How to Draw Basics: Still Life Drawing

WHAT TO EXPECT:
"How to Draw" classes are art courses based of the fundamental techniques of art and drawing. These courses are designed to teach young artists how to draw anything by building important skills such as mark-making, line drawing, shading, proportions, and more though the lens of observational drawing. Observational art is a method of drawing that emphasizes visual perception with three principles in mind: understanding of the subject, building looking skills, and practice of artistic technique. These classes combine lecture periods, worksheets, and free-hand drawing time to ensure learners understand the material and get ample practice time. In my How to Draw Basics courses, students will learn basic art vocabulary, easily repeatable exercises to practice outside of class, and other basic drawing skills. How to Draw Basics: Still Life drawing will teach young artists how to look, how to draw contours, principles of light and value, composition, and more. Learners will be encouraged to work with both graphite and charcoal mediums. 

REQUIRED KNOWLEDGE: 
No background knowledge is required!

LESSON SUMMARY:
How to Draw Basics 101: Materials: This class will teach artists by hands on experience, allowing them to play and draw with materials. They will create a graphite scale and charcoal scale, practice using erasers and other tools. Then, they will learn how to properly take care of these materials. Learners are encouraged to ask questions and bring their own materials to the class! Creation of scales teaches learners about values, how to create them and eventually how to apply them to drawings. Learning how to properly use and take care of materials is one of the first steps on the artistic journey. Young artists should come away from this class with a wealth of knowledge on various drawing materials, respect for these materials, and a sense of artistic responsibility.

How to Draw Basics 102: Contours: This class will teach artists with a combination of a brief PowerPoint lecture followed by practice of various exercises. Your learners will complete a series of three exercises designed to train your learners to separate what they know from what they see, teach them what a contour is, and improve their concentration and hand-eye coordination. These exercises include: knowing versus seeing, an inverted recreation of Picasso’s Great Head, 1946, and a series of blind-contour drawings. Your learners should complete this course with an understanding of what a contour is and how to draw contours, improved concentration and hand-eye coordination, and a familiarization of naturalism. They will have a wealth of exercises to practice and continue to improve! 

How to Draw Basics 103: Contour Mastery: In Mastery courses, artists will be given several exercises that they can feel free to complete in their own time. Mastery of fundamental concepts in art with help make other skills easier to learn and improve artwork. In addition, having a large variety of exercises to repeat during art practice is a great way to improve and bolster confidence. This class emphasizes practicing concentration and hand-eye coordination exercises that will allow students to master consistent lines and draw while observing. Artists will have several exercises to pick from and may complete exercises at their own pace. The exercises learners will have to do are as follows: mark-making exercises, zentangles, blind contours, upside down Igor, crumpled graph or notebook paper drawing, and contour object drawings. 

How to Draw Basics 104: Light and Values: Class will begin with a lecture that will cover exactly how light works, explain why light is important, demonstrate how light can be emotional and narrative, and introduce important vocabulary. During our lecture, artists will create a diagram of shadow anatomy using a sphere. After our lecture period, learners will have the rest of class to work on two Shading Technique Worksheets. The first worksheet will work as a value study or scale that will teach students how to get different values from their four shading techniques: rendering, hatching, cross-hatching, and stippling. Time permitting, the class may have the option to work on object studies. 

How to Draw Basics 105: Value Mastery: In Mastery courses, artists will be given several exercises that they can feel free to complete in their own time. Mastery of fundamental concepts in art with help make other skills easier to learn and improve artwork. In addition, having a large variety of exercises to repeat during art practice is a great way to improve and bolster confidence. During this class, students will have multiple exercises to work on at their pace. Exercises for this class will include any uncompleted worksheet from How to Draw Basics: Light and Values, Shading Technique Worksheet #3, object studies, and for students interested in a challenge, textures and a challenge shading worksheet. For their object studies, learners may choose to do complicated objects such as draped fabrics, flowers, or remotes, or simpler objects such as dishware or pottery.

How to Draw Basics 106: Composition: Our composition class utilizes an interactive PowerPoint lecture and in-class practice time to teach students the basics of composition through the lens of still life. Our lecture will begin with the two most fundamental decisions an artist has to make when they begin thinking about how to compose their piece: orientation and whether the piece is opened or closed. After our conversation about those two decisions, I will outline various methods of arranging objects and thinking about composition, such as the eight elements of successful composition. Once the lecture is complete, young artists will have the rest of the time in class to work on four composition sketches. 

How to Draw Basics 107: Still Life: This class is designed to teach young artists what a still life is, allow them to assemble their own, and give ample time for them to complete their first still life in class.