Classroom Drawing Portfolio Rubric
A, greatly exceeds expectations:
The drawing meets the assignment guidelines. The drawing displays evidence of learning the specific/required skill(s). Additional evidence shows that the student has practiced to the point of great comfort using the skill. Drawings are presented impeccably. Evidence of more than 5 hours work is visible in a single drawing assignment.
B, exceeds expectations:
The drawing meets the assignment guidelines and displays clear evidence of learning the specific/required skill(s). Drawings are presented without visible damage. Evidence of more than 4 hours work is visible in a single drawing assignment. Drawing is presented without visible damage.
C, meets expectations:
The drawing meets the assignment guidelines and displays evidence of mostly learning the required skill(s). Evidence of about 3- 4 hours work is visible in a single drawing assignment. Drawings are not damaged.
D, passing:
The drawing meets the assignment guidelines. The drawings display evidence of somewhat learning the specific/required skill in part. Evidence of about 3- 4 hours work is visible in a single drawing assignment. Drawings are slightly damaged. (small cut, wrinkle, or unintentional smudge)
CA 1/Blurred Drawing Exercise
You will hear this sentence regularly throughout the semester:
Draw what you see, not what you think you see.
The blurred drawing is your first Drawing I assignment, and it epitomizes this goal. By drawing something ambiguous, you must attempt to draw what you actually observe. There is little room to rely on a symbolic form of drawing when attempting to copy an abstract photograph.
Next week, you will draw flowers, fabrics, and other organic forms. However, try to keep the spirit of this first day in mind. You might be tempted to rely on symbols for flowers, rather than observing individual plant forms. It’s also possible that you will not truly try a new skill because you’re afraid of making a “bad” drawing. Both tendencies are counter productive and debilitating. Resist these tendencies. Draw what you actually see, not what you think you should see.
CA 2/Contour Line Drawing & Negative Space Drawing
Contour line drawing is economical. With just a few marks, you’ll be able to describe forms, texture, and even opacity, simply by varying the width of your lines.
You’ll start by making a viewfinder. This tool is used to plan compositions. Then, you’ll make a few preparatory sketches on newsprint to further plan your compositions.
Using your quality drawing paper, you’ll make one finished drawing.
This finished drawing will start as a very light pencil drawing, probably drawn with a hard pencil. Then, you will enhance and erase some lines. If you are careful about such edits, you will not need any shading to thoroughly describe your still life. After editing your pencil lines, you will enhance your lines with India ink.
After completing our contour line drawings, we will begin a negative space drawing. This form of drawing emphasizes the space surrounding the figure. Again, we will start with pencil and then switch to ink.
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CA3/Proportion and Symmetry
Perfect symmetry and proportion are not difficult to achieve. By creating an inner axis, you will be able to measure your features, and those of any symmetrical object, such as bottle, then draw that object in perfect proportion.
We will first draw wine bottles. We will then draw self-portraits.
CA4/ HAIRDO
We will draw in the digital lab using Wacom tablets. The process used in this assignment is similar to tracing a photograph using onion skin paper. Even though we will use very helpful tools, it will still be necessary to observe extremely accurately. Also, you will have to make editing decisions. I call this drawing process: “intelligent tracing”. This project is inspired by artist Matthew McConville.
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CA5/ Introduction to Perspective
In this class we will work on perspective. Do not feel frustrated if this skill takes some time to master. It’s complicated! We’ll start by sketching the hallway with intuitive perspective. Then, we will learn a few perspective rules and clean-up our intuitive lines.
We will then move on to drawing a room.
CA6/ Perspective Design
You have drawn from observation in class. You have also used perspective to design. Today, you will combine these two skills. You will draw our classroom, but also add architectural features to the room.
CA7/ 3 point perspective
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CA8/ Introduction to Value
Today you will draw candles, glass, and other reflective surfaces. To start, you will rub charcoal powder into thick paper using a soft cloth. This will give you a velvety mid-tone grey drawing surface. A toned drawing surface allows you the opportunity to draw highlights and high values with your eraser. This drawing process emphasizes shapes, rather than lines. Notice the total absence of cartoon style outlines in the example drawing. Avoid outlining objects! Instead, use shapes and value.
CA9/ Texture Close-Ups
Today you will draw textures. Start by dividing your page into at least 3 sections with low-stick tape. Choose 3 objects from the still-life cabinet. Then, draw “extreme close-ups” of your objects.
CA10/ Composition Sample
We will use the photograph you created for homework as a reference. As usual, start with larger shapes, then move on to details. Develop your entire drawing as a whole, rather than developing portions of your drawing to various levels of completion separately.
CA11/ TBA
CA12/ TBA
