Project 4

Still Life

Drawing Mechanics

• Standing• Arms outstretched• Remain in same position from object you are

drawing• Easel/sitting easel• Ability to step back and look

Drawing Mechanics

• Grip the cradle of the barrel of the writing tool upward between the thumb and the index finger:

Drawing Mechanics

• The barrel of the pencil passes through the palm of the hand with only the tip of the pencil making surface contact

Drawing Mechanics• The tips of the fingers remain in contact with the drawing

surface. • This grip provides greater control over the pressure of the tip

against the drawing surface• Drawback: Causes smudges in marks that have already been

put on the surface

Charcoal

• As charcoal is moved across the drawing surface, facets, edges, and points are constantly being formed and re-formed on the tip creating sharp edges, points, flat edges, etc. With practice you will learn to take advantage of these changes in the charcoal by rolling or tilting your charcoal as you create lines.

Sketchbook Activity

• Experiment with bold and heavy marks• Experiment with thin, light, and delicate marks• Explore the variations in between these two

extremes• Try straight lines, sweeping curves, large

circles, and small squiggles. Constantly vary the pressure and rotate the tip of the charcoal

• Sensitivity to line is the single most important element in drawing

Intuitive Gesture• Rational thinking is characterized by

preconceived ideas and is an essential and valuable component of our ability to make sense of countless aspects of our lives. It is this rational thinking that can sometimes hinder our abilities to draw from observation because it distorts our visual perceptions based on preconceived, generalized mental constructs for specific concrete sensory data. When you rationalize your perceptions, what you think becomes more important than what you see

Conceptual drawing

• A logical construction that uses clear stylized symbols to represent our most basic understanding of a coffee cub. It contains general ideas that relate to most coffee mugs, but it makes no attempt to tell us how our personal coffee mug appears on the table in the morning

Perceptual Drawing

• Reflects a substantial cognitive shift and a different way of knowing about the mug that is differed from conceptual drawing. Generalized ideas have been replaced by specific perceptions and observations that reveal individualized characteristics of a particular coffee mug and its relation in space to an observer

Hybrid Drawing

• An attempt at perceptual drawing that fails to break free of its conceptual baggage and is less effective.

• Lacks consistency

Intuitive Gesture

• Intuition: 1) The act or faculty of knowing or sensing without the use of rational process; immediate cognition; a perceptive insight. 2) A sense of something not evident or deducible; an impression

Intuitive Gesture• Intuitive gesture: a quick, all-encompassing

simultaneous overview of the wholeness of forms and their relationship in space.

• It is energetic, flexible, nonlinear, nonspecific, intuitive, and constantly open to adjustment.

• Focuses on the sources of sensation such as material things or changes in light intensity

• Does not approach visual information sequentially, systematically, or through a symbolic representation but instead jumps nonlogically around the visual field as it attempts to capture the “big picture” without getting bogged down with the shape details of individual elements

Intuitive Gesture

• At its beginning is about size and placement of the shapes occupied by things (positive shapes) and about the size and placement of spaces not occupied by things (negative shapes). It is not about the things themselves!

Intuitive Gesture

• This is a fluid process and should be viewed not as right or wrong but as progressive stages of perceptual sensitivity.

• Must be flexible, spontaneous, and continuously open to reevaluation, adjustment, and refinement.

Intuitive Gesture

• An intuitive gesture is not a drawing of objects. It is a progressive search for information about the placement, size, and relative proportion of “where things are” and “where things aren’t.”

• Specific edges, shapes, or detailed information of any sort during the first two to three minutes is usually an indication that you have fallen back into rational thinking

Intuitive Gesture

• Very light touch (faintest of marks in the beginning stages)

• “Phantom” movement: moving around the drawing surface without touching the paper. This allows you to seriously consider placement information before making any marks at all.

• Drawing tool should fly rapidly over the surface, jumping from one area to another every two or three seconds

Intuitive Gesture

• Remains sketchy and incomplete for a substantial length of time

• The longer you can delay clearly defining shapes and details, the greater the likelihood that your drawing will correspond accurately to your perceptions

• DON’T THINK. DRAW!

Intuitive Gesture

Sketchbook Activity

• Mimic the steps and progress of intuitive gesture demonstrating at least 10 stages in your sketchbook, each on a separate page

• Ex: On the first page of your sketch, begin with the preliminary defining lines. On the next page do this again, but this time begin to add a little bit more. Repeat this process until you have created a highly perceptual drawing