Over the last two weeks, Drawing 1 has been working on exploring the formal properties of a famous work by a Renaissance artist. Each student brought in an image of a famous Renaissance work that was compelling to them.
The first day of class we discussed what it meant for a work of art "speak" to us or "compel" us. Many of you mentioned how narrative and character portrayal was important while others said the mystery of an image makes work more interesting to investigate, search out. We discussed how historical context can effect the relevance of an image and how work has changed since the Renaissance.
In our work we began dissecting our found images by first recognizing its scale, proportion and the position of the figures through the use of a single, contour line. Your entire drawing was completed in an hour with the use of one single line. Though a frustrating process, many of you found how difficult grappling with proportion can be. After this we discussed the basic use of visual or in this case comparative measurement. In the following drawings students used their pencils and their eye to test the scale of figures and their positions within the image.
Our second drawing was a geometric or planar study. The controls in this drawing were that it must be executed using only basic geometric shapes (circle, square, triangle and rectangle). Students were forced to simplify their image, discover its essence, if most basic formal properties. Then you were asked to use your value scale to shade the image with flat value tones. Once again this forced you to see the work in its most general terms.
The last drawing took a full week. At this point you were each in a position where you were ready to execute the drawing with exactness.
All three of these images are due today and will be critiqued in two weeks along with your next project.
Thanks.
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