Making my mark

Well, mark making was the name of the game as I continued my "Fundamentals of Drawing" course at Emily Carr University of Art & Design.

After plunging in with 100 drawings of the same object, we settled down quickly to master some essential skills.  First up:-- Developing grey scales using different media. Object: In ten evenly graduated steps, create a band of tones from white to black.

This can be fiendishly difficult. Zoom into the blob in the lower left corner below, and you'll detect an exasperated, "I give up."

With that mastered (ha!), we used these tonal basics to make geometric shapes appear as three-dimensional as possible.

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Our homework assignment was to use the same techniques to draw one or more pears, as 3-dimensionally as possible.
 

Approaching the midpoint of the course, we learned that useful knack of Looking Like Real Artists. You know:-- holding a pencil out at arm's length to assist in gauging proportion and comparative sizes. Using this method in class to lay out some differently sized and positioned objects seemed awkward to me.

 ...but I had fun replicating the arm's-length pose at home:

The following week we experimented with creating textures. Our homework was to draw five identical objects and cover them with improbable textures. How about these light bulbs decked out in crumpled paper, puckered fabric, wrapped yarn, snakeskin, and tire treads?

To make all the tiny little marks that comprise the whole takes hours and hours, but it can also have a calm and meditative effect -- just what I needed.

Our homework assignments became more challenging with each week -- a lot to cover in just one blog post. So I've decided to continue next time with the adventures of the following three classes. What do you think? A bright idea, no?