Category: Old Masters

Art 3 Projects

CLASS projects will cover a variety of media skills and content and are designed to challenge your current skills and knowledge, preparing you for independent study next year and beyond. HOME projects will complement the work done in class while helping to develop your artistic vision/voice. It is your responsibility to create sketchbook PLANNING pages for each project presented below. This practice will allow you the time and space to learn, explore, prepare, be curious, and to generate ideas.

Art 3 Gallery

HOME: Self-Portrait/Old Master's Marks

11/5/2018

What did you learn from copying the work of your Old Master?

Among other things, you should now have a better understanding and appreciation of the properties of drawing (right).

The next step is to create a self-portrait using these properties of drawing, along with the deliberate mimicry of your old master's mark.

Think about: SUBJECT - COMPOSITION - CONTENT:

The SUBJECT in this case will be YOU - you need to take a photograph that is illustrative of your personality.
Your photograph should have a STRONG COMPOSITION because:
1. Composition can make or break a work of art.
2. Composition can communicate content. For example, are YOU static or dynamic? Your composition should follow suit.
The CONTENT of your work is your personality and what you are trying to communicate about yourself through both the composition and choice of pose, props, lighting, etc. You are still mimicking the old master's mark but everything else should be YOURS.

When taking/editing your photographs, consider the importance of lighting... LOOK FOR THE VALUES THAT YOU WILL BE DRAWING - THINK ABOUT HOW THE VALUES WILL BE TRANSLATED THROUGH MARK-MAKING.....Take many photographs so you can choose the best one; include your favorite options on your PLANNING page.

To help illustrate what was explained above, study previous examples of student work. Critique their use of the three properties of art PLUS their ability to mimic their Old Master's mark. Some examples are below and you are encouraged to explore more by looking at the Art 3 Gallery and searching through student website galleries HERE.

Rhiannon Doane, 2016

Hana Kruse, 2016

Izumi Miyazaki, 2015

Megan Lee, 2015

AFTER consideration of the above information, and with help from teacher/classmates:

Choose the self-portrait photograph that you will use. Print it out.
Select your paper (same as before). Size it to match the proportion of your photograph, deckle the edges as needed.
Grid/sketch or use a "cartoon" process for transferring your image. Remember to go easy with the eraser to avoid damaging the paper.
Tone paper (optional/as needed) - if you used a cartoon, you can tone first.
Start drawing with the selected medium and with the Old Master's mark!

KEEP your photograph and your Old Master's image side by side for the duration of this project. IT IS CRITICAL THAT THE SAME MARK IS EMULATED IN YOUR SELF-PORTRAIT. Don't lose sight of that goal. Don't worry, you WILL be developing your own mark eventually! This continued study of your Old Master's mark is a way to further refine your skills through deliberate observation and practice.

DON'T FORGET!!! Take pictures of your daily progress & publish weekly PROCESS posts on your blog!!!

CLASS: Learning from the Old Masters

9/4/2018

Leonardo da Vinci said: “To draw is to learn to see”. How can the act of copying an Old Master's drawing help you "learn to see"? How can this improved ability to "see" help you improve your drawing ability?

Objectives:

Learn about the artists we call the “Old Masters,” including the time period of the Italian Renaissance
Study the drawing techniques of the Old Masters by faithfully reproducing a work of art (free-hand or grid, value through mark-making, line quality, modeling of form, accurate proportion and perspective)
Practice mark-making skills using charcoal, conté crayon, pen and ink or silverpoint

Procedures:

Step 1: Choose an Old Master drawing that clearly exhibits intentional mark-making; make sure to have a VERY HIGH RESOLUTION image to work from.
Step 2: Determine the correct size paper for your enlarged drawing. LIGHTLY sketch the basic structure of the image you have selected. You may work freehand or use a grid (the grid was used extensively during the Renaissance as a method for reproduction with correct proportion). Apply all drawing lessons learned to date (like drawing upside down!) and don’t forget to pay VERY close attention to the negative space. REPEAT: DRAW LIGHTLY. ERASING WILL DAMAGE THE PAPER, WHICH WILL BECOME VERY OBVIOUS AFTER TONING!
Step 3: Tone your paper with a water-color wash. This is not mandatory but, if you drawing includes white highlights, this method is important to provide a mid-tone as a starting point. It also can make your new paper look more authentic.
Step 4: Begin to apply the master's marks.
- You will use the same materials used by the artist you are studying. Remember, you are studying from the master, not tracing or merely copying; you are trying to understand his process and sense of form through use of mark making, line quality, and modeling of form.
- Take on the role of the artist who created the work that you are studying; if it is Leonardo, for example, you must ask your self, “How did Leonardo's hand move? How did his wrist turn? Did the pressure he was applying vary as he worked? Why?” Become the Old Master, pick his brain…Analyze the mark before you try to reproduce it. Was it a series of gestural strokes, did he change the speed of the line? How did he traverse the form finding its repeating and opposing rhythms? How does a line travel over the form? Do you remember CROSS CONTOUR exercises Drawing Bootcamp in Art 1 or from the pen and ink still life in Art 2?

What does a successful student-copy-of-an-Old-Master-drawing look like?

Accurate transfer of the original proportions and composition (negative space!)
Clear evidence that you have really studied the original work
Replication and accuracy of the Master's mark

WHO ARE THE OLD MASTERS? WHY DO THEY MATTER SO MUCH? Use the resources below as a starting point for finding out. Document info. and thoughts in your sketchbook as you plan for the upcoming project.

Here is a very long list to get you started - Peruse it. What names were familiar? How may artists had you never heard of before? Click on some links to learn/see more.
A recent article New York Times article speaks to the relevance of the Old Masters - "All art was once contemporary." Think about that... it's 2018, why should we care what happened in the art world 500 years ago?

A CONTEMPORARY CONTEXT:

Portraits of Auto Mechanics Pay Homage to Renaissance Paintings

ADDITIONAL RESOURCES:

View student examples in the Art 3 Gallery

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Art 3 Projects

HOME: Self-Portrait/Old Master's Marks

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