Composition Study An effective project for beginning drawing and design students is a basic lesson in composition. I begin the lesson with a discussion on composing a picture, introducing concepts of symmetry / asymmetry and  major and minor themes. Next, I have students make a viewfinder out of an index card. For paper that is 18"x 24", the proportional opening in the viewfinder should be 2.25" x 3" . Once students have marked their index cards, they then cut out the opening. The resource for the compositions is supplied by the instructor. In the examples shown above, I xeroxed copies of the civil war era portrait of Robert E. Lee. I copy the photo in different sizes, to insure that students do not end up with the same compositions. Based on the concepts of composition outlined earlier, I asked students to place their viewfinder on the copied photo and move it around until they find the most interesting composition. Students tape the viewfinder in place and begin to draw in pencil exactly what they see in the viewfinder opening.  For students new to drawing, I have them turn the photo image upside down to copy. This encourages them to draw what they see, as opposed to drawing what they "think" they see. I have found that this project is informative on many levels. I also have seen this project build "drawing self esteem" in new student artists.    Ruth Santee, University of California; Davis

ceramics    comics    digital media    drawing film making     new genre       painting      video performance      print making         sculpture

Planar Study One challenging project for beginning drawing, figurative / portrait and 3-D studio courses is a planar study of the human face. The variations of this project are endless. I begin by asking students to draw their self portrait by breaking down the surfaces on their face into planes rather than curved lines. These self portraits should be drawn   larger than life and done on bristol board or card stock. I like to use manila folders. After the students have completed their drawings, they cut them out. Using additional paper and masking tape, I have the students bend, fold and cut their drawings until they have recreated their likeness in 3-D. The finished project will look like a mask. The learning outcome of this project is that once students have reconstructed the human face, they are more likely to accurately draw it.   Ruth Santee, University of California: Davis