing the marks of the blending stub. It requires patience and several minutes of rubbing. A tissue may be used to smooth out the blending stub marks. It may need to have the charcoal or pencil rubbed on and removed a few times to get the desired effect.

Charcoal drawing of Light house with sky a value darker.

The example above is not the best I admit, but it shows the sky is a value slightly darker than the white lighthouse. The effect is to make the lighthouse brighter than the rest of the drawing. This moves the foreground  forward and gives the effect of distance.

Another example may be seen at the link below of a boy in a white shirt. The shirt looks white because the background is toned down as described above.
http://artistadron.blogspot.com/2013/05/quick-sketch-while-at-cafe.html

The link below shows another example of a creamer with a dogwood blossom. Here the dogwood blossom is bright because the table was stained to a slightly darker value as described above.
http://artistadron.blogspot.com/2013/05/charcoal-sketch-of-creamer-and-dogwood.html

(c)Adron Dozat

Homeschooling Hardest Drawing Lesson

Spectrum Home School Drawing Lesson for 3/14

Many of the younger students and even the older ones can draw a nice little picture in a few minutes. We even have an exercise called "The Quick Sketch Challenge,"where they are given an object and told to draw it in three or five minutes, it is to free up their thinking and encourage them to master the quick composition that is necessary to many larger projects. However, when the students make a habit of drawing quickly and consider the project done too early many opportunities are missed. When a student works on a drawing for an hour they discover more details, subtle shadows inside shadows, depth, and in come cases entire areas of technique such as texture and value.

 The Art 1 class today had a very hard lesson. Instead of the normal two or three projects they were instructed to only draw one picture for the entire hour. To increase motivation students were allowed to chose the project from the folder of photos and clippings. During the hour the instructor circulated and made suggestions and positive comments.

The results were stunning!

Thank you for visiting my blog.  I hope this project is fun and helpful for you. 

To find more like it see the labels int the sidebar, use the search-box above, or choose one of the favorites in the sidebar.  I am sure you will find one you like.

Adron

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Option 1 $2.00 USD Option 2 $4.00 USD Option 3 $10.00 USD

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(c) Adron

Art 1 2/21/13 Scribbling as a Technique

Scribbling as a Technique

Spectrum art 1 Lesson 2/21/13

Warm-ups
1. Circles, 2. Lighting bolts, 3. Ocean waves. 4. Repeated figure "8" patterns.

The scribbling technique is loose and free this gives the artist opportunity to discover elements to put in a picture. Like free association in writing, it is ideal to overcome "Writer's Block,"  for an artist who has a difficult time to create a design or composition.

Using the Scribbling Technique we will draw an Iris Flower in bloom.

If time allows students will practice the technique to come up with their own designs.


(c)Adron Dozat

Thank you for visiting my blog.  I hope this project is fun and helpful for you. 

To find more like it see the labels at the right, use the search-box above, or choose one of the favorites in the left sidebar.  I am sure you will find one you like.

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Art 1 How to Draw Ribbons

Spectrum Home School Community.

Drawing Lesson for 1/31/13

In class today we covered several subjects.

Warm-ups from art class

Our warm ups
     1. Practice drawing and shading squares. Students gave effort to making lines straight.
     2. Serpentine lines. Students were focusing on making the curves equal on both top and bottom.
     3. A face of an animal, real or imaginary, but using only straight lines.
     4. Flags waving in the wind. This led to a demonstration and project.

How to Draw Ribbons From Art Class.

Demonstration: How to draw ribbons and flags. Using two curved lines that parallel for an inch then cross makes a flowing ribbon. A waving flag is a pair of parallel lines that curve back and forth but always parallel. The edges of the folds are drawn last. A pendant is a pair of lines in a triangle but each twisting back and forth and matching the other as they intersect.




We practiced shadows by setting up a lamp and having the light shine on some boxes, in this case Kleenex boxes. Instructor demonstrated drawing the boxes and pointed out the different degrees of shadow, such as shadow inside shadow, shadow with reflected light, some shadows were deeper than others, etc.

Sketch of Boxes showing Shadows.

(c)Adron Dozat

How to Give Variety to Edges in Drawing

Home School Art
Drawing with Edges

In class today we will have an example of drawing using pencil to give different edges to a picture. This creates interest and variety in a drawing.

We will start with some warm up exercises.
     1. Using the cheek of the pencil, (that is holding the pencil so the side of the medium is against the paper) we will draw swayback shapes back and forth.
     2. Using the cheek of the pencil draw gray bars that are dark at one end and light at the other.
     3. Switching to the tip of the pencil drawing bubbles.
     4. Using the tip of the pencil draw cross hatching.

Exercise: We will draw some cubes and box shapes with different values of grey and a variety of edges some edges are to be sharp and some to be soft and fuzzy. Use the cheek of the pencil for the soft edge, use a blending stub or finger to rub the edge fuzzy. Use the tip of the pencil for sharp edge.

If time allows: Students are to draw a robot with different edges some soft and some sharp. The robot is to be a member of their family characterized as a robot doing a favorite activity. Give the robot metal look with shading, seams, bolts, lights, dials, antenna, one or two pieces of clothing.  Draw some part of the environment like dad robot at his desk or sister robot at computer or brother robot at soccer.

Students will draw something from their backpack or from pocket. Focus on the edges; some and sharp some soft.

Example of warm ups.

Example of  Drawing What I Had On Hand.

Thank you for visiting my blog.  I hope this project is fun and helpful for you. 

To find more like it see the labels, use the search-box above, or choose one of the favorites in the sidebar.  I am sure you will find one you like.

Adron

These are free to print but your small gift will help me keep this blog going, Choose your gift amount.

Option 1 $2.00 USD Option 2 $4.00 USD Option 3 $10.00 USD

Use the share buttons below to share this, Thank you.

(c) Adron

How To Use An Edge To Compose A Picture. Art 1 Lesson

Home School Art Lesson 

Using an Edge in a picture.

Our class started with some warm up exercises:

     * Triangles. Draw a row of triangles where each line is straight and the triangles are perfect.

     * Double Curves. This is shaped like an "S" but emphasis is to make the top and bottom matching curves.

     * Concave lines in a twisting row. Here the lines of a zig-zag are all curved.

     * Practice of drawing "Articulated" Stick figures. These stick figures have elbows knees, chest and hips. 

Warm up exercises for art 1, January 10

Most students start drawing with lines and progress to other elements. Some grow up and return to lines as masters.

Our demonstration started with a line drawing of a baseball bat, a toy chest and a toy boat. All began as line drawing. The picture was gone over again using shading technique so the lines were now edges between the light and dark areas. There are elements left of the lines, and elements of shadow and elements of negative space in the finished project. The remaining line of the crack between the top lid and base of the toy box is more interesting even meaningful when all the other lines are turned into edges of the dark and light areas.

Example of using edge instead of line.

After the demonstration the students composed their own pictures to practice the technique of using an edge instead of a line.

(c) Adron Dozat

How To Find an Idea For Drawing With Creativity

Spectrum Homeschool Community Art 1 

Drawing with Creativity

And How to Find Ideas.

Drawing with creativity is a drawing lesson that teaches how to come up with ideas through the free association method. 

Warm ups: 

Warm ups used for an art lesson. 

     1. Cursive "Cs" linked together like ocean waves. 

     2. Flame shapes. 

     3. Squares connecting to make a maze. 

     4. Using scribbling style draw an animal of their own choosing.

When an artist of any discipline have a block of creativity some will use free association methods to acquire ideas. This is done by noting down random thoughts or images, which relaxes the mind and allows the imagination to bring up ideas. The random thoughts can be noted in the margin of the sketchbook or a scrap of paper, or can be done as doodles. The random thoughts can be acquired from items in the room or items from resource materials one uses. After a few minutes, the ideas are experimented with to see if they produce a workable project.

Exercise one.
To help the young artist practice the technique a list of random words will be given, (different w). They are instructed to look at each word one by one and if a word gives an inspiration they write down the inspiration. The student repeats this process with each word until they have a concept for a project.

Step one:    Look at the word from the list.
Step two:   Get an idea from that  word.
Step three:  Record the idea, write down a word or scribble a picture.
Step four:   Explore your ideas on scratch paper.
Step five:   Combine ideas or choose one for your project.

Students are given ten random words from the sample word list below:

candle frog door love heart down cat screen angry bucket sunset ketchup shark spaceship submarine werewolf train bride pumpkin happy dirt crash money street candy window cloud blender stove chair rug book socks hat feather hand nest fish sad bucket tree friend remote river rock dock planter angel gong shoe puppy cake balloon band road trash soda store lost found up down right left clock five two twin tower Africa beach ray car skateboard river rock sing sting band-aid hero foe friend mom dad friend toothpaste egg pan evil good angel scarecrow owl lamp old young tree fire ladder flying running mouse.

These words are not the ideas but are the source of an inspiration. The young student is prone to simply take the words and illustrate them but the goal is to find a new theme or subject from the words.

Exercise two.

Similar to exercise one but without the word list. The student is asked to look around them and write down ten things they see and from those things create a project to draw.

Exercise three.

Similar to those above but without visual:
The student thinks of ten or more words and writes them down until the student gets an inspiration for a drawing.

If time allows the student is to illustrate a scene from a child's story of their choosing.

(c)Adron Dozat

How to Draw With Dramatic Shadows

How to draw with dramatic shadows 

Spectrum art lesson 12/13/12

We will practice warm ups with:
     1. Shapes like the letter "Z" using the side of the pencil.
     2. Figure 8s keeping our fingers and wrist relaxed.
     5. Shadow bars going from dark to light to dark and back to light.
     4. Bricks in a pattern.

In this lesson we set up a table lamp on a subject so it cast strong shadows for the students to sketch. The first subject was shadows falling across the table surface at an angle. The subject matter included paper tubes which have shadows inside and shadows outside, a ball that has a round graduation of shadow, and a box that has a shadow in solid, a bowl and a few other items of interest.. The students observe how the shadow is not flat meaning there are subtle shades with lights and dark areas inside the shadow.

The second subject is complex and consists of a figurine and candlestick and other irregular shapes. The lamp is situated so the light is cast on the background against a surface, such as a wall, giving the subject a reference place in space.

The third subject has a lamp will be placed directly above some objects to case shadows below. The object will be a figurine, a ball, a wooden bowl.

Warm ups for this week 

These examples were not the ones used in class but I hope it gives an idea of what we were trying to do in drawing.

Example of Shadow From Above Lighting

Note in the example of the light from above the shadow falls directly below, seen best on the bowl, the ball is a little forward of the light and the shadow is cast forward, the box is a little to the left of the light and the shadow is tilted to the side.
Note the shadow within the shadow on the ball and the bow.
Pay attention to the reflective light.

Example of Shadow From Side lighting

In the example of the shadow from the side the shadow stretches across the table top. The shadow on the bowl is inside as well as beneath. The ball is inside the shadow of the bow. The shadow of the bowl falls across the box. The shadow of the ball and bowl has a dark "foot," the area where the bowl and table touch. The shadow of the ball stretches across the table top and gets fuzzier at the furthest edge.

Example of Shadow Against The Wall

In the example of the shadow against the wall we see many shadows. There is allot of reflected light bouncing back and forth giving shadows inside shadows. In our example the shadow against the wall is darker than the shadow on the table except for the edge where the bow sits on the table. Note the reflective shadow between the box and the bowl.

How To Add Texture In Drawing, 11/29/12

DRAWING LESSON WITH TEXTURE

SPECTRUM ART 1, 11/29/12

How to add texture in drawing is an art lesson for young artist in our home school class, it is hoped that others may benefit from this also.

Texture may be thought of as a pattern that gives the effect of smooth. or rough, or something in between. This may be a repeated pattern but not always.

Adding texture gives realism and effect to a picture. It is the committed artist who masters texture because it requires observation, some (not much) skill, and patience. The secret of drawing texture is simple, observe the pattern and diligently recreate the pattern over and over. 

Before we begin take a moment and look at the area around you and see textures.

Our warm up is to draw a series of circles, in each circle draw a different texture, rough like wood, bubbles like soapy water, rough like sandpaper, leaves, diamonds, fur, puckered like an orange peel, etc.

For fun we will turn those circles to the fantasy armor of ancient warriors so each look like a shield; maybe the shield of a dwarf, fairy, elf, mermaid, wizard, etc. Some girls students designed princess clothing instead, they used three different textures in each design.

Below is an example from class.

Lesson on Texture.

Our second project was a choice of the students. They could choose from subjects:

     1. A stack of books, (focus on the texture of the pages edges).
     2. Tools including a hammer, (focus on the wood grain handle and rough puckered head).
     3. Oranges, (focusing on the rough puckered skin).
     4. A can of house-painter's brushes, (focus on the hard smooth texture).
     5. A slice of bread, (focus on the bubble texture).
     6. And students own clothing, (focus on the weave). 

(c)Adron Dozat

How to Draw Cone Flowers Art Lesson For Young Artist

This printable How to Draw Coneflowers worksheet will work for any of the daisy types of flower

Everybody loves the deep red and oranges of coneflowers.  They are easy to draw, and you can make some very real-looking drawings with a little practice.

My printable worksheets are free, and you may print as many as you like. I only ask that you consider making a small contribution to support my art if you can. 

Free How To Draw Cone Flowers Worksheet 

I  hope you are able to use my how-to-draw worksheet. You are welcome to print as many of my how-to-draw worksheets as you like. I only ask that you consider making a small donation to support my art. Thank you.

Start by lightly drawing an umbrella shape and putting a triangle on the top of that, don't forget the stem- they are thick.

 Coneflowers have about 12 petals, so on one side, you only see about 7 or 8. Start drawing the petals that are in the middle. These are the ones closest to the viewer. Add petals on each side until you fill them in. You should have about 8 evenly spaced petals. The petals furthest around toward the back are only partly drawn because they are half-hidden by the ones in front.

Shade the seed cone in a crosshatch pattern to get the texture of the seeds.

Double shade the base and the shadow side of the cone. Shade the petals. Some will have shading at the tips and some along the edge; keep the light source in mind, so the shadows are consistent. The leaves are like wide blades of grass. Draw them on alternating sides of the stem; draw a few in front of the stem for interest.

Draw a few flowers like in a garden; they grow in clumps. Make the flowers in the foreground brighter and more detailed and the ones in the background duller and less detailed. You can try drawing a fence behind or a wall or barn or mountain in the background.

If you are using colors, take your time and find the orange/red of the petals. You may need to color the petals in layers with a layer of yellow underneath the red to get the salmon-red color right. Try using lavender for the warm shadows and cerulean blue for the cooler shadows. The stems are brown. You might add a dark blue for the shadow on the stems. The leaves are green but try adding yellow for the highlights and blue for the shadows. Add a  lot of green in the picture, especially in the background, and the coneflowers will look more brilliant.

(c)Adron Dozat