Due/In-class Critique: Wednesday, September 22
Finish three drawings of the skull, from life:
1) a 3/4 anterior view
2) a 3/4 posterior view
3) a profile view
These drawings should be refined and finished. You want to leave evidence of your drawing process in them, but they are not merely sketches. I expect minimum three to four hours of work for each drawing (six hours in class [not counting today, Sep. 13, which is a "warm-up" day] + six hours homework). You all have been assigned building access (you can use your Stout ID to get into the building even after hours) and permission to be in Micheels Hall 287 working after hours. DO NOT take the skulls out of the room. They need to be shared by all of you.
The drawings should be completed on good quality white drawing paper, minimum 18" x 24"--feel free to draw on large paper if you'd like to. Penco has several kinds of drawing/watercolor/printmaking paper available by the sheet. I like Stonehenge, but hot-pressed watercolor paper can work well, too. I prefer smooth to rough finish, as I find the rougher finish makes it difficult to hold details.
These drawings should be executed primarily in line and exhibit:
- clear, consistent planes of skull (front, back, side, top, bottom, etc.)
- plane changes revealed through cross contour lines and plane-change lines
- understanding of anatomy of skull (face and cranium); relevant anatomical landmarks such as the different bones of the cranium, suture lines (but not in too much detail), mastoid process, parietal eminence(s), front eminence(s), wide point of skull, high point of skull, etc.
- exaggeration of forms to create 3-D believability
- pleasing use of the page (skull "feels" right on page: no strange cropping, no tiny skull in middle of page, etc. Skull should feel as if its placement on the page has been considered from the beginning of the drawing process.)
- the drawing process: we should be able to see your learning of the skull in the drawing. Leave in measurement lines, process marks, erasures, etc.
- a variety of values and characteristics of line.
- atmospheric perspective created through the value of lines on the page (lighter/less contrasted lines in background, medium in middle ground, and darkest/most contrasted lines in foreground).
- sense of fluidity and accuracy at the same time--the supreme balancing act in drawing.
