Emphasis drawings 2012

Art 2, Emphasis Colored Pencil Drawing

      I did this same project with my students last year. The concept with this assignment was to use observational skills to draw an artist mannequin and then to use colored pencils to create a sense on emphasis in the background. 

I love this project because it allows for a lot of creativity in the background. The students seem to go for it more when there is already something drawn on the paper. I also love how colorful these drawings become by the end. ^-^

     I did this project with my Art II students. It was their first serious project at the beginning of the year. We started off by simply completing an observational drawing. I gave each student an artist mannequin to draw from as well as an HB drawing pencil and eraser  For the lesson, I demonstrated how to sight with a pencil and how to block in a drawing. Then I let the students pick a position for their mannequin to stand. Each student spent two or three days drawing their mannequin in pencil.

     After most had completed the first stage I gave the student's another lesson which was a lecture on emphasis. For this lesson we looked at a PowerPoint with several examples of ways to go about creating emphasis in a work of art.  After the emphasis lesson, I explained to the students that next step in their project would be to design a background for their mannequin drawing using colored pencils that would create a strong sense of emphasis on their original pencil drawing. Before they could start on the background the students had to complete 3 thumbnail sketches and have one of them approved by me.   I also gave a short demonstration about using colored pencils and how to blend and layer them.

Comment below with your ideas and thoughts. ^-^

Student Examples

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