As students worked towards the culminating project for this unit, I wanted to give them a variety of ways to use ink and values besides just perspective drawing. I also wanted students to understand that all the gesture, blind contour, continuous line and cross contour drawing was designed to help them SEE more clearly what they are drawing. At this age, students really want to learn how to draw well, but I felt that they hadn't yet grasped the concept that these activities are all strategies artists use to become better at connecting their eyes, hands and brains. As a result, I had students apply the same strategies to portraits, rather than just still life drawings. Students began by drawing their own hands, a shoe of their choice and then several portrait examples. |
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Students moved from perspective and creating values using ink to different techniques for drawing more accurately and drawing from life. Students looked at examples of gesture drawing and put those examples into action. I love doing gesture drawing with students because it's always a very active class that students really engage in. I ask students to volunteer to be the gesture models and I myself model examples of what good gesture drawing looks like and what incorrect gesture drawing looks like. "No stick figures, no crime scene cut-outs or gingerbread men outlines!" I show students how to keep their lines loose and flowing while they find the correct body positions in the student model. Each pose only lasts about 45-60 seconds. Next, students look at blind contour and continuous line drawings and try to draw from the still life on their table. Once students complete the challenge of blind contour (not looking at your paper) and continuous line (drawing without picking up your pencil from the paper), students move on to contour line drawings and cross-contour drawings of the still life on their paper. The fast paced exercises and the longer contour exercises were split into separate class periods to keep students engaged and also to gain confidence the more they worked with these drawing skills.
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