Still Life Drawing- A+

In order to draw a still life drawing, you must first place the objects in either one of these placements: Triangle, where the objects are placed to form a triangle, Cropping, where the objects are not entirely in the frame like this drawing, Framing, where there is one key objects and the rest surround that object (the edges of the paper can be part of the frame) and Rule of Thirds, where you draw 2 horizontal and vertical lines and make the objects' center match up with the lines.

I chose to use cropping (although it may also look like a triangle) because I wanted to draw using a compositional device that I've never used before. And since this was my first time drawing a still life, I wanted to focus on the shadows and making sure that the placement of the objects in real life and on the paper is as accurate as possible, and I felt that cropping will help my focus be geared into the details more than just trying to make the drawing look good overall.

For the steps in drawing a still life, we first need to frame our white paper (create a boarder) and use charcoal to grey out the inside of the frame. this creates the consistent background to work with that we can later on erase or add on to create depth. Then we render the outline of the object, taking the apple as an example, I would approximate the size and draw several light circles to get the overall shape. Then going over the light circles to create a more accurate shape of the object and darkening the outlines. After the outline is done, the next step is to get the overall contour of the object, making sure to colour in the shape of the object. So if I'm trying to contour the apple, I wouldn't just colour in straight lines, but curved lines. To create depth to the drawing, we will use our charcoal and white pastel to darken and highlight where the light hits the object. Usually, for every darkened area, there is a highlight right next to the area. Once that is done, colour in the shadows using charcoal to darken the shadows and making sure that the shadow right underneath the object is the darkest and lightening up as the shadow extends.

Despite this being my first time drawing a still life, I think I did a really good job capturing the details in the objects and successfully make them look realistic. I worked hard in making sure the contours are drawn in relation to the actual curves of the objects. I am most proud of my glasses, since that was the object with the most intricate shape and the shadows are not the typical shadows I thought I would see. I think the hardest part for me was the contouring because that was going to be the base of all the contrast I was going to work on and the relationship between each object (in line, a little behind, parallel) was difficult for me.

Artwork: The student used three complex objects with a strong placement that follows two compositional devices, a full range of tonal values, and shading along the contour.

Blog Post: All areas are complete with a detailed explanation

Still Life Drawing- A

  The steps to drawing still life are as follows:

1) Set a tonal ground by going over your paper with charcoal and blending it.

2) Render your objects by loosely drawing the basic shape with a dull pencil.

3) Contour the specific shape of your object by scanning the outline and drawing what you see (Tip: always be looking at your object when contouring).

4) When deciding where to shade, find the lightest and darkest value first, then add all the middle values.

5) If shading an object with a specific curvature, shade in the direction of the curves to add realism.

In class we learned about the various computational devises to use to make your drawing more interesting, such as the two triangular positions, cropping and framing.

I used framing for my still life, because I like it when the objects are close together. Also, it adds a 3D affect to my pear because it is over lapping the roller thing.

Before we rendered our objects, we covered the entire page with a light coat of charcoal to set a tonal ground. After rendering my objects, realized I put a little too much pressure on my initial background toning, so I had to erase a little bit around my objects to have a clear contrast between the background and the actual objects.

As for the shading, I found it most difficult to shade to pear because it was hard to see some of the light reflections on such a dull object. The object I'm most proud of is the roller thing because the pure black values add a lot to the drawing. The bit of advice that helped me the most was: "when you're having trouble with shading, start with the lightest and darkest areas, and go on from there". 

Artwork: The student used three complex objects and followed each of the four steps of completing the drawing with a good deal of success. Two things separating this drawing from a A+ is the transition from the object and background in light values (the objects at the top of the drawing looks to be 'glowing'), and the foreshortening of the shell and the brayer were not fully realized. Further erasing of the background just beyond the objects to reflect the light values more evenly would reduce the look of 'glowing' objects. The shell and brayer portions closer to the bottom of the drawing would need to be drawn larger to project the illusion of a depth of field within the drawing.

Blog post: All parts of the descriptions and explanations are provided, although 'computational devises' should be 'compositional devices' and the rule-of-thirds was not included in the description. 

  

Still Life Drawing - B+

During the 'Still Life Drawing' phase of our learning in Art Foundations, we went through multiple variations of drawing still life objects. In the end of our unit, we completed drawing three still life objects and my end product can be seen above.

The first step of the process leading to this product was picking three objects. After picking my three objects, I positioned them around the table until I had a clear line of sight of what I wanted to draw. I decided to use the cropping and line of thirds methods in order to create my piece in order to make my subjects more prominent and stand out. The cropping method is where you position your object so that it is cut out from the picture, giving the artwork a form of perspective. The line of thirds method is where you have a three by three square grid and  you align your objects/subjects along the lie and points created by this grid. This method is great at giving your subject the most prominent look. After positioning, I set the tonal ground of the drawing by  shading the paper with vine charcoal. I then rendered my objects, creating the general shapes and form of my subjects. After that I contoured my object, I did this using a pencil (2B and HB) and vine charcoal and outlined the shapes of my subjects and their shadows. My light and dark values were then added, placed accordingly to what I saw in the objects. For this value placing process, I used my pencil, vine charcoal, blending stick and white chalk to add areas of pure black, pure white or in between. You can see in my drawing how I placed pure white values for the reflections in the light bulb and how I used pure black values for the lid of my water bottle. Finally, I finished off my piece with surface contour shading in order to blend values and make outlines more visible.

All in all, I am proud of my final work and experiencing the journey of making it. There were challenges and successes that I encountered along this journey. One of these challenges was drawing my banana and having it look 3D. One of my successes was placing correct white values along the rim of my water bottle in order to make it 'pop' and look realistic. Placing values is my weakness but I feel that this product proved how much I improved on doing that. I enjoyed creating this artwork and proud of what I have accomplished.

Artwork: The student had chosen more complex objects to draw and experimented with two different compositional devices (rule-of-thirds and cropping) with some success. The banana and water bottle were following the rule-of-thirds and the water bottle follows the cropping compositional device. The student also experimented with foreshortening with the banana with some amount of success. The front of the banana should be larger in size as it is closer to the viewer and some further refinement in following the contour shading with the water bottle and banana would move this drawing into exceeding expectations.

Blog post: All steps to creating the drawing is included with the successes and challenges to the project. The student misuses the term 'rule-of-thirds' as 'line of thirds' and would need to revise this.   

Still Life Drawing- B

In this drawing I used several new techniques, for example I used the rule of thirds to position my items. To add value to my drawing I used many different types of pencils, such as, 2 H, 4 B, and 5B, I also used charcoal to create an absolute black and I used a white chalk to add more of a contrast between the lights and darks. One of the challenges I faced while creating this piece was ignoring my instinct to look down at my paper and draw what I thought the object should look like rather than just looking at the object the whole time I'm drawing.

Artwork: The drawing is meeting the expectations in following the four steps in rendering, follow the contour, light/dark placement, surface contour shading. The light/dark placement and shadow placement can be further refined to move towards exceeding expectations.

Blog post: Explanation to the steps in creating the still life drawing is partially complete and can be more descriptive. A description of rendering, follow the contour, and surface contour shading as terms and techniques used in the process should be included. In addition, an explanation to the rule-of-thirds as a compositional device can be included.