Beginning Design Students: Gift Cards

 

Isabella Setina

My beginning design students did some great work last quarter! 

Most of my students last quarter were freshmen, taking their first ever graphic design class. We studied all the basics: composition, color, and vocabulary. I taught them technical stuff in Illustrator. We spent a lot of time looking at graphic designs from the world, critiquing them, and talking about audience.

Ashley Piper

For the final project, I asked them to design a series of gift cards for a favorite place. The cards had to fit together as a group, but also work independently for different purposes and/or audiences. These are two of the best examples from their work... not bad!

My Beginning Drawing Students Rocked This Semester!

Brandon Smith

Jessica Weidner

Anthony Via

Dylan Svaldi

Doug Martin

Oops, I can't remember who did this awesome gesture drawing!

Negative Space Drawing

This week my drawing students were focusing on drawing negative spaces surrounding various objects. One student (Doug) got inspired to not only literally draw the negative spaces around the stools, but also to play with the 2-dimensional positive and negative spaces on his paper.

We discussed the idea of “gestalt” in design/drawing when he presented these drawings. I love the way these leave as much out of the drawing as possible, while still expressing the essence of the objects. With a minimal amount of visual information, the viewer is still easily able to discern the subject of the drawings.

Drawing / Conclusions

 

Student: Jordan Nicholson

Perhaps a self-portrait of sorts, a geometric head filled with nostalgic memories of home. I love the detail and contrast, but would like the background to be more complete.

Today was the last day of drawing class for the semester. These are a few of the best final drawings that were presented. The assignment was initiated before Thanksgiving. In honor of the holiday, I asked students to take photographs, while they were at home with their families (or where ever they went), that illustrated their ideas of “gratitude.”

Student: Melissa Vargas

Appreciation of natural landscapes in her home state of Colorado and her Native American heritage. I want to see more contrast, as this drawing feels a little flat at the moment. More detail in the foreground would help bring the ruins forward three-dimensionally.

From their photo collection, the students were asked to create an entirely new image to convey their personal concept of “gratitude” and to feature the technical skills they practiced over the semester. There were many interpretations of gratitude amongst the class, but most of them focused on ideas of “home” and “family.”

Student: Brenden Nelson

Acknowledging the emptiness of material consumer goods, and the importance of human connection. I would like to see more people together (perhaps a family or group of friends) on the right to contrast against the “lonely” figure with the packages.

The class was as much a learning experience for me as I’m sure it was for the students. Teaching freshmen is a whole different ballgame than teaching the upper division students that I’ve gotten used to over the years. I didn’t anticipate the magnitude of the transition students would be making from high school to college. Many of the students struggled with discipline (attendance and self-motivation). Others really focused and took their work to the next level.

Student: Sarah Heaps

Grateful for the relationship shared by her parents and their contribution to cultivating a positive atmosphere for their family. I would like to see more natural shading in the hands to make them appear more voluminous.

I definitely have some ideas for how to revise the course next semester. I hope to find ways to help students improve their time-management skills and maintain a disciplined work ethic during their first experiences away from home and on their own.

Alternative Materials for Creating Self Portraits

Zack

I wanted to take the pressure off my drawing students before the Thanksgiving holiday. I asked them to bring in a variety of alternative materials with which they could create mixed-media self portraits. They brought tape, fabric, cotton balls, string, popcorn, sunflower seeds, aluminum foil, peanut butter, and so much more.

 

Sylvia

The students piled all their materials in the middle of the room. It was a free-for-all as they vied for materials they wanted for their collages. I told them the self portraits could be as abstract as they wanted—they didn’t need to be a realistic representation of their faces... I’m much more interested in the inventive use of the available materials. I hope they enjoyed this opportunity to just play, without worrying about making things look “perfect.”

Me

I was so inspired by the materials everyone brought in that I decided to make my own self portrait (above). My favorite part is the spaghetti hair and the knot for the nose. It turned out a little bit scary, but I had fun letting go for a day!

The Art of the Still Life

In-class drawing by Brenden Nelson

My drawing students have been focusing on still life drawing for the past couple weeks. We have spent quite a bit of time talking about symbolism, narrative, and meaning that is wrapped up in the selection and placement of objects.

Paul Cezanne’s Still Life with Skull

I showed them examples of still life art (both painting and sculpture) that gave me pause, then asked them to find their own examples to analyze. I never really appreciated still life art until I began to research it for this class/assignment. I felt that the work was usually a bit static... But when I looked closer I was able to see beauty in the layers of meaning, the open-ended storytelling, and the moral themes that are often conveyed.

 Hyperbolic Crochet Coral Reef, Christine Wertheim & Margaret Wertheim

More Student Drawings

I think perhaps the only way to improve your drawing skills is to keep practicing, so that’s what my beginning drawing class does (in one way or another) each week — exploring various techniques and adjusting in areas of weakness after a critique.

One week the students practiced drawing each others’ hands in different positions. Another week the students practiced figurative gesture drawings as an initial sketch (see their first attempts at gesture drawing here). Then they came back in on top of these quick gesture drawings to add shading and detail.

 

I’m still dumbfounded at how quickly the students’ work has changed and improved over the course of the semester. Many of these students had never taken a drawing class (or any kind of art class) before now.

 

I’m scheduled to teach drawing again next semester, and I already have a number of ideas on how to improve the sequencing and hierarchy of the assignments. I appreciate having the opportunity to teach the same class over several semesters because then I have a chance to incorporate the things I’ve learned through each unique experience with students.

Students Draw “Art on the Corner”

 

Recently, I was invited to join the Downtown Grand Junction Art on the Corner Committee. Art on the Corner is a local public art program that supports the work of sculptors with exhibits along Main Street and at other public landmarks (like the Western Colorado Botanical Gardens). As a committee member, I will be helping to develop and promote public art exhibits and cultural events in the city.

 

After being asked to be on the committee, my first thought was to introduce my beginning drawing class to the Art on the Corner program. I asked the students to visit downtown Grand Junction and practice their skills by drawing the sculptures on display. Here are a few examples of the their work... Not bad, if I do say so myself!

Student Drawings Improving!

 

On the first day of my beginning drawing class this semester, I asked the students to draw portraits of each other. I thought it would be useful to give them a sense of their progress over time. It is currently week six of the semester, and their ability to see their subjects has drastically improved. I’m surprised to see so much growth in such a short amount of time!

 

The drawings on the left are the ones they did on the first day of class. The drawings on the right were done today by the same student, six weeks later (click on the images to see them larger) ... Amazing!

This is the reason I love teaching, right here in these drawings! I can’t wait to see what they’re doing in another six weeks!

Gesture Drawing

 Mojo, the studio dog.

One thing I’ve learned over my years teaching college design and art classes: you have to be flexible and adaptable, especially when you teach a class for the first time... experimenting with different teaching tools, different ways of talking about ideas, different ways of demonstrating techniques—It’s as much a learning experience for me as it is for my students.

Take this week, for example. We focused on gesture drawing, and the students have been doing okay. But I realize, they need way, way more practice in this technique. Maybe I need to play some really loud rock music to get the energy flowing.

Students took turns modeling for the class.

I had a plan outlined for the semester... but now I’m thinking of rearranging it a bit. I know the students need another week of gesture drawing, in addition to continued practice on their blind contours. Perhaps I should focus on negative spaces next week to give the students a chance to focus more closely on shapes and relationships... then return to gesture drawing the following week.

These are two of the better gesture drawings from today’s class. Not too bad, since this is their very first experience with gesture drawing.

Blind Contour Drawings

Blind contour drawing is my absolute favorite drawing technique. I could do blind contours exclusively for weeks on end, I think. I woke up in the middle of the night last night with an idea to shake things up for my drawing students. 

I asked them to all go into the hallway and lay down on the floor with their legs up the wall (viparita karani for all my yoga friends). Then they were asked to place their paper on the floor alongside their body, so they could look up and draw their feet without seeing their hand or their paper. 

I hope that by making drawing a physical activity—rather than a completely intellectual exercise—the process will be a little more fun and a little less intimidating for them. These are two of the blind contour drawings that were turned in at the end of class this morning.

Next week: gesture drawing.

Drawing and Making Mistakes

I’ve been teaching college design classes for years now, but this is my first semester teaching a beginning drawing class for freshmen and sophomores. I was/am excited and nervous — I want everything to go well, and I want the students to learn a lot and have fun! Of course, teaching a new class is always a learning experience, too — experimenting with sequencing, finding the best ways to demonstrate and verbalize ideas, realizing that what you thought would be easy for the students is actually difficult (and vice versa). As a teacher, you really have to react to what’s in front of you.

I did a blind contour drawing of Matt.

I knew that students would be self-conscious and afraid of making mistakes, even though I told them from the start that there really are no mistakes in drawing (except skipping class and not doing the assignments!). 

To try to loosen everyone up, I’m starting the semester off with blind contour drawings. What I like about this method of drawing is that the time frame is quick, and the resulting marks on the page are unimportant. The goal is for the student to get used to really, truly looking at the subject of their drawing. Some of the students found it impossible to avoid looking down at their paper even for 10 or 15 seconds!

Laurie Rosenwald’s website

Anyway, after the first class, one of the students emailed me. She said she thinks she needs to change her major because she can't draw... ! I was surprised by this, because (after all) she is in a beginning drawing class to learn just that! I wrote her back with some encouraging words and ended my note with, “I will see you on Thursday.” Needless to say, these kids are self-conscious and are afraid of doing something “wrong.”

A poster design by Laurie Rosenwald.

Serendipitously, I happened upon the design and art work of Laurie Rosenwald today. On her website, she talks about a workshop she teaches, entitled “How to Make Mistakes on Purpose.” Apparently, the specific content of the course is secret, and because of that I’m dying to go (of course)!

 A painting by Laurie Rosenwald.

My favorite line from her article about the workshop reads: ”If you try to be good, it will probably be bad. If you stop trying at all, it might be good. Or possibly dreadful. But if you are surprised, I will be, and that’s very good!”

I love this philosophy for my students, but I also need to remember it for myself... Because teaching should be a fun, creative, mind-boggling experience, too!