Wednesday, November 9, 2016

Adding watercolor pencil to your drawing....

Now that you have completed a contour drawing of the still-life it is time to add COLOR!!  When you think about color remember it might take mixing some colors to arrived at the right one.   Begin by choosing the color you see the most of and then look for any other colors that are there, a pumpkin isn't always orange-it could have some yellows, reds, browns, greens, even blues in it.  












Creating and Interesting Composition...

6th Grade Still-Life Composition



A still-life is a grouping of inanimate (not moving or living) objects, arranged as a subject or reference for a work of art. Now that you have finished your value  drawings it is time to explore color and how you can represent VALUE using color!  You will be creating a pastel drawing of "seasonal" objects.  One of our goals is to create an interesting composition by cropping.  This will create interest and emphasis on a particular area.  You can make your selection using a viewfinder and/or a camera.   Below is an example of cropping.  Decide your composition, photograph it, print it, do a thumbnail sketch, then start a very light contour drawing on a piece of pastel paper.  



















Working with Pastels

When I use pastels the most challenging thing for me is to keep it neat.  I tend to rest my hand on the paper (not a good idea) or I accidentally put something on the paper and it creates a smudge or mark.  The good thing about pastels if applied in light layers you can create depth and richness without damaging the tooth (surface texture) of the paper.  You can also deal with most "mistakes"  if you begin with planning your composition carefully by working it all out with thumbnail sketches.  There are many ways to create a pastel painting.  I will demonstrate a few in class but I would also like you to view the blog below. It shows examples and descriptions of the process the artist went through while creating her pastel painting. 
 
Here is a link to view the entire blog: 

Under drawing (blueprint)

Foundation (blocking in color)

Construction, building and layering color


Finishing Touches


Here are a couple other informative links: