The goal of this assignment is to consider compositions for your self-portrait and begin thinking about value and form relating to the figure.

2 Art Assignments (I will tip for great work please do these assignments, please write “Cameron L Gray” on all of the assignments:
Assignment One-
Reductive Charcoal Still Life
This assignment focuses on working reductively with charcoal to create a still life drawing which demonstrates form and the sense of light.
Materials Needed:
• 1-2 page 14”x17” drawing paper
• Charcoal
• Kneaded Eraser
• White Eraser
• Paper towel
Still Life Set Up:
Follow the general guidelines for creating a still life in the “Getting Started” module. For these drawings, you want to select items that are fairly solid. For this still life, simple objects such as a cup, apple, vase, and bottle are great. You should have around 5 objects. Makes sure they are a variety of heights, and that they are somewhat clustered together. Ideally, set up the items with some sort of neutral backdrop, such as a piece of board or a sheet. Avoid reflective objects at this time, unless you really want to challenge yourself. Set up some sort of small lamp or reading light to increase the shadow throughout your still life, which will help you identify the range of values.
Drawing:
After viewing the Reductive Charcoal Still Life video, create your drawing(s):
• Start with a quick gesture on the page in charcoal, much as you did with gesture drawing earlier in the semester.
• Use your paper towel to smudge this drawing. On the same page, make another gesture drawing over the first. Make sure not to just repeat what you did, but focus on the still life and try to improve on any incorrect proportions from your first gesture. Repeat this process until you have a smudgy blur of charcoal across your paper. You should have no hard outlines of any sort. Use a light hand – your charcoal should be a mid-dark range value across your paper.
• Using your eraser, start to pull out highlights across your drawing. Make sure to work across the whole drawing and not just one area or object.
• You can use your charcoal to emphasize dark areas, or sometimes you’ll need to add charcoal for the purpose of erasing it back out. You should think that you are pushing and pulling the forms into shape through your eraser and charcoal. They are both drawing tools – one is not there to “fix” the other – they work together.
• You should not have any hard outlines in any place on your drawing. Every edge or outline is the place where two shapes of differing values meet.
• Make sure you include the shadows and ground the objects are on – ground them into space, don’t let your objects float on the page. When creating form and value, the background is as important as the object.
• Your drawing should have a sfumato or tenebristic sense – your forms should appear to emerge out of the background.
Submission:
• Complete two of these drawings. Photograph and post both of your finished drawings to the Reductive Charcoal Still Life Exercise dropbox here.
• Photograph your still life from the angle you viewed it while drawing and submit it here.
Video Reference: https://youtu.be/6oAdhfsiEj8
Student examples: https://padlet.com/jessie_vanderlaan/reductivestill_life

Assignment Two-

The goal of this assignment is to consider compositions for your self-portrait and begin thinking about value and form relating to the figure.
Materials Needed
• 4-6 pages of sketchbook paper
• Graphite
Drawings
Review the content page regarding thumbnails in the Getting Started module. Remember that thumbnails are a way to generate ideas quickly, and try different approaches. These thumbnails are in preparation for your Charcoal self portrait.
Fill 4-6 pages of your sketchbook with thumbnail drawings of compositions, preparing for the charcoal self-portrait. These should be from observation, not from a photograph. Begin thinking about the basic shapes and value map you will follow. These will be quick – 4-6 thumbanils to a page, for a total of around 35 thumbnails. Use this as a way to loosen up and get used to drawing from your reflection. You can also use these to start practicing proportion, using previous tools such as organizational line or planes of space.
Remember that you do not need detail in a thumbnail. You are focusing on the basic composition and overall value structure. Make sure you include a frame around each thumbnail to indicate the overall composition.

Video Referece: https://youtu.be/hggoZW4LKvU
Student examples: https://padlet.com/jessie_vanderlaan/reductive_selfportrait

Photos of me options for self portrait: