Perspective Strategy Drawing

Purpose:

To review the perspective strategies that you learned;

To make connections between what you learned and demonstrating your understanding by creating a drawing using one of the perspective strategies.

While creating this drawing I used two point perspective as well as aerial perspective. Two point perspective was shown by placing two vanishing points on opposite sides of the drawing and making each object shrink as it approached each vanishing point. Aerial perspective was used by making objects more blurry and having a blueish tint as they approached the vanishing point and grew more distant from the viewer. The combination of both created a drawing that had a larger and sharper image in the middle, with shrunken and blurry images on either side of it. By applying both techniques to my drawing I learned about the effect that using two point perspective correctly can have on a drawing. In my opinion, the aerial and two point perspectives added to the effectiveness of the drawing by making it more realistic.

Perspective

A horizon line is a line drawn or painted across the canvas at the viewer’s eye level. It represents the the line in nature where the sky and ground meet. A vanishing point, usually placed at the viewer’s eye level, is the single point in a picture where all parallel lines that run from the viewer to the horizon line appear to come together. Orthogonal lines are lines straight diagonal lines drawn to connect points around the edges of a picture to the vanishing point. These lines help draw the viewer’s attention to the vanishing point. Transversal lines are lines that always form right angles with orthogonal lines. They are also parallel to the picture plane and to one another.

One point perspective is the simplest form of perspective drawing and it uses a single vanishing point to draw attention to an object.

Two point perspective uses two sets of orthogonal lines and two vanishing points to to draw each object.

A circle in perspective is called an ellipse. The drawing is controlled by rectangular perspective.

Depth perspective can be shown by making things that are farther away or closer to the vanishing point smaller than objects that are close to the viewer. As objects approach the vanishing point, they get a blue tint and become more hazy.

Atmospheric/aerial perspective is the act of painting objects that are far away less distinctly and with a bluish tint. Leonardo speculated that this could be caused by the increased atmosphere in between the viewer and the object which reflected light and gave a blue tint, or warm water vapor in the air illuminated by sunlight in front of a dark background.

Expressionism

         The expressionism movement occurred primarily in Germany and Austria during the first decade of the 20th century. Expressionistic art emphasizes the extreme expressive properties of art in pictorial form in order to explore subjective emotions and inner psychological truths. The movement departed even further from traditional notions of recording the appearance of reality than had the Post impressionists or Symbolists that came before it. Three of the most well-known artists from this time are Fritz Bleyl, Erich Heckel, and Ernst Ludwig Kirchner.
         The work of Siri Beckman and Holly Berry contrasts to the work of the German Expressionist art while they still share similarities. The subjects of the German Expressionist art tend to be more people and landscapes while Beckman and Berry choose all kinds of subjects. From the German work on Pinterest, many of the German work is solemn and has a kind of sad mood to it. The more contemporary work has a more excited or happy mood. Beckman also carves in to wood and uses mostly black and white while Berry uses bright and vibrant colors in her work. Most of the German work is either black and white or if it uses colors, they don't stand out as much as Berry's.

Siri Beckman, "Kansas Song," 2007

Käthe Kollwitz, "Maria and Elisabeth," 1929

These two prints are similar in the sense that they both use only black and white to create images and that they generally both use negative space as highlights in the print. The prints also both show fairly realistic images, there isn't much or any use of abstract shapes or patterns. In terms of differences, Beckman really uses lines to create energy in her print. Kollwitz doesn't use lines as much, but uses highlights very well to call attention to certain areas in the print. The mood of Beckman's print also differs from Kollwitz's because Beckman's comes off as brighter and more open while Kollwitz features a dark scene with two people who don't look to be in a good situation. 


"Collection Online | Browse By Movement | Expressionism - Guggenheim Museum." Collection Online | Browse By Movement | Expressionism - Guggenheim Museum. N.p., 2014. Web. 29 Apr. 2014.

Post Impressionism

        Purpose: To gain a basic understanding about the Post-Impressionism Art Movement and to identify Artists who work(ed) in this style.

Post Impressionism wasn’t a formal movement or style, but a few independant artists who decided to rebel against the limitations of Impressionism in the late 19th century. They searched for an independant way to express their emotions, concentrating on deeper symbolism. Their style focused on emotional, spiritual, structural, and symbolic aspects that in their opinions were missing from Impressionism. The work of these artists formed the artistic foundation of future modern art. Paul Gauguin, Vincent Van Gogh, and Paul Cézanne all were popular post impressionists.

Works Cited

"Post Impressionism - The Roots of Modern Art." Post Impressionism. N.p., n.d. Web. 06 Mar. 2014.

Voorhies, James. "Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History." Post-Impressionism. N.p., n.d. Web. 05 Mar. 2014.

By doing this assignment I learned about the style of post-impressionist painters. I copied a Vincent van Gogh painting and to do this I needed to closely study the details of his work and observe the kind of lines and values that he used. Even though I used a different medium, I still needed to use similar lines and create similar textures to the ones that van Gogh created. This turned out to be pretty difficult as there were many small lines and patterns in the painting. I think that it would've come out better if I had used cray-pas, but I didn't have them available so I used colored pencil. This did allow me to get more details in the drawing, but it took some likeness away from the drawing. I also needed to combine and blend different shades of colors in certain areas which taught me about results of mixing colors.

A Corridor in the Asylum

Vincent van Gogh

1889

Half Portrait Drawing, Sketchbook

Purpose:

To look closely at half of a portrait and complete the portrait by drawing similar features;

To practice drawing facial features: eyes, nose, and mouth

While working on this drawing I learned that analyzing the other half of the face really helped me to visualize the half that I needed to draw. I think this taught me that looking more closely at my work will help me realize what else I need to do to improve it. I also learned that values of the face aren't always very defined or clear. Although I didn't actually blend any of the pencil in the drawing, I did my best to blend values and make the other half look as realistic as possible.

Realism, inspired drawing, Sketchbook

Purpose: To gain a basic understanding about the Realism Art Movement and to identify Artists who work(ed) in this style.

The Realist movement was composed of people who just wanted to paint things as they saw them. This included common and sometimes ugly subjects that weren’t attractive to the upper class art style of stiff and conventional paintings. The subjects that realists dealt with sometimes depicted social, political, and economic issues of their time. The movement never became really solid and unified, but it definitely had an impact on future movements. The Realist movement took place from about 1830-1880

The Desperate Man

Gustave Courbet

1845

Part 2

Edna Schonblum

Edna Schonblum’s work is similar to Gustave Courbet’s in the sense that it depicts something simple and real. Neither of the paintings seem to contain any aspects of Romanticism. Both paintings also use shadows well to show the angle of light and size and shape of the objects. In terms of differences, Edna Schonblum uses brighter colors that catch your attention. Even though she didn’t use a wide variety of colors, her painting looks more colorful than Gustave Courbet’s. Gustave uses more neutral colors that are more common in real things. Schonblum also uses line and angles well, unlike in Courbet’s painting. I prefer Schonblum’s painting because of its use of color and lines. Looking through more of Schonblum’s work, her paintings seem overall more interesting to me than Gustave Courbet’s.

By doing this assignment I learned to pay more attention to detail due to the fact that the original was very detailed and had many different values. I had to make sure that my values didn't blend together and that they were very defined. I also learned to not outline shapes in the drawing. At first, I outlined everything and started to put values in inside the lines, but I realized that what I needed to do was show shapes in the drawing by using contrasting values and colors.