We will work in pencil, charcoal, conte crayon, ink and mixed media, from observation. The intention is to learn to draw what you see with relative accuracy, paying attention to proportions, values and point of view. Everyone can learn to draw, it takes practice, focus and a fair amount of hard work. But just as each person has a different personality, each drawing produced this semester will also have a distinctly different look.
How to Photograph Your Artwork for the Blog
All artwork will be photographed and submitted on our blog for discussion and review. Since we will not be meeting in person and can only evaluate the work on the basis of your photograph it is imperative that you photograph the work well. In order to submit the best reproduction follow a few simple guidelines:
- Use light from a large window or shoot your work outside, especially on a cloudy day. You want the light to be as even as possible.
- Make sure there are no shadows cast upon your work ( including your shadow or your phone)
- Frame your photograph tightly around the work, but it’s okay to leave a little space.
- Make you photograph STRAIGHT, meaning that edges of the work are parallel to the edges of the painting or drawing. Apple iPhones are especially good at this because you can place the work on the ground and the iPhone camera will display two plus (+) signs that match up and turn yellow when the image edges are straight, very helpful.
- It often helps to edit your image in your smartphone’s photo editing software, adjusting for exposure, tint, cropping, shadows and highlights, etc. Or you can use a free photo editing app like Snapseed or Photoshop Express.
Here is a quick YouTube video to watch: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QyKiq3XrnR8