Month: September 2020

Homework 6 – Perspective Readings and Videos

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What follows is a short list of takeaways from the readings and videos on perspective:

There are many more types of perspective than originally discussed in class.

Four point perspective exists when a scene that typically would be drawn in three-point perspective has components both above and below the horizon line, requiring an extra vertical vanishing point to accurately draw.

Photo perspective accounts for warp created by camera lenses.

Perceptive perspective reduces scene distortion by using bent lines, although I’m not entirely sure of the need for this method.

Arial perspective is different than the previously mentioned forms of perspective. Rather than using geometry to imply depth, arial perspective employs color shifts. For example, as an object moves further away, its tone tends to shift towards blue, it loses contrast and resolution, and it generally seems to become hazier. Think rows of mountains receding into the distance. Air molecules distort more light from further away peaks, allowing the human eye to perceive depth.

One video mentioned that reverse perspective, in which the vanishing points come towards the viewer rather than away, is truer to how people actually see. I did not understand this point; it seems to me that traditional perspective is more inline with how I process depth. This may be interesting to explore further.

The way fine arts masters draw in perspective is inconsistent. One well-defined, consistent set of rules cannot capture the myriad ways to view perspective. Artists use many tricks, including curved vanishing lines and multiple vanishing points, even in one-point perspective. Learning to draw well in perspective is no mean feat!

Exercise 4 – Perspective Drawing

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Perspective drawing is the method by which a three dimensional scene can be rendered on a two dimensional sheet of paper. This exercise served as an introduction to perspective technique. Perspective art can be categorized by its number of vanishing points. The following three pictures are examples of that.

One Point Perspective

Two Point Perspective

Three Point Perspective

Perspective technique is not limited to straight lines. Circles viewed at an angle are rendered below to explore the technique. On the paper, they are drawn as ellipses.

The trick is to mark the diagonals of a square 2/3 of the way towards the edges, then draw the ellipse through those points.

Homework 5 – GE Research

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Charles Gaines

Charles Gaines, born in 1944, uses mathematics-based procedures to create art. For example, he used a color by number system to vividly render prismatic trees against a monochrome background. Gaines procedurally generated music for an eight-piece ensemble from major political manifestos. Gaines is a prolific photographer and conceptual artist.

Eva Hesse

William Kentridge

Raymond Pettibon

José Guadalupe Posada

Illustrator José Guadalupe Posada was born in Mexico in the middle of the 19th century. He used his skills as a cartoonist to give political and social commentary. He is best known for his drawings of skeletons, closely associated with Día de los Muertos. La Calavera Catrina, initially drawn to mock Mexican natives who imitated Europeans, has become a true icon of the festival.

Kathy Prendergast

Amy Sherald

Amy Sherald claims to be, “an American painter painting Americans.” She is entirely correct in her assertion. She photographs people off the streets to paint them in vibrant clothing against a brilliant, single-tone background. She aims to use her art to help African-Americans see themselves outside of their ever-politicized context, as just people.

Sketchbook 3

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Symmetrical Drawing:

Asymmetrical Drawing:

These drawings are of Oathbringer, the third book in the Stormlight Archives series. The books are quite long, but they’re quite good.

Sketchbook 2

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Prompt: Draw a city from above from memory.

The first location I drew was OSU’s North Campus. I lived there for two years, so my memory of it was fairly accurate.

A screen capture from Google Earth is shown above for comparison. I also drew a map of my hometown in the style of Kathy Prendergast. The area right near where I lived is almost perfect, but the accuracy declines rapidly the further away from home I drew. This exercise was very nostalgic; it brought back a lot of memories from my childhood. I drew the grassy median strip where I played baseball with a foam ball and plastic bat, the house of one of my best friends, an alleyway where I fell off my bike and gashed my knee. It’s sad to see that, despite living there for twelve years, the neighborhood is already starting to fade from my memories.

Sketchbook 1

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The first prompt I followed asked me to sketch visually appealing scenes from movies. The first movie I chose was Inception. Leonardo DiCaprio is flanked by two staircases. This shot is quite dramatic, and occurs directly before the first major special effects sequence.

The second movie that I sketched is Green Book. After the emotional climax of the movie, the two main characters find a small restaurant. One of them, a world renowned pianist, decides to give a performance. This is the first time in the movie that a warm, comfortable setting is used, to reflect the same feelings within the pianist.

Exercise 3 – Value Chart

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This exercise serves as the introduction to value. The first task was to create a value chart.

This chart has nine steps, and uses other techniques. The rest of the exercise required geometric drawings with proper shading and shadow. I found these quite difficult! I tried my best to have a smooth gradient across the sphere, but it didn’t come out as well as I would have liked. This is definitely an area where I need to practice.

Project 1 – Still Life Contour Drawing

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I chose a kitchen theme for my still life drawing. The scene includes a bread pan, wooden spoon, kitchen towel, bag of flower, win bottle, and cutting board, with tiling in the background. A picture of the setup can be seen below, along with various sketches of the scene.

 

The picture above shows preliminary sketches of the objects in various configurations. Below is a final sketch before drawing commenced.