Composition, Pattern, Design and Using Viewfinders – A&S 095, Oct 15
Yesterday afternoon and early evening students in “Drawing as a Way of Knowing” listened to Marjorie Scarff from the Writing Center. Marjorie talked about the value of peer tutoring in the center, and students will bring their papers there soon for additional feedback. After Marjoie left everyone handed in the third draft of their paper, as well as exemplars of their portfolio and journal entries. I’m grading these this afternoon and on into the weekend.
We then spent time studying composition, pattern and design. In the beginning of class we looked at a variety of images (paintings, drawings, cartoons, advertisements, etc. and analyzed each for compositional elements which made them work (or not). After this we had a short quiz where students looked at various images (paintings, drawings and value studies) to determine compositional elements that made them work well). Using basic principles of composition, each student then made a series of small studies of various subjects using a viewfinder to place them on the page in different arrangements. After some consultation and discussion they chose the “best ” one to scale up to a more complete and finished drawing. A variety of mediums were used (graphite, ink, and charcoal) and many interesting pieces were developed.
Next week the author of our text (“Keys to Drawing”) will be visiting to conduct a class and do a demonstration portrait. He will also be teaching from his new book “Drawing and the Imagination”. In preparation for this, students will bring a drawing emulating the subject/composition of one artist, but using the style of a different artist. As an example, one might attempt to draw a Cezanne piece in the style of Picasso (or the reverse). We’ll be doing a number of exercises with Bert on artistic styles as well as on the topic of his latest book “Drawing and the Imagination”. 
