Durer's Hand Drawings

Look how this master artist uses modeled lines, values and contour lines to draw these hands..... See how the background is medium dark? How does that help the hands to look "3D"?

the hands

Self portrait of the artist

THINKING ABOUT COLOR....

As we dive into using color in the drawing, use this color wheel and vocab sheet to learn the "lingo". We are starting with colors that are complements- opposites on the color wheel. By using TINTS and SHADES of these colors, you have a range of VALUES in your work....

Here's the color wheel-

Here's the vocab sheet-

Contour lines in Raphael's drawings

The Italian Master artist, Raphael, used contour lines to describe form in his wonderful drawings..... Check them out-

Self portrait as a youth

Digital Drawing BOOT CAMP!

Huah! Complete this series of "quick" drawings to build your observational drawing skills!

Drawing # 1
a "blind contour line" drawing of hands.....
Using one long line, describe the contours of the hand. Move the pen as your eye moves over the hand.....

 

Blind contour line drawings

Drawing #2 
a "Modeled line Drawing" of a hand....
Describe the form of the hand using contour lines that run all OVER the hand...
set the OPACITY of a brush to 30% and build up the "scribbled" lines to get the form..

Drawing #3
a "Values" of a hand....
Describe the form of the hand using only 4 VALUES to show how light and shadow fall over the hand. Use a large brush, set to a medium opacity (30- 70%)...

Set up your swatches to have four greys.... keep changing the greys as needed...

Fill the background with a medium grey tone...

"Block in" the basic shapes of lights and darks.... then refine with smaller brushes.

Go for the cast shadow too!!! YEAH!!!!!

made with values... notice the dark background!

Drawing #4
COLOR drawing of a hand!!!!!
Describe the form of the hand using complementary colors to show form.....
Start with swatches, then use the color mixer to select "analogous" and "monochromatic" versions of that color. Explore how color has VALUE and SATURATION.....

Jeff's Digital Piece

This piece was about hatred and the complications of war that we face, and the fact that the human race is so quick to jump to violence to solve their problems. Although understandably I understand that some conflicts are unavoidable and require some sort of back lash however the irony in war is that wars are fought to resolve things. This is why I named this piece Confliction for Resolution.

by Jeff

Cecily's Drawing

My theme was relationship. I used four main pictures that had to do with my theme. The eye has a tear in it showing heartbreak. The lips showed uncertainty. the little girl showed youth and childhood. the hands with the lotus in it showed the grip of holding a relationship with care. The title of this drawing is...

Holding The Lotus

My theme was presence and my drawing is called, Center of Attention. I used Center of Attention for my title because the big pair of eyes are almost in the center and when you want to get someones attention you look them right in the eyes, like the pair of eyes seem to do. My goal for the drawing was to capture the audiences attention and make them think about the drawing. I used some bright colors to help your eye travel around the drawing and to emphasis shapes. The drawing also has a variety of lines to textures to make the piece more interesting and to capture attention.

Jen's Drawing! :)

My theme was happiness.

Butterfly Happiness

My drawing shows this theme because there are people that are "jumping for joy". There are hearts because love brings happiness, and there is a smiley face on one of the petals of the flower. The quote connects to the butterflies in the drawing and to the theme of happiness. 

Grade sheet for the first drawing!!

Almost done!? Here's the grade sheet to fill out after completing your work-

Take a look now to see if there's anything missing in the work...

First Drawing Checklist

Use this checklist to guide you to completion of the Mehretu drawing.....

Valerie Giles

Ms. Giles uses soft values, abstract shapes and detail to create these rich drawings. Looks like she is combining printed images with hand drawn work TOGETHER.....

The press release for her show says her drawings are "Broadly based on her love of all music – especially jazz, Giles transcribes its improvisation and immediacy with rolling, beckoning lines."

See more of her work here http://www.danese.com/Main/Introduction.html

DAVID HOCKNEY

Known for his sense of whimsy and strong use of color, Hockney's work always makes me rethink how I make drawings and art. He was trained as a painter and learned "classical" techniques- however- his recent work uses ipads and iphones as the tools for creating.

The artist

His early work was realistic...

Hockney working outside... look how he has several canvases together...

An ipad painting... wonderful color and sense of "light"..

An iphone painting.

See more of his work @ http://www.hockneypictures.com/home.php

Progress on the Drawing

Here's another view of what I have so far...

Starting the Mehretu Drawing

Here's a sample of my beginning the new drawing..... it feels a bit "wide open" now, but I know that once I get some more marks on the paper it will start to look more like something.

Samples of master drawings

Look at the marks used to create these "masters" drawings..... could you use some in your work? Google their names to see more of their work- you should know of these artists :-)

Ingres, a French master of controlled line to describe form...

Seurat, Rubs with crayon to create soft values....

Cy Twombly's very expressive "language" of marks....

Rembrandt says a lot with just a few marks... ink and brush

David Hockney is a master with a sense of humor...

More on Mehretu

Here are more of Mehretu's wonderful and dynamic drawings to see as a source for creating your own drawing of "marks". These are from her "Grey Area" show.... see more at this link....

"Berliner Platze" 2008

Middle Grey 2009

WELCOME!

Welcome to the new Digital Drawing Blog! Hope you can use this site to gather ideas and info on the growing world of drawing and digital art!

Believer's Palace, by Elizabeth Mehretu

Check in often for new images and info!