I would like to extend a special thanks to all of the contributors to the first ever student-based USD Drawing Blog. I had tons of fun this semester working with a great bunch of students.
Semester/Holiday Break is upon us at USD, and posting will resume in the Spring with a new group of Drawing I students providing the photos and narration.
-John Charles Cox, USD Drawing I Instructor
Sunday, December 20, 2009
Monday the 16th and Wednesday the 18th of November 2009
Although it was a rather busy week, I for one definitely learned quite a few "tricks of the trade." I honestly never would have thought that scraping charcoal onto the paper and smearing it around with a shammy or paper cloth would be the way to start out a drawing; and to not start out after that with charcoal, but with a eraser to define hard and soft edges, your lightest lights, and light sources. Then after that, you can start to put in your darkest darks, and then your shadows, and mid tones. It's a very neat effect that you get when you're done. Overall I learned a lot from these two days.
-David Yarbrough, USD Drawing I Student
Monday, November 2, 2009
Wednesday, October 21, 2009.
Wednesday, October 21st was the midterm evaluation drawing, a scary prospect for all of us. We had about two and a half hours to draw the skeleton, utilizing all the techniques we had learned thus far. This was probably the first time in a while that most of us had spent so long on one drawing, and it was interesting to see how well we could all do if we gave ourselves enough time. I, myself, was surprised at the amount of detail I was able to depict in such a smaller scale. My first drawing (on that first day) was just the head and upper shoulders. Therefore, I had to broaden my scale of attention, but focus on more detailed specifications such as the placement of the ribs. I was impressed by our class’s growth.
Danielle Heeren, USD Drawing I Student
Monday, October 19, 2009.
Monday, October 19th we continued our study of shape. Assignment 10 was due, and a surprising few actually completed it with varying degrees of success. (generally leaning toward not) As a class we had a difficult time grasping the strict difference between organic and geometric shapes. Therefore, John Cox amended the assignment, allowing only two dimensional shapes to be used in the building of our robot.
We moved on to discuss positive and negative space in regards to shape, with positive shapes comprising the object(s) and the negative shapes the negative spaces (interspaces) with in it(them). The purpose of this is to enhance our analytical drawing skills by drawing our attention to how shapes compose not only the objects of our focus, but how the objects themselves create shapes. Our primary method of doing so in this assignment is, in two drawings, to darken the negative space/shapes around and within a spatially complex subject. The first drawing is a detailed study of the subject, and the second an essentially black and white depiction of only the positive and negative shapes of the same (we can assume) subject. The majority of the class period was spent working on this.
At this point, it is still easy for me to forget the progress I’ve made. My first drawing was cursory and superficial. John Cox encouraged me to go ahead and analyze my subject using the methods we’ve explored up until now: cross-contour, gesture, spatial measurements, etc. I scrapped that and started over. When I came to the point of darkening the negative space, I was surprised at how doing so added clarity and depth to my subject.
Danielle Heeren, USD Drawing I Student
Monday, October 12, 2009
Wednesday, Oct. 7, 2009
Today in class, we learned about organic shapes. They don’t have much use of straight or even lines; they echo the contour of nature. We were each given a different bone and instructed to draw 3-4 18x24 inch sketches of it from various angles. John then came around and talked with each of us about which sketch was our best. After selecting our best sketch of the bone, we then had to transfer it onto 3x5 ft. sheets of paper on the wall. We were to get the basic structure down on the wall by viewing out sketch, but then refer back to our bone to add in the details.
I thought this was the most fun assignment we’ve had all semester. Again, it was intimidating at first, because it seemed really difficult. I was afraid I wouldn’t be able to do it, but I’ve learned in this class that I have to be confident. Once I believe I can draw it, it’s easy. Certain assignments take me longer and sometimes I have to erase many times, but I wouldn’t be in this class if I was already good at everything. This assignment helped me learn how to loosen up with my drawing; I tend to be very controlled and often push too hard with my medium. But I had to use my whole arm/body in order to transfer my sketch onto the bigger sheet of paper. This assignment definitely took me the longest compared to all of the others, but I feel like I got more out of it because it took more interaction than just standing next to my drawing pad to complete.
-Kelsey Strong, USD Drawing I Student
Monday, Oct. 5, 2009
Today in class we learned about geometric shapes, planes, and lines. We learned how to view our subject not as one piece but instead as separate planes/shapes united together in that one piece. By seeing all the different parts of our subject we can understand and draw it more completely. To practice this, we divided into two groups and gathered around microscopes. Each of us drew the microscope from a different angle using sight measuring and semi-transparent construction. This exercise taught us about angles and how to use structural [/diagrammatic] lines.
When I heard we were going to be drawing microscopes in class that day, I was pretty intimidated. I thought I would never be able to draw such a complex object. But after learning how to break it up into separate shapes and planes, it actually wasn’t that bad. John explained that lines running parallel, and also those running in the same direction, in the object are going to have the same angle measurement. Thinking of it like that made it easier for me to understand and measure it out. I think I still struggle some with getting angles right, but this was really good practice. I really like that we get to have demonstrations of our assignments in class, because it makes it less intimidating when it comes time for me to go and do it on my own.
-Kelsey Strong, USD Drawing I Student
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