After reading the assignment for this week, I thought back to what techniques my drawing teachers have stressed to my peers and I over this past years, and what still sticks with me when I am working on a drawing. When I read the assigned reading in From Ordinary to Extraordinary, I picked out a few key components that agree with what was emphasized by my instructors.
To start off with, I think that it is important to focus on an area of an object rather than taking on the entire object at once. This can be extremely disheartening and a heavy load to take on when you are trying to render an object. I remember when I was in high school and was given a still life to draw from, I thought that I needed to include the entire object, but what I learned to do was to find an area that I found most interesting and I then dedicated my attention to that. As a result, I was more satisfied with my work. I eventually learned to handle entire objects, but I think that it is also important to teach students to draw from an interesting view point, which may not consist of this entire object. This leads me to my next point. I feel that it is important to show your students the importance of what it can do for a drawing when it touches all sides of the paper, has weight, as in a foundation so objects do not appear to be floating, and when the focal point is not directly in the center of the paper.
I hope to be able to teach my students to realistically render their objects, but also teach them the beauty of expressive drawing. I feel that too often students mark themselves as unable to draw because they feel that they cannot create a perfectly realistic drawing. If they are introduced to different approaches to drawing, different techniques and what each can do for the mood of the piece, etc. then possibly more students would be willing to jump in and make art free of preconceived expectations of what their artwork "should" look like. Art is uninhibited and an outlet for self expression and thats how students should feel when they are making their own work. This being said, I do feel it is important that students learn the techniques we all have that allow us to create realistic pieces. One of the most important techniques I feel that I will teach my students is shading. This can bring a piece to life and my art instructors have shown me that that is the next step to be taken to create a realistic piece.
My favorite sketch is created by M.C. Escher. I feel that the way that he shows the different levels of sketch within one piece is a perfect example to show students when teaching them the technique of shading.
I like what you said about it is important that art be a freedom for expression but you should know the skills and techniques. I think that we are constantly learning techniques and that is the best part about art is that we are constantly developing are skills and changing.
ReplyDeleteYour post hit it right on the nose. You captured every important detail. I completely agree with everything you said. I think it is important to get students to realize their work does not have to be a masterpiece and they should enjoy it and take pride in it. Because as soon as the student feels that way their artwork will show it and it will turn out wonderful 9 times out of 10. I also think you have a lot of good ideas with still lives and shading. Very nice points, I think your students will get the best out of your drawing classes.
ReplyDeleteI think the idea of perception that you brought in is extremely important. Cropping a subject to the area you find most interesting and focusing on that is a great way to build visual skill without doing something boring. Not having to show everything, whether in subject matter or as it relates to points of view (this is one of the places where expression comes in), is unfortunately one of drawing's best kept secrets.
ReplyDelete