Students started the semester by learning about charcoal, the oldest drawing medium in existence. They then started studying the way light strikes objects, like these basic foam shapes. Combining the knowledge of those two things, they created charcoal drawings of a still-life of objects.
Foam Shapes Drawn with Charcoal on Gray Paper
In this drawing, students had to use the gray value of the paper as the middle gray in their work, instead of using charcoal to create the value.
Colored Pencil Still-Life
After learning about the history and properties of colored pencils, as well as how to blend and layer them, they created drawings of a variety of very colorful objects.
Colored Pencil Flower
For this assignment students used the gridding technique (a centuries-old method of transferring information from a source photo onto a drawing surface) to attempt to draw flowers realistically.
Pastel Mythological Creature
As the first drawing with pastels, each student was tasked with drawing a mythological character on 18"x24" pastel paper. The goal was to experiment with the looseness of the medium and practice blending colors together.
Pastel Still-Life
To emphasize the bright, colorful nature of pastels, the students each drew a still-life made up of colorful art supplies.
Pen and Ink Animals
Pen and ink is a challenging medium as there is no way to blend or shade with it like charcoal or pastels. The challenge is to develop textures and gradations with different types of marks such as hatching, cross-hatching, and stippling.