Weeks 7-10: Form, Contours, Positive/Negative Space, Perspective

Lots of excellent drawing going on at the Ranch during the past several weeks! We worked on study sketches showing the roundness and contours of veggies and various objects, while aiming for accurate proportions. Students got into using large format paper and charcoal while studying texture, light, and shadows.

Shown above are pumpkins by Kevin. Left is his smaller study sketch and to the right is his large charcoal drawing.  

Upper left are study sketches by Francisco; upper right is his large charcoal drawing. Lower left is Juan's study of a lantern; and to the right is his large format charcoal drawing.





Above left is Enrique's contour sketch of a pumpkin. Above right is Victor's large format charcoal drawing of a dolphin vertebra.

Students learned to look for the negative space around the egret to form the contour edges of its body. Upper right is Francisco's study of positive/negative space. Upper right shows his finished egret. Lower left is Cristian's egret; and lower right is Jazmin's final sketch.

Above is Juan's carefully rendered impression of squash and a pumpkin. And to the left is his portrait of the Joker.

Everyone also spent time learning about 1 and 2-point perspective. Above is Jazmin's (left) and Erika's (right) study of 2-point perspective.

Click 'Read more' below to view everyone's drawings and Rob's comments...

Weeks 5 & 6: Form, Contours, and Getting Abstract

We used lines, shapes and patterns to get into abstract drawing. Students also ventured into drawing realistic form and contour lines.  Welcome back to returning sketchers from last year: Kevin, Enrique, Juan, and Aris. Scroll down to view everyone's drawings.

Referring to artwork by artists such as Kandinsky and Mondrian for ideas, students came up with their own amazing abstract compositions. Shown clockwise, starting upper left, are drawings by Arturo, Victor, Erika, and Cristian
 

Students also began drawing realistic form and contour edges. Victor's wolf (upper left) shows how he began with basic shapes of the wolf's body. Enrique's sketch shows natural looking contour edges of the wolf.

Francisco used ink for his contour drawing of the flowers. And Aris put together accurate proportions and realistic contour lines of the dragonfly.

Click 'Read more' below to view everyone's drawings...

Weeks, 2, 3, & 4: Form, Contours, Positive/Negative Space

 Awesome progress, everyone! We continued with measuring accurate proportions and stepped into drawing realistically. We got into using positive and negative space to find contour edges of form as shown in Freddy's egret (upper left). Erika's dragon fly (upper right) is a great example of measuring proportions and drawing realistic contour edges.



Shown above are excellent examples of measuring proportions while looking at reference pictures. Francisco's jaguar drawing (upper left) shows the 3D form of its body and patterns for the fur and tail. Jazmin's lizard sketch uses patterns to show skin texture and wood.

Juan dropped in for a sketch session. His portrait of an Iroquois (upper left) displays his stellar skills. Highlight: Arturo broke through to a new level with very accurate proportions of the tiger (upper right) during our sketch session.

Click 'Read more' below to view everyone's drawings...

Week 1: Lines, Shapes, Patterns, Overlapping

Great to be drawing at the Ranch again! A whole new crew of sketchers got started with learning about measuring accurate proportions. We focused on holding the pencil on its side and using the whole arm while drawing. Here are pencil warm-ups by Freddy and Cristian:

 

After pencil warm-ups, everyone got into drawing guidelines for basic shapes... 

Working from reference lesson pictures, students learned to correct sizes of proportions (the sizes of shapes compared to other shapes) by sketching on top of mistakes. Francisco's drawing of the crab (above, left) shows changes in the position and size of the crab's claws.  Jared's toucan sketch shows excellent use of light guidelines for accurate proportions of the body compared to the head.

Arturo's toucan study sketches (above) show his use of guidelines as he searched for accurate proportions, compared to the reference picture. Overall, he improved the proportions of the head and body. Great job of adding light and dark tones.

As we made our way through the lessons, everyone started gaining control of their line work. Erika's toucan (above, left) shows lighter guidelines before final outlines. Cristian's toucan (above, right) shows a keen eye for accurate proportions.

The overall shape of the puffer fish can be tricky to capture. Francisco's guidelines nail down accurate shapes. We also got into overlapping shapes to show depth of space, as in the frog drawn by Francisco. 

To view everyone's sketches and reference pictures...

Online Student Show, 2010

What a Year! The Online Student Show features student drawings from six different schools in Santa Cruz and Monterey counties. The theme of the show is Drawing from Observation and Imagination. All students have drawings posted!

To see your drawings and other students: Click here

Week 9: Roundness, Proportions, Contours, Study Sketches, "Getting Squashed"

We launched into drawing from real life as we dipped into the 'crate of realism' and grabbed a bunch of squash to sketch. Some REALLY fine study sketches emerged out of the session as a number of you began to show your true artistic styles!



For the last couple of weeks we'll continue exploring realism as well as drawing from the imagination.

See you all Tuesday! --Rob

Kevin O.

With these study sketches you've made a tremendous step in drawing from real life!!! As you focused on the roundness of the form of the squash you sketched accurate proportions and natural-looking contour edges. Very cool how you started with light guidelines; then drew on top of your mistakes until finding the form with darker contour lines. Excellent contour sketch of the shell! Keep practicing study sketches as you begin to develop your artistic style. Consider getting a sketchbook and sketching things from life. Nice work, Kevin.

Cassandra

Great to see you loosen up with your line work and get sketchy!! Superb effort in sketching the round contours of the squash. Really like how you drew the flatness at the top where the stem attaches--very natural looking! Nice job of adding lines and tones for the texture. And WAY cool to see you cut loose and throw some very expressive lines around on the study of the pineapple! A bolder drawing style is beginning to emerge in your work, Cassandra. I hope you continue to explore drawing from real life, perhaps in a sketchbook. :-)