How to Draw Basics: Food Illustration
In this 13-week art course, young artists will participate in the tradition of creating art inspired by food by investigating important elements of art, like color and texture, and a fun final project of illustrating a meal or cookbook.
Adria W.
Average rating:
4.9
Number of reviews:(323)
What's included
13 live meetings
19 hrs 30 mins in-class hoursHomework
1 hour per week. Young artists may need to complete work outside of class. It is their choice whether they would like to complete every illustration, but I highly recommend it. Young artists may choose to share their work for critique with me or not. Additionally, they will be asked to come up with an assignment proposal for out last two lessons regarding the final project. They may choose to illustrate a four-course meal or four recipes in a short recipe/cookbook. Learners will need to inform me which final project they will be doing and the foods/recipes they will be illustrating. This shouldn't take long and the assignment proposal will be due verbally in class or as a written message sent to me through the conversations tab. The proposal will be due in our 11th lesson. Every participant must complete an assignment proposal.Assessment
To remove the stress of what is sometimes a very daunting course of study, your learners will not have tests, quizzes, or formal grades in the class. Instead, I utilize positive verbal critiques to provide feedback and encourage improvement. However, if grades are requested I will provide them via rubrics that will suggest a grade. Learners progress will be gauged by the completion of their assignments, execution of techniques, contributions in critique sessions, and their class presence (being on-time, listening when I am speaking, and how they communicate with peers).Grading
To remove the stress of what is sometimes a very daunting course of study, your learners will not have tests, quizzes, or formal grades in the class. Instead, I utilize positive verbal critiques to provide feedback and encourage improvement. However, if grades are requested I will provide them via rubrics that will suggest a grade. Learners progress will be gauged by the completion of their assignments, execution of techniques, contributions in critique sessions, and their class presence (being on-time, listening when I am speaking, and how they communicate with peers).Class Experience
“But you know, food is everything we are. It’s an extension of nationalist feeling, ethnic feeling, your personal history, your province, your region, your tribe, your grandma. It’s inseparable from those from the get-go.” – Anthony Bourdain in a 2010 Slate Interview with Kathryn Schulz Food is essential, it is everything! Everyday we eat, to sustain ourselves, to enjoy flavors, to participate in our cultures, to gather with friends and family. In that way, it’s no surprise that food is also an important subject matter for artists. In classical cases, like the food in a still life, colorful fruits and tender meats render physical proof of an artist (or patrons) wealth. Jan Davidsz. de Heem’s Still Life with Ham, Lobster, and Fruit (c. 1652), that illustrates the sumptuous delicacies of rare and expensive (at least at the time) food items. Or, for a modern example, the animated foods of Studio Ghibli productions that exaggerate deliciousness with careful colors and textures. These depictions of food help build the world of the film and often give insight to character narratives. There are plenty examples of the overlap between food and art beyond these: Andy Warhol’s soup cans, Vermeers milkmaid, Arcimboldo’s odd fruity faces, The Great British Bake Off’s idealized illustrations, and the drawings in Food & Wine magazine, just to name a few! WHAT TO EXPECT: In this course, we are going to learn how to illustrate food with watercolors and colored pencils so that we too can participate in this long tradition of food as art. We will start with the basics, like practicing drawing the basic forms that make up all foods and forms and learning about techniques of paint and pencil. Then, we will tackle a menu of foods, starting with fruits and breads before the tougher to chew bits, like meat and desserts. Through each category, we will discover how different elements of art, like texture and color, can be used to illustrate delectable meals. And, at the end of the course young artists will have a choice between two tasty final projects: illustrating a four-course meal or, a miniature recipe book. BACKGROUND KNOWLEDGE: No background knowledge is required for this course, but young artists already familiar with basic drawing techniques may be best suited to these lessons!
Learning Goals
Lesson 1: Drawing Fundamentals
o Know 5 different ways to vary line
o Practice observational skills
o Practice line drawing skills
o Know how to draw simple forms (cylinders, boxes, spheres)
o Learn how to shade objects
o Practice basic drawing skills through an object study
Lesson 2: Watercolor & Colored Pencil Techniques
Learn eight watercolor techniques
o Wash (wet-on-wet): Variegated, graded, flat
o Wash (wet-on-dry): Variegated, graded, flat
o Paint lifting
o Cauliflower painting
o Salt sprinkling
o Glazing
o Splattering
Learn six colored pencil techniques
o Hatching
o Cross-hatching
o Blending
o Scumbling
o Sgraffito
o Solvent
o Create a reference with each technique
Lesson 3: Basic Color Theory & Palette Set-up
o Review & become familiar with our paint colors and their CIN’s
o Learn to read a color wheel
o Learn important color vocabulary, such as hue, chroma, value, gamut, primary,
secondary, tertiary, warm, and cool
o Paint with a color family
Lesson 4: Creating Textures
o Review five ways of line variation, the parts of a shadow, how to create values
o Learn how to create accurate textures
o Create six flat texture squares
o Create three texture cubes
Lesson 5: Fruits and Vegetables
o Practice simplifying fruits and vegetables into simple forms
o Practice mixing and matching accurate color
o Draw several illustrations of fruits and vegetables
Lesson 6: Variations on the Egg
o Practice simplifying eggs into simple forms
o Practice mixing and matching accurate color, focusing on contrast
o Draw various textures of eggs
o Draw several illustrations of eggs
Lesson 7: Breads and Grains
o Practice simplifying breads into simple forms
o Practice mixing and matching accurate color, focusing on subtle variation and value
o Draw various textures of bread
o Draw several illustrations of bread or grains
Lesson 8: Dishes & Utensils
o Practice simplifying dishware and utensils into simple forms
o Practice mixing and matching accurate color, focusing on subtle variation and value
o Learn to draw glass and metal textures
o Learn to draw patterns
o Draw several illustrations of dishware and utensils
Lesson 9: Drinks, Soups, & Sauces
o Practice simplifying tricky organic elements into simple forms
o Practice mixing and matching accurate color, focusing on subtle variation
o Practice drawing various textures
o Focus on creating both “soft” and “hard” edges for clarity of subject matter
o Draw several illustrations of liquid and semi-liquid food items
Lesson 10: Meats and Other Proteins
o Practice simplifying tricky organic elements into simple forms
o Practice mixing and matching accurate color, focusing on subtle variation
o Practice drawing various textures
o Learn to create “juicy” and “glossy” appearances on proteins from what we have learned
about drawing glass and metal
o Practice simplifying patterns
Lesson 11: Desserts
o Practice simplifying desserts into simple forms
o Practice mixing and matching accurate color, focusing on achieving bright colors
o Practice drawing various textures
Lesson 12 & 13: The Final Plate
o Finish our final project!
Syllabus
13 Lessons
over 13 WeeksLesson 1:
Lesson 1: Drawing Fundamentals
To ensure all learners enrolled in this course know basic drawing concepts, we will spend our first lesson reviewing important drawing knowledge. Basic drawing know-how will also ensure that young artists have developed basic art-making skills, such as a steady hand, observation, simplification, and how to build forms. 90 mins online live lesson
Lesson 2:
Lesson 2: Watercolor & Colored Pencil Techniques
The second lesson will be dedicated to becoming familiar with the main materials of this course: watercolor and colored pencil. Throughout this lesson I will teach young artists basic watercolor and colored pencil techniques. In the first part of our second lesson, I will guide learners through eight basic watercolor techniques. 90 mins online live lesson
Lesson 3:
Lesson 3: Basic Color Theory & Palette Set Up
Color is one of the most important, and controversial, elements of art. It is one of the areas where science and art mesh, and because of that, sometimes it gets complicated. But to paint confidently, an artist needs to know how to navigate color. We will be spending some time on color starting with basic color theory and how to set up a paint palette successfully. In this lesson, our primary focus will be a PowerPoint lecture on basic color theory. 90 mins online live lesson
Lesson 4:
Lesson 4: Creating Textures
The fourth lesson will begin with a quick review of what we have discussed so far. We will review the five ways to vary line, the parts of a shadow, and different ways of creating values. Once our review is concluded, I will demonstrate how to observe, simplify, and draw textures. Young artists will be asked to create six flat texture squares using textures of their choice. 90 mins online live lesson
Other Details
Supply List
MATERIALS o Graphite Pencils (2H, HB, 2B, 4B) o Vinyl and Kneaded erasers o Variety of size and shape of soft bristle watercolor brushes o Watercolor paint: red, orange, yellow, green, blue, purple, black, white, and brown o Watercolor paper o Water vessels o Palette o Colored pencils in various colors o Blending tool, such as a blending stump, pastel blender, or chamois cloth o Young artists will also need to produce various food references whether they be real of fake foods or photo references. Some references will be provided. You can expect to spend about $40.00 ~ $60.00 USD on art supplies depending on what your young artist already has, the brand, quality, and size of materials you purchase, as well as where you purchase from. I recommend looking for student grade materials and store brand supplies for the least expense. I provide four PDFs for this course: -A syllabus -A policy and technical requirement packet -A materials guide -A glossary of terms
4 files available upon enrollment
External Resources
Learners will not need to use any apps or websites beyond the standard Outschool tools.
Teacher expertise and credentials
I am delighted to be able to offer classes that emphasize fine art techniques through the lens of observational drawing. Observational art is a method of learning to draw with three principles in mind: understanding of the subject, building looking skills, and practice of artistic technique. Through this method and practice, learners can draw anything. Completion of my courses will result in a learner who is engaged with art and understands basic art technique. Even students who are not aspiring artists have much to gain from drawing, including improvement of hand-eye coordination and hand dexterity skills.
Along with my bachelor’s degree in art history and studio art from a premier liberal arts institution in Ohio, I also have been teaching since 2016. My online teaching career began on Outschool in 2017. I have taught homeschoolers, unschoolers, and undergraduate students of all ages. My background in art history means that my classes are created with an understanding of historical precedence- I’m teaching what I know works! Many of my classes include examples of important artworks from masters for students to examine and learn skills from. In addition, my many years of teaching art have helped me curate concise and logical drawing curriculum that young artists can easily pick up and apply to their work. Every art class I teach hopes to provide learners with all the knowledge and support they need to grow as an artist.Reviews
Live Group Course
$27
weekly or $340 for 13 classes1x per week, 13 weeks
90 min
Live video meetings
Ages: 12-16
3-6 learners per class
