- Select one medium in which to experiment. Consider how this medium can be used to express an idea or to depict the subject you are considering. Your medium may be as simple as children’s poster paint or tempera paints or watercolor pan paint that can be found at most chain multi-product stores. You can paint on copier paper, poster paper (use the rougher side, as the slick side does not allow most paints to adhere), cardboard, or purchase a pad of watercolor or poster paint paper. You may use oil paint, but you will also need a solvent to clean brushes afterward. Be creative in finding materials that you may already have on hand, or purchase and share materials with other students. Once you have your materials at hand, plan your design in a few sketches. Select the best sketch and begin to experiment with your paints. Try to learn how to handle the tools and materials as you work; in this way, you’ll get the feel of the medium. Remember that the process is the learning experience… and should also be fun. You may create an exciting work, or not – most artists create more practice works than masterpieces. The purpose of the project is to become familiar with painting media.
- Create a collage using any “found” materials including paper, photographs, cardboard, packaging, sequins, etc. Be creative in your selection of materials so that you have a range of textures, colors, and content with which to work. Before beginning to paste down the items you have found, sketch out a general plan for your work. If your drawing skills are limited, find or take a photograph of a still life, group portrait, a nature scene, or another subject. Sketch the general shapes that you find within that image as the basis for your collage. If you wish to create a non-objective collage, then develop a concept or idea that you intend the collage to explore or present. Your collage may include drawing and painting as well as the pasted-in elements. Review the collage works in the chapter to see how different artists combine drawing and painting with collage.
- Take a photograph of your face. Turn the photograph upside down. Now try drawing the photo upside down. Try to keep the pencil always on the paper. Focus your attention on the upside-down photo, and glance at your drawing just occasionally. You may try tracing the photo with the hand opposite from with the one which you draw. Our hands seem to know where the other hand is. The facts are that we can draw better than we think. Our thinking gets in the way of our drawing. By turning the paper upside down and by using one hand to trace the edges, and the other to draw, we let our body do most of the drawing. You should tape both the photo and the drawing paper to the table so that they do not move as you draw. Before you begin your drawing, practice writing your name with your wrong hand, as you write with your usual writing hand. You will discover that you can write quite well in this fashion. You might want to go online and see Betty Edwards, Drawing on the Right Side of Your Brain. https://www.allaboutdrawings.com/upside-down-drawi…
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