Carolynn Helton's Classes
This site shows all the classes I have taught or currently teach. My goal is to have all the curriculum available here online for students, parents and myself. Currently I am teaching Photography/Yearbook, Art Exporations, Video/Media, Leadership and Mixed Media Arts at ERCLC (Eleanor Roosevelt) .
Developing Int/Adv Drawing Techniques Restatements
Objective:
To develop drawing skills that build confidence in your strokes of pencils, pens, charcoal and paint. You will explore the use of line's ability to be expressive in it's use of art. You will also learn to trust what you see, not what you think you know more as you develop hand eye coordination in drawing. It is also important to learn that it is ok to mess up, it is not always a mistake. Drawings don't have to be perfect photo copy's of the subject. Sometimes getting the feeling of the drawing is more important, the expression of the subject.
Click on the slides below for Internal Dialogue, Restating, Look Hold Draw and read them, continue to come back to refer to the as you work through the process of developing Contour Line Drawings.
Requirements:
There will be 4 sections. You will have sections developing the technique for each and a final artwork produced for each. Each section will be taught over a week period. Sometimes we meet 2 days that week and other weeks it is 3. These sections are based on two days of exercises and a final art work. If there is 2 days, final artwork will probably mostly be done as homework/asynchronous classwork, if there is 3 days that third day will be a combination of sharing, workings and getting feedback on the artwork as everyone works and shares with zoom running. Contour Drawing is a simpler section so it will be on a 2 week day. The other two day week will be Dynamic Hands as it does not have too many subsections.
Lessons:
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1 week on Contour Drawing
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1 week of Restatements
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1 week of Gesture Drawing
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1 week of Dynamic Hands
Lesson:
2. Restatements:
Day 1. one of each in your sketchbook
3 to 5 objects
You will have two sketches of this in your sketchbook. Pick two different things. Shoes or kitchen objects, etc...
As you work, do not erase your mistakes. Just redraw over it and maybe add darker slightly shaded lines, but do not fully shade your work.
Day 2.
5 or more objects or detailed person/portrait
You will have two sketches of this in your sketchbook. Pick two different things. Shoes or kitchen objects, etc...
As you work, do not erase your mistakes. Just redraw over it and maybe add darker slightly shaded lines, but do not fully shade your work.
WHY DO THEM?
It is a classic drawing exercise to:
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develop refined hand eye coordination and refined drawings.
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develop trust in the evolution of a drawing study. When drawing from a live object you may move slightly, or it may move slightly, that doesn't mean you can not learn to capture it's essence. The focus of working through restatements is to capture the essence.
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develop the right brain (creative side!) muscles, help it become more assertive and aware of the observable.
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balance the left brain's tendency to standardize, generalize, and simplify everything, which creates stereotypical ways of seeing and drawing.
HOW TO DO IT:
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Look at the object! While you draw, look at the object at least 50% of the time. Look back and forth often. Concentrate on practicing your hand-eye coordination and just restating the line/image as you work, not erasing.
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Capture as much information as you can! Like Contour Drawing, capture every nook and cranny on paper. Each and every edge, crack, line, wrinkly, etc. that is possible to SEE.
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Work as close to life size as your sketchbook or paper will allow, fill the page as much as possible
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Use Pencil for this but do not erase! Use a 4b or 6b or charcoal pencil.
For section 2 (Restatements) you will do one of each of the Contour lines during class time in your sketch book. I will demonstrate in class, then let you work. During the week we are doing this, you will also create a final artwork. There will also be time during the end of each class for the week to work on this and get feedback.
Final Restatements Artwork,
Objective:
The objective of this project is to take what is learned above, apply it to an individual art creation that helps develop a freedom of style that says, it is ok not to be perfect, it is ok to experiment with drawing and mediums. To develop skills that let you go with the flow. We will continue to go back and forth with learning more control in drawing and letting go of control in the intermediate/advanced drawing segment.
Requirements:
you will create a final artwork based on elements using Restatements, developed into final artwork using layers of lines, color or shading. To make it more developed, make sure details are there and layers of lines to redo/correct lines, Color and/or shading is involved. Push yourself to be creative and looser in style. Mottos for this project is "Sometimes there is more control in not having control because it doesn't control you" meaning if you don't try to have the control over the drawing, you can let go of that anxiety of perfection... and "Go with the flow" applied here, means do not be afraid to mess up and see what you get.
