Homework Due March 1

Examples:

Don't Drown Your [Paper]

Horn Island

The following is a video by Memphis filmmaker Willie Bearden entitled "Horn Island Voices". It focusses on an annual expedition taken by Memphis College of Art students, faculty, and alumni to Horn Island, a small barrier island just of the gulf coast of Mississippi. Willie put it together in celebration of the expedition's 25th anniversary in 2009. Some of my good friends, Bob Riseling, Don Dumont, Lisa Tribo, and I (with considerably shorter--and not yet tamed--hair) are featured in the video being interviewed by Willie. Those of you who've had me in class before may have already seen this. However, with upcoming meetings that will discuss the expedition in the near future, I thought I'd begin the recruiting. I'm also working on a video of my own that I'll post here soon that is a bit more of a practical introduction to what the Horn Island expedition is. If this sounds like something you'd like to do, then I'd suggest you attend those meetings and get information.

THE FIRST INFORMATION-GATHERING MEETING IS FRIDAY, FEB. 24 AT 3:50PM IN MYERS.

"Horn Island Voices," and all footage therein, is the property of Willie Bearden.

Building Value With The Side Of The Conte: Georges Seurat

Just A Crazy Post Just Because

Just for the hell of it, here are two videos that have nothing to do with this class, but are just for pure fun:

1st up, a video by a guy who calls himself "Linkara". Linkara does internet reviews of really bad comic books. This is a video of his I particularly enjoy:



2nd, we have a video by "The Nostalgia Critic". The nostalgia critic complains about bad movies from his childhood and teenage years mostly. This is his review of "Free Willy":

Studio Visit: Kehinde Wiley

Black And White Conte On Toned (Grey) Paper

Homework Due February 22

Portrait from Life

Working from a live sitter, draw a portrait employing the same techniques used in class.

Pay attention to planes.

Give yourself a strong, directional light source

Materials:

* Black Conte, hard eraser, good-quality white paper (22"x30")

Zak Smith Studio Visit

The Artists We Looked At In The "Unity" Discussion

Richard Diebenkorn

Richard Hamilton

Fernando Bryce

Piet Mondrian

In-Class Example Of Value Drawing With Black Conte

So...We Had ANOTHER Snow Day!

Hello everyone,

Another snow day. This is starting to get silly. Well, here's what I want you to do (both classes): Don't worry about the homework that would have been assigned on Thursday. Most of you seemed to be getting the technique well enough on Tuesday that I imagine many of you could do the homework just fine. Still, I don't want to throw things off. Therefore, don't worry about doing the homework, and just bring your in-class work with you to class next Tuesday. I'll give you an updated schedule that will compensate for this snow day.

See you Tuesday,

Jason

Building Value Structure Quickly From Light To Dark

Here we have a great video about building value structure QUICKLY in your drawing. Granted, this guy is using a pencil (which he is holding the wrong way in my opinion), but what he talks about here applies very directly to what we're doing in class with conte instead of graphite.

William Anastasi: Drawing Blind

If the video is not working, try this LINK instead.

The Adventures Of Prince Achmed

The Adventures Of Prince Achmed is a French film from 1926, and the earliest surviving feature-length animated film (there were two other Argentine animated features produced before this one, but they have been lost). It was made by photographing figures made from cut black paper. It is a beautiful piece and is all the more impressive given just how early in the history of film that it was made. It is a silent film, with only text and a musical score to accent the visuals, so if you don't have much of an attention span, you may find yourself unable to watch the entire film, but give it a looksee all the same. It is absolutely gorgeous, and certainly apropos to what we are doing in class.

The Adventures of Prince Achmed
- Watch more Videos at Vodpod.

Embedding A Youtube Video And Creating Links On Your Blog

Click HERE for instructions on how to embed a Youtube video on your blog. Click HERE for instructions on how to create a link in your post. Follow these directions in order to complete your blog assignment for this week:

BLOG: Search the Internet for animations and/or videos that employ dynamic positive/negative space relationships and high-contrast value. Find at least 3 examples and post these media to you blog or create links to them in your post. Give a brief analysis of why you believe each is a good example.

Homework Due February 8

Outside Assignment:
o Interior of a Room
o Use same technique as in class
o Look for a strong composition
o Pay attention to light source
o Line only
o Materials
• Vine charcoal, black, white, and sienna conte, chamois, hard eraser, good-quality white paper (22”x30”)

Get Ready To Cringe: Ida Applebroog

Photos Released To Protect Threatened "Uncontacted" Tribes In Brazil

So, this has nothing to do with drawing, but I read this article about indigenous peoples of Brazil threatened by deforestation and just thought I'd share.

Some Of The Greatest Use Of Value: Film Noir

In the late 1940s and early 1950s, there was a movement in movies that was termed "Film Noir". Essentially, these were films were made in Hollywood, but outside the Hollywood studio system. They were heavily influenced by the German filmmakers who had fled World War II Europe, and focussed on the darker side of human behavior (crime, dirty-dealing, psychological motivations, insanity, etc.). Since they dealt with such shocking (for the time) material, they often didn't get full Hollywood funding. Operating on shoestring budgets meant that often times these films were shot with a limited number of lights and cameras. So, images often had extremely directional lighting and an entire scene would often take place within one shot. As a result, the filmmakers were forced to look for the most interesting angle from which to shoot and found extremely creative ways of lighting their subjects, resulting in some of the most beautiful back and white images on film. Check out some of the film-still examples below and see what you can glean from both their use of dynamic contrast and the sense of compositional organization.

Two Artists Working With Charcoal Erasure To Consider

Sidney Goodman

Ginette Callaway

Erasure From Charcoal Ground w/Sienna Conte

Below are the two examples that we looked at in class of erasure from a charcoal ground with the addition of sienna conte. Here you can take a closer look at them:

You can also click HERE for a gallery of charcoal & conte drawings done by past students of a friend of mine. Her students are working in a different method that you--in most cases they are using an additive rather than subtractive method--but you can still see how the addition of sienna into an otherwise cool-tone picture creates emphasis, and--in the cases where the student used too much sienna conte--how it can become overpowering and deaden the effect.