Still Life Drawing (Part 1)

One of the fundamental skills of fine art is drawing.  Getting the eye and hand to work together as a team is a challenge.  Your brain will fight your hand to draw what it knows is there, while your hand struggles to draw what it THINKS is there.  This skill can be scary.  I programmed two Still Life Drawing sessions this year to begin training my young artists to force their minds and bodies to coordinate with each other.

This Still Life Drawing program is a three part session.  Two sessions of drawing, then one session in Teen Tech Friday on March 20, in which the drawings created can be digitally altered.  These programs provide young students with a view of the real art process, which prepares them for real world art experiences.

Everyone had a supply of drawing pencils of varying density.  We took each pencil and created a VALUE SCALE.  I discussed the difference of paper quality.  Copy paper is smooth and great for quick sketches, but final drawings should be on high quality paper that has a tooth.  This is the comical sketch I discovered as I oversaw the class progress.

"I am a tooth of my paper."<<some kids always kid!

With multiple objects of varying textures and purposes, I created 5 still lives.  Each student had a small still life set before them at their cluster of tables.  My main goal of the afternoon was to connect the eye and hand to work in unison.  Contour drawings and LOTS OF SKETCHES were the result of this first program.

Everyone had their own approach to the process, but they all settled into taking one object from their still lives and drawing one object at a time.  The result was fascinating!  It is always impressive when students go from chatting away to focus and quiet.  That is when the real work is created.

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                   

By the end of the first session, each student had over 10 sketches, some great enough to further embellish.  I have a different plan for the second part of this drawing class, but the first sketches are so great, they can be digitally altered in Teen Tech Friday on March 20.  

Check back soon for Still Life Drawing (Part 2).