Art Class #1 - Basics of Drawing

[Cassiepeia]

I leave for a while and someone else takes over the class. ROFL

Barrett...Yup, what Pamela just said. But I wasn't really asking for a 3D apple or orange just yet. I want you to get use to sketching the form of the object first. Of course, if you'd like to go ahead and give it a go...by all means go right ahead.

I'll post the next part of the lesson tomorrow guys!

Pamela...that dog looks fantastic. You're leaps and bounds ahead of this basics class.

Cass.

[Cassiepeia]

Since you're all so quick I thought I'd post this a little early. Also, this lesson has taken up several posts (because of the number of images involved).

4. Tone, shading/blending, perspective & body parts

This is going to be one long lesson (split into a couple of days) and although it may seem a little boring (well, maybe), stick with me…it’s worth it and I do have a point, I promise.

In this part of the lesson I’m going to show you the basics of tone and shading. PLUS..the trick to drawing some of the fiddly bits attached to your pets (no not THOSE bits…please keep it clean people! LOL ) as well as the over all body shape. AND I want to show you how to draw fur, but first I want to talk a little about perspective.

So lets begin. Sharpen those pencils please and get out a new piece of paper or a new page in your sketch book.

Perspective

What is perspective? So far I haven't found a clear cut answer to explain it so...Here it is as simple as I can make it.

Imagine you’re standing on a railway track and looking straight down the line. The tracks run off into the distance seeming to disappear at one particular point. That’s perspective. Confused? Don’t worry here are some photographs that I’ve taken that show perspective.

This first one is the best example. It’s a picture of a private wharf in my neighbourhood. You can see how the wharf runs off into the distance and the end of the wharf appears smaller than the start, even though we know they’re the same size.

Perspective is another reminder for us to draw what we see and not what we know.

Here are a few more examples…then we’ll do a quick exercise. Get your rulers ready!

Time for a practical lesson in perspective.

What I want you to do is first, draw a square (make it about 4x4inches or 10x10cm). Now draw a horizontal straight line (called the ‘horizon line’) right through the centre of it.

Now that you have a straight line…I want you to mark a dot in the center of the line. This is your vanishing point. If you imagine the train tracks again, you can imagine the tracks ‘vanishing’ at the same point in the distance. Hence the name. The vanishing point can be anywhere on the horizon line, but for our purpose the centre is where it should be.

So far you should have something that looks like this…

I apologies for the fact that mine aren’t 100% accurate, I did this on the computer and it wasn’t as easy as if I did it with a pencil, ruler and paper. LOL

Now! I want you to draw diagonal lines. Start at the vanishing point and draw them extending out through each of the corners of the square, like this…

[Cassiepeia]

Next, we’re going to draw another square, using those diagonal lines as guides, like this…

Ok…now the fun bit. LOL Ladies and Gentlemen…we have drawn a room. Well, ok, so it doesn’t look much like a room just yet. So, what we’ll do is add a window.

First we decide where we want the window and mark it with a vertical line (first image). Then we decide how wide the window will be and mark it with another vertical line (second image), like this…

Next we decide how tall the window will be, and this is where we use the vanishing point…and hopefully you’ll see why I got you to do this exercise. *crosses her fingers*



We’re going to draw two more diagonal lines to mark the height of the window. Each line must start at the vanishing point …like this.

[Cassiepeia]

See what I mean? The vanishing point determines the angle of the lines and when used in art it helps add that extra bit of realism to a picture.

We finish up the window by drawing three more vertical lines and three more diagonal lines (from the vanishing point) to create the window frame and cross section of the window…like this

Then if we erase a few lines…we can finally see our window.

The horizon line marks “eye level” in the image. The vanishing point marks the focus point. If you go back up to the photographs I posted, you’ll see the one of the woman sitting on the table looking at the man and little boy on the beach. In that particular image the vanishing point or focus point is close to the man and boy. Not dead centre. See if you can find the vanishing point in the other images.

A hint: The vanishing point is not always in the image itself…sometimes it’s just off to the side of the image (still on the horizon line). I hope that made some sense.

It is also possible to have more than one vanishing point in a drawing/painting.

There was an artist called Paolo Uccello who is famous for his use of perspective in his paintings. Here is an example of his work http://www.sfu.ca/~delany/courses/Uccello-Host.jpg
And and example from a different artist http://www.bow.k12.nh.us/bjozokos/delivery.htm

And so ends our lesson in perspective. Yes there is a lot more to learn but this is a very short class in which we must pack a lot of information. So I’m going to take for granted that you’re all as smart as I think you are and assume that if you’re interested you’ll use this as a starting point, and don’t worry if you’re confused. It took me a few weeks to figure out what on earth it was all about. Hmm…maybe I’m just slow. lmao!

Next exercise! I want you to finish the room you started drawing. Add anything you like to it. Chairs, tables, rugs etc… Add as much or as little as you like. No need to colour anything in or shade it or make it look ‘real’. I just want outlines and leave as many of the perspective lines in as you can, I’d like to see how you’ve done with it. If you have any questions feel free to ask. Don’t forget to post your finished perspective drawing.
But have fun with it and I’ll see you in a days time for the next installment of this lesson.


Cass.

[Jamila]

I need to get on it. Maybe I can draw tomorrow...ugh busy days keeping me away from the fun stuff.

Teacher Cass my assignment might be a bit late...hehe

[pameladallaire]

Thanks Cassiepeia, no one was answering Barrett so I thought I'd give her an answer. Although I can paint, I am not good at drawing and really need this class. I may not need the first lesson but I'll be with you the rest of the way. I'm supposed to be keeping a sketching diary for another lesson, so your lessons will keep me sketching! Pam

[calgal]

My hubby is asking if I've taken my shower yet, as he wants to go do some shopping and out to lunch. I'm anxious to get back in class so see ya later.

[anaconda]

Does it matter if I post the fruit, book and mug now? I didn't have time to post it yesterday.

[Cassiepeia]

Anaconda...Yup, it's fine. And wow! Your work is great! Very nicely done.

Cass.

[pameladallaire]

I made good use of my bath time tonight.

[Barrett]

WOW Pam!! That is so cool. It looks like I am sitting in your bath tub! LOL!!

I am not too sure I got mine right but here is my finished project. Feel free to critique and tell me how I can fix some things. ( Like the fact that my fireplace is bigger than my couch! ) I had to draw over a few lines because my scanner wouldn't pick them up. It didn't look so messy when I finished. It was really fun to do! I think I'll try another one now and see if I can make it better.

[Cassiepeia]

Great work Pamela & Barrett!

Barrett..I love how you decided to look down on the room. You've done a great job.

Pamela...those tiles are awesome. Very nice work!

Cass.

[Cassiepeia]

Hmmm...I see no one else has posted their homework. Big smacks guys. LOL I know perspective is boring, but it really helps to know a bit about it.

Anyhoo....next lesson...

Tone & Shading

Tone – All the shades from white to black. Tone in an image is the product of light and the angle of light. The different tones are what make the picture look real or 3D. If your image lacks depth of tone (ie: has a limited range of tone) it can look flat and lifeless.

When you want to draw an image. After you’ve got the basic shape done, you need to find the darkest and lightest tones in the image and work from there (more on that in a moment).

Example…Here is a picture I took of the Sydney Opera house at night. It’s difficult, but not impossible, to see the tones in the colour version. Squint your eyes, it helps to bring out the tones.

But when I convert it to black & white (grayscale) it’s much easier to notice. Pay particular attention to the diagonal line on the right you can see the tones fading from dark to light as they move up

And if I tweak it a little bit it’s even easier to see the different shades of grey (tones) in this image.

Now here are two more images (Yippee…one has an animal in it! LOL). First is my nephew, Ethan. You can really see the different shades of grey in this image. You can also see how the light has effected it.

Next is a lady and her cat (I can’t believe I forgot this woman’s name she was the sister of a woman I went to University with) anyhow…isn’t her cat sweet?

cont'd next post.....

[Cassiepeia]

Converting a colour image into greyscale is the best way to see tone. If you’re drawing for life…squint your eyes and do your best. With practice you’ll be just fine. Take another look around your room and see if you can see the tones in the different objects. Look for the lightest and darkest points in each item…remember the squint.