Tuesday, October 5, 2010
Thanksgiving weekend
Just a reminder that there is NO CLASS this Saturday due to the Thanksgiving holiday October 9, 2010.
Saturday, October 2, 2010
Draw on This Fall 2010—Day Two
The Happiness of Lions
Using the drawing elements that I introduced last class, today we will draw this amazing lion—
We started the class with a quick warm up and then step by step we drew our lions with lines, circles and dots a la Monart method. The results show lots of great variety.
This was not only a lesson in trying to break down a drawing into simple lines and shapes but in listening. I challenged the students to patiently wait upon each instruction and to not jump ahead in their drawing. Some students did jump ahead and ended up with lions that were very different from our sample drawing but — still awesome! I’m not completely sure how well that I got the message across that careful listening = more accurate drawing (closely resembling the initial sample) … but I am hesitant to push this too hard as some of the less “accurate” drawings had their own awesomeness because of how they are so unique.
For today’s drawing I asked the students to start with a light coloured marker. Use that light colour to draw all of your shapes and outlines. Don’t worry if you make mistakes, just keep drawing until you think you have the lines that you want. Once finished, use a dark coloured marker to trace over the lines that you like in your drawing (ignoring the lines you don't like). Once finished, the lighter coloured marker lines can be filled in to become the colour of the objects or turned into a decoration or even shadows!
The great thing about markers is that you cannot erase anything! This class is about being brave and being willing to make “mistakes” and to often turn those “mistakes” into something new and better. Today I saw quite a few students deal with lion heads that they thought were too small or legs that they thought were too skinny or even in the wrong place. These students had to learn to accept every marker stroke applied to their paper and if they didn't like it, they had to either lump it or turn that stroke into something else. This strategy is great for encouraging creativity, improve problems solving ability and to help to let go of our concept of “this is good” and “this is bad” in drawing. I have some brave students in this class with many creative ideas. Way to go class!
And last but not least, the drawing created by my lovely assistant. Thank you ma’am. Your lion is terrrrrrrific!
We started the class with a quick warm up and then step by step we drew our lions with lines, circles and dots a la Monart method. The results show lots of great variety.
This was not only a lesson in trying to break down a drawing into simple lines and shapes but in listening. I challenged the students to patiently wait upon each instruction and to not jump ahead in their drawing. Some students did jump ahead and ended up with lions that were very different from our sample drawing but — still awesome! I’m not completely sure how well that I got the message across that careful listening = more accurate drawing (closely resembling the initial sample) … but I am hesitant to push this too hard as some of the less “accurate” drawings had their own awesomeness because of how they are so unique.
For today’s drawing I asked the students to start with a light coloured marker. Use that light colour to draw all of your shapes and outlines. Don’t worry if you make mistakes, just keep drawing until you think you have the lines that you want. Once finished, use a dark coloured marker to trace over the lines that you like in your drawing (ignoring the lines you don't like). Once finished, the lighter coloured marker lines can be filled in to become the colour of the objects or turned into a decoration or even shadows!
The great thing about markers is that you cannot erase anything! This class is about being brave and being willing to make “mistakes” and to often turn those “mistakes” into something new and better. Today I saw quite a few students deal with lion heads that they thought were too small or legs that they thought were too skinny or even in the wrong place. These students had to learn to accept every marker stroke applied to their paper and if they didn't like it, they had to either lump it or turn that stroke into something else. This strategy is great for encouraging creativity, improve problems solving ability and to help to let go of our concept of “this is good” and “this is bad” in drawing. I have some brave students in this class with many creative ideas. Way to go class!
And last but not least, the drawing created by my lovely assistant. Thank you ma’am. Your lion is terrrrrrrific!
Saturday, September 25, 2010
Draw on This Fall 2010—Day One
Starting with the Basics
I am so excited to be starting up class again! This session, we have one full class of kids with ages from seven to nine.
To start out today I started again with the good old Monart method and reviewed the different types of lines and shapes that we will use and talk about for the next 10 weeks. To make sure that everyone understood these different lines and shapes and for a fun warm up, we started with an introductory abstract exercise from Monart. I gave everyone the same instructions to draw a series of lines and shapes. Check out the wonderful variety of interpretations!—
After our warm up we were ready to start drawing! Using our lines and shapes, I instructed the students on how to draw a very simple fish. We started by blocking in basic shapes with a light coloured marker then we recreated the lines that we wanted to keep by using a dark coloured marker. Once finished, the students were permitted to decorate their fish as they pleased. We have some great results—
Next week, we shall put all we have learned together and do a more detailed drawing. We are off to a great start! See you next week!
To start out today I started again with the good old Monart method and reviewed the different types of lines and shapes that we will use and talk about for the next 10 weeks. To make sure that everyone understood these different lines and shapes and for a fun warm up, we started with an introductory abstract exercise from Monart. I gave everyone the same instructions to draw a series of lines and shapes. Check out the wonderful variety of interpretations!—
After our warm up we were ready to start drawing! Using our lines and shapes, I instructed the students on how to draw a very simple fish. We started by blocking in basic shapes with a light coloured marker then we recreated the lines that we wanted to keep by using a dark coloured marker. Once finished, the students were permitted to decorate their fish as they pleased. We have some great results—
Next week, we shall put all we have learned together and do a more detailed drawing. We are off to a great start! See you next week!
Friday, September 24, 2010
All filled up and ready to go!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Woohoo! Although we will only have one class this fall, it is now all filled up! I can't wait for our first class tomorrow!
Thursday, September 23, 2010
UPDATE TO FALL SCHEDULE
A change has been made to the fall schedule. There will not be a 9 a.m. class. All students currently signed up for the 9 a.m. class have been invited to attend the 10:30 a.m. class.
Please also note that Draw on This and That for ages 13-17 years has been cancelled.
If you have any questions, do not hesitate to contact me at drawon@kavafish.ca.
Draw on This
Mary Honeywell P.S.
613-580-2424 ext. 41238
6–8 yrs. Sat 9-10 am
Sept. 25–Dec 4 $89 .25 445943
9–12 yrs. Sat 10:30-11:30 am
Sept. 25-Dec 4 $89 .25 445946
More info:
To register in Parks and Recreation programs, you will require a Client Barcode(s) and Family PIN numbers. To obtain yours, call 613-580-2588 Monday to Friday, 7 am to 7 pm (with the exception of statutory holidays) and follow the prompts.
Monday, September 6, 2010
Fall sessions are starting soon!
Classes will be starting again on September 25th!
To register in Parks and Recreation programs, you will require a Client Barcode(s) and Family PIN numbers. To obtain yours, call 613-580-2588 Monday to Friday, 7 am to 7 pm (with the exception of statutory holidays) and follow the prompts.
Draw on This
Mary Honeywell P.S.
613-580-2424 ext. 41238
6–8 yrs. Sat 9-10 am
Sept. 25–Dec 4 $89 .25 445943
9–12 yrs. Sat 10:30-11:30 am
Sept. 25-Dec 4 $89 .25 445946
Draw on This and That
Mary Honeywell P.S.
613-580-2424 ext. 41238
13-17 yrs Thu 6:45-8:15 pm
Sept. 30–Dec. 9 $105 447263
More info:
http://ottawa.ca/residents/parks_recreation/programs/guide/index_en.html
To register in Parks and Recreation programs, you will require a Client Barcode(s) and Family PIN numbers. To obtain yours, call 613-580-2588 Monday to Friday, 7 am to 7 pm (with the exception of statutory holidays) and follow the prompts.
Draw on This
Mary Honeywell P.S.
613-580-2424 ext. 41238
6–8 yrs. Sat 9-10 am
Sept. 25–Dec 4 $89 .25 445943
9–12 yrs. Sat 10:30-11:30 am
Sept. 25-Dec 4 $89 .25 445946
Draw on This and That
Mary Honeywell P.S.
613-580-2424 ext. 41238
13-17 yrs Thu 6:45-8:15 pm
Sept. 30–Dec. 9 $105 447263
More info:
http://ottawa.ca/residents/parks_recreation/programs/guide/index_en.html
Saturday, April 10, 2010
Draw on That—Day Ten
The Way of the Samurai
And now for the last "last class" of the season. :-(
For today's finale, we repeated the earlier class's warm up exercise with charcoal and doing some fun gesture drawings of our model. Our model today—my assistant Devon. Devon provided us with a quick series of 30 to 60 second poses to inspire us.
GESTURE DRAWINGS are drawings that capture just that—GESTURES, or quick poses. Gesture drawing is a quick way of sketching a posed model and capturing only the basics. This is a great skill for creating a super fast basic drawing, especially useful when trying to capture the basic elements of a model that is is about to change position!
So, in 30 to 60 seconds, what basic lines did these students use to capture our model? Check it out—
Like today's first class, I wanted to present these students with something really different from everything anything we have done. For many of our classes, we have focused on drawing real objects or animals in relatively realistic ways. Today is the opposite of realistic. Today is about exaggeration and silliness.
For inspiration, I offered up a unique approach to drawing as demonstrated by the fantastic Geoff Gibson. Geoff works primarily with Sharpies and crazy shapes and lines to create fun alien characters. His stylized and funky drawings decorate paper, skateboards, snowboards and many a wall of those who know him.
After looking at some of Geoff’s work, we all took a try with this new drawing style. Here are my quick attempts today:
This year, I had the opportunity to video record Geoff in his home studio and ask him some questions about his process. I would post a link to it now but Geoff is shy and won't let me post him in video format online so check him out at http://www.samuraiinstreetclothes.com/. While the kids dove into their work, I let the short video play so they could hear Geoff talk about his work.
Now for the kids turn. Using long exaggerated lines, swirls and patterns they produced this great work. I loved these results!! I think some of the kids were surprised by their own wonderful ideas that came from this experiment!
And one last beautiful drawing as created by my assistant. I love how she used Geoff's idea of swirls as pattern. So beautiful Devon!!
With the last class complete, I thank all my lovely students for their participation. I had so much fun getting to know you and sharing this time with you. You were another brave group, willing to try new things. You inspire me so! Keep drawing!!
For today's finale, we repeated the earlier class's warm up exercise with charcoal and doing some fun gesture drawings of our model. Our model today—my assistant Devon. Devon provided us with a quick series of 30 to 60 second poses to inspire us.
GESTURE DRAWINGS are drawings that capture just that—GESTURES, or quick poses. Gesture drawing is a quick way of sketching a posed model and capturing only the basics. This is a great skill for creating a super fast basic drawing, especially useful when trying to capture the basic elements of a model that is is about to change position!
So, in 30 to 60 seconds, what basic lines did these students use to capture our model? Check it out—
Like today's first class, I wanted to present these students with something really different from everything anything we have done. For many of our classes, we have focused on drawing real objects or animals in relatively realistic ways. Today is the opposite of realistic. Today is about exaggeration and silliness.
For inspiration, I offered up a unique approach to drawing as demonstrated by the fantastic Geoff Gibson. Geoff works primarily with Sharpies and crazy shapes and lines to create fun alien characters. His stylized and funky drawings decorate paper, skateboards, snowboards and many a wall of those who know him.
After looking at some of Geoff’s work, we all took a try with this new drawing style. Here are my quick attempts today:
Now for the kids turn. Using long exaggerated lines, swirls and patterns they produced this great work. I loved these results!! I think some of the kids were surprised by their own wonderful ideas that came from this experiment!
And one last beautiful drawing as created by my assistant. I love how she used Geoff's idea of swirls as pattern. So beautiful Devon!!
With the last class complete, I thank all my lovely students for their participation. I had so much fun getting to know you and sharing this time with you. You were another brave group, willing to try new things. You inspire me so! Keep drawing!!
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