Conclusion of semester

Dear class,

Thanks to all of you for making today's final critique such a successful and rewarding experience! I appreciated very much all the thoughtful comments and questions, and I think it's safe to say that we all got something significant out of the day.

Since I didn't do much talking during our final critique, I want to offer anyone who wants it some personal feedback from me via e-mail. If you'd like some comments from me on your piece, please e-mail me at taneyroniger@gmail.com.

I've moved tomorrow's (Tuesday's) grading period to earlier in the day (11am - 1pm) so that you'll be able to retrieve your work before you leave for the holidays. If you are unable to come by the classroom tomorrow at 1:00, I will leave your materials (i.e., portfolios and notebooks) in my class locker on the first floor. My locker is in room 102C, and it's Locker B. If you need to have access to your things over the break, you can unlock the lock with the following combination: 30-4-34. Please be sure to lock it back up when you leave.

I wish you all a fun and relaxing holiday break, and I look forward to seeing you again in early January.

All the answers to your questions, and then some

As our final day of class (Monday, December 19th) is approaching, I urge you to take a few minutes to read through the following. Below you will find all the information you'll need to be prepared for that day in addition to information on how to retrieve your materials afterward.

PORTFOLIO AND NOTEBOOK TURN-IN:

On Monday the 19th you will be turning in both your portfolio and your notebook for grading purposes.

PORTFOLIO REQUIREMENTS: Your portfolio should contain the following items, in the following order. Please note that a sloppy presentation will affect your grade for the portfolio. You may include items not listed below, but any additional items should be placed behind the required ones:

1. Contour drawing (Assignment #1)
2. Negative space drawing (Assignment #2)
3. Single mark drawing (Assignment #3)
4. Light and shadow drawing (Assignment #4)
5. Protest drawing (Assignment #5)
6. Imaginary cityscape (Assignment #6)
7. Gesture drawings (8) (Assignment #7)
8. Scribble drawing (Assignment #8)
9. Expressive hands drawing (Assignment #9)
10. Diptych (Assignment #10)
11. Perspective drawing from the Cathedral of St. John the Divine

If you would like to re-work (or entirely re-do) any of the assignments, please do so. Improving on your homework assignments is almost sure to improve your grade for the semester.

GRADING PERIOD: I will be grading the portfolios and the notebooks on Tuesday, December 20th from 4 - 6pm in 405C.

RETRIEVAL OF MATERIALS: After I grade your work, your materials (with the exception of your final project) will be placed in the classroom racks. If you would like to take any of it home for the holidays, plan to come by the classroom anytime after 6pm on the 20th. You may take your final project home with you after our last day of class, as it will have already received a grade.

FINAL PROJECT PRESENTATION GUIDELINES:

As I've mentioned before, our final day of class on the 19th will be a full day of critiques in which all of you will present your final projects to the class. This critique will be similar to the weekly critiques we’ve been having, but it will be longer and more thorough, and – unlike in the weekly critiques – each student will be expected to give a short presentation about the ideas that informed his/her project. Below are some general guidelines for what you will want to present to the class:

- If your drawing is based on another work of art, which work is it? Be sure to have the full name of the artist, the title of the work, and the year it was made handy while you present your project to the class. You might want to bring in a reproduction of the work as well.

- If your drawing is not based on another work of art but on some other kind of source, what is the nature of this source? Visual aids of any kind will help you describe your source/s to the class.

- Why did you choose this particular work of art or other source for your project? What kind of personal meaning does this source hold for you?

- What kind of approach did you use in the making of your drawing? Did you work from photographs, collages, film stills, etc.? Did you make preliminary sketches? Did you use a computer at any stage in the process?

- How did you decide what kinds of drawing materials and/or mark-making techniques to use in your drawing?

- What kinds of problems did you encounter as you worked on your drawing? How did you resolve those problems (f you did)?

- How satisfied are you with your drawing? What kinds of expectations did you have going into the project? Do you feel your drawing meets those expectations? If not, what could you have done differently?

Please note: To ensure that our final critique is a rewarding experience for everyone, I encourage you to be as generous as possible with your comments and feedback. On this day, I’d like to be the one doing the least amount of talking!

Also note: As I mentioned before, the day will be divided into 12-minute segments so that each student will have the same amount of time for his/her critique. "Breakfast" (i.e., donuts) will be provided, but we will have very little time for a formal lunch break. I encourage everyone to bring plenty of food and drink to class.

Notice for Monday's class

(For this week's homework assignment see post below.)

Dear class,

Please bring to class on Monday the 5th a photograph (portrait) of someone you admire, or someone who has meant a lot to you in your life. The person can be a famous figure or someone you know personally, but whoever it is, be sure that the image is large enough for you to see well. I recommend making a high-resolution black and white print-out that is the size of an average piece of paper (i.e., 8.5" x 11").

Homework Assignment #11, due Monday, Dec. 5

EXPLORING THE DIPTYCH:

As a continuation of the in-class studies we did with the irregular format, this week’s assignment is to make a diptych (a two-paneled piece) that challenges the notion of the conventional picture rectangle. Begin by cutting one of your sheets of sketch vellum into two pieces. Use a straight edge and blade, and cut the sheet one time only so that you end up with either two long, skinny rectangles, two conventional picture rectangles, or two dissimilar rectangles (i.e., cut down the center lengthwise, down the center widthwise, or off-center in either direction). You will use both sheets in this drawing, which means that you’ll be working on a diptych, but it’s up to you how you want to arrange the sheets in relation to each other.

Select some aspect of your room (with or without people) to draw. In selecting what to draw, think a lot about what might be intriguing when “broken up” into two rectangles. In your drawing, concentrate on two things: (1) How you crop your objects, and (2) How the two parts of your diptych relate to each other. Remember that when it comes to cropping, what you leave out of the picture (what happens “off the page”) can be just as important as what you include in your drawing. With the diptych format, you can really exploit the suggestion of off-page activity by how you choose to arrange the panels in relation to each other (for example, leaving a space on the wall in between two side-by-side panels automatically piques the viewer’s curiosity about what’s going on in the space not depicted in the drawing).

Note: However you choose to approach this assignment, you should think of your diptych as one drawing (not two separate drawings that are going to be hung together).

IMPORTANT: You must cut your paper BEFORE you begin your drawing. If you cut it afterward, it will simply be considered a drawing cut into two pieces rather than a true diptych.

Materials: You may use any of the drawing materials we have used so far this semester.

Homework Assignment #10, due Monday, Nov. 28

This week your homework assignment is to come up with an idea for your final project, which will be due on Monday, December 19th (our last day of class this semester) and to write (type) a brief idea proposal accompanied by a series of sketches in your notebook. I will look at both the proposal and the sketches during class next week, and will be available for discussion for anyone who would like help developing his or her idea. Please go over the guidelines below, and feel free to e-mail me with whatever questions you may have.

Note: You will have a full two weeks to complete your final drawing, not including this initial idea phase.

FINAL PROJECT GUIDELINES:

The general theme of the end-of-semester project is the self-portrait, but you are encouraged to come up with an approach to the theme that is creative and original. Below are some suggestions. Whether you choose something from this list or come up with another idea, you must run your project by me for approval before getting started.

General requirements: All final projects should be on large paper measuring approximately 30” x 40.” Other than this general size requirement, the kind of paper you use is entirely up to you. In choosing a paper, you should give great consideration to qualities such as color, texture, and edges, as these will contribute to the overall quality of your drawing. You may use any of the drawing materials we have used so far for this project. Plan to spend between 25 and 30 hours on this drawing (DO NOT, therefore, wait until the day before class to begin!). The grade you receive for this drawing will greatly contribute to your grade for the semester.

New York Central Art Supply has an excellent selection of drawing papers. The store is located at 62 3rd Avenue (between E.10th and E.11th Sts.). Phone number: (212) 473-7705.

Suggested approaches to your self-portrait:

1. Place yourself inside your favorite image: Select a famous painting, drawing, or photograph that means a lot to you and draw the image with you in it. Begin by taking several photographs of yourself and experimenting with how you want to insert yourself into the image (I recommend making plenty of photocopies of both your photographs and your selected image and using collage techniques to experiment with composition, scaling, etc.). Remember that you needn’t copy the original painting/drawing/photograph exactly; feel free to select, omit, distort, etc. The idea is to use the original piece as a point of departure for a new piece that is uniquely your own. If you change the image significantly, be sure to leave just enough key characteristics intact so that the viewer will be able to recognize the original in your piece).

2. Altered identity: Draw yourself as a historical figure or fictional character. Choose a figure or character whose image is well-documented (in other words, don’t work from what you imagine the character to look like but rather from actual source material). Collect images of your chosen person from books, magazines, newspapers, etc. and base your drawing on these images. Work also from photographs of yourself.

3. Self as object: Transform yourself into an inanimate object. Choose an object that has some special significance to you so that your becoming this object will make a meaningful statement about you as a person. Work from various photographs of your object and you. You may want to draw the transformation as a sequence of phases, in which case you can use four or five separate sheets of paper whose total dimensions will be approximately 30”x 50.”

4. Give yourself the tattoo you’ve always wanted: Draw yourself with the tattoo of your choice. The tattoo can be a famous painting, your favorite poem, a sequence of numbers, a pattern – anything! Work with a variety of source images in addition to several photographs of yourself. Be creative in selecting a site for your tattoo; since it’s not a real tattoo, you can place it somewhere unusual to create a surprising and dynamic image.

Homework Assignment #9, due Monday, Nov. 21

EXPRESSIVE HANDS:

In keeping with the anatomical studies we began in class, this week’s assignment is to make a drawing of hands (at least four) arranged on a page in an interesting and meaningful way. Begin from observation, using your own hand (the one you’re not using for drawing) to enact a sequence of gestures. These gestures can be anything from formal poses to recognizable signals (including those used in sign language). The idea is to arrange the drawn hands on your paper in such a way that the drawing communicates something, however subtle it may be. (It may be as subtle and abstract as a sense of disappointment, for example, or the suggestion of a mountain range in China.) As you did in class, concentrate on seeing the skin as "drapery" that wraps around the underlying skeletal, muscular, and vascular systems, revealing something of their structure

Please note: All your drawings beyond this point should transcend the level of academic study. Use your skills not merely to prove that you have them but to say something! Make the viewer want to keep coming back to your drawing. Among numerous other attributes that tend to keep the viewer coming back are: beauty, ambiguity, intrigue, an element of surprise, the grotesque, the fanciful…

Materials: Conte crayon (black and white) and sketch vellum.

Alberto Giacometti

(For this week's homework assignment see post below.)

Dear class,

Since a number of you were absent today, I wanted to post some of the images we looked at in class for the benefit of those who weren't with us.

We looked at two artists: Alberto Giacometti (Swiss) and R.B. Kitaj (American). I was unable to find images of Kitaj's scribble drawings online, but I encourage you to look for them elsewhere. Here are some of Giacometti's signature scribble drawings:

Homework Assignment #8, due Monday, Nov. 14

EXPLORING THE SCRIBBLE:

The purpose of this assignment is to gain further experience in modeling the human form using line only while exploring the emotional possibilities inherent in the loose and linear approach to drawing. In the loose, “scribble” style of Giacometti and Kitaj, make a self-portrait of your head and shoulders. Work from a mirror (no photographs!), and concentrate on using your scribbled marks to suggest both the solidity of your form and something of the emotional range you experience while drawing.

Materials: Use a new (i.e., fully loaded with ink) ballpoint pen, and continue drawing until all the ink is gone. Draw on your usual paper (the sketch vellum), but remember that you don’t have to fill up the entire page. Use your marks to activate the space of the rectangle in an interesting way.

References: For further information on the artists we saw in class, you can do some research online:

Alberto Giacometti (Swiss, 1901-1966)
R.B. Kitaj (American, 1936-2007)

Homework Assignment #7, due Monday, Nov. 7

This week's assignment is two-fold: First, to do a series of gesture drawings (see below), and second, to finish the perspective drawing you made in church two weeks ago. Many of you will need to return to the church to complete your church drawing, and this is a good week to do this, since your gesture homework will not take long to complete.

GESTURE DRAWINGS: ANIMATE AND INANIMATE OBJECTS

The purpose of this assignment is to further explore gesture, both in animate and inanimate objects. With gesture studies, what you're looking for is the essential character or the internal nature of a thing as it exists at a particular moment in time. Gesture drawings are fast drawings which seek to capture something essential about your subject with as few marks as possible (and no details at all).

With animate beings such as people and animals, essential character is expressed through the subject's physical postures and movements (i.e., the "body language"), and to grasp the gesture requires that you enter into a kind of empathy with your subject. When doing gesture drawings of inanimate objects such as rocks, shoes, and tables, a similar kind of empathy occurs, although in this case it is clear that the feeling is coming entirely from you; you are endowing the thing with human attributes that it does not itself have. The challenge with inanimate objects, then, is two-fold: first, to find the gesture, and second, to convince the viewer that the feeling or character is coming from within the thing itself.

Note: There are many things that seem to fall somewhere in between the two categories of animate and inanimate. Trees are one example, and as such they can be very expressive "inanimate" subjects.

Using conte crayon, make a series of 8 gesture drawings: 4 of people or animals, and 4 of inanimate objects. Since you may want to draw outside or in a public space for this assignment, you may use smaller paper. My suggestion is to divide two pieces of your sketch vellum into 8 separate sheets, each 9” x 12”. A good way to do this is to fold the paper along center axes and rip at the folds until you have all 8 sheets. As always, keep in mind that presentation matters; the degree of care you take with your paper will be reflected in your grade for the assignment.

Picasso drawing with light

Dear class,

For your reference, here is the image we looked at today. It's a photograph taken by Gjon Mili in Paris in 1949.

Cathedral drawings and materials notice

Dear class,

First, since a number of you were unable to finish your drawings yesterday at the cathedral, I am going to give that (i.e., finishing the drawings) as a secondary assignment for the week following next week's class. Not to worry! The primary assignment for that week will be quick and will require only about an hour of your time. You can plan to put the remaining five or so hours into finishing the drawing you started at the church. To do this you can either return to the church on your own time (check its hours before going: www.stjohndivine.org), or, if you feel you have all the perspective right, you can use your memory, imagination, and other drawing skills to bring the drawing up to the level of a work of art. I look forward to seeing what you come up with.

This week, however, you should focus on your Imaginary Cityscape assignment.

Finally, please bring two black Conte Crayons to class next week. We will be beginning our figure studies using a live model, and it's imperative that you have the Conte Crayon for this session.

Homework Assignment #6, due Monday, October 31st

(For information about our off-site class see post below.)

IMAGINARY CITYSCAPE:

Important note: This is a two-week assignment. It will be due on the Monday after our off-site class, but please consider it a more substantial assignment than the others (i.e., plan to spend 12 rather than 6 hours on it). Don't wait until the night before it's due to start working!

In this assignment, you’ll be setting up a small tabletop “cityscape” with cardboard boxes and making a drawing that transforms the boxes into buildings in an imaginary city. The purpose of this assignment is twofold: first, to practice using sighting to draw objects in linear perspective, and second, to exercise your imagination in the creation of an interesting and dynamic drawing.

Please follow the instructions below:

1. Creating your tabletop cityscape: Begin by collecting at least three cardboard boxes of varying sizes and dimensions. You may also want to include some cylindrical objects such as tubes or some other more eccentric shapes, but be sure to include at least three standard rectangular boxes. Arrange your boxes (face down for best results) in an interesting way. Establish a fixed view on the set-up that you can continue to work from for the duration of the assignment.

2. Transforming your boxes into buildings: Using online resources or the SVA library, collect a variety of images of buildings and architectural elements that you want to import into your cityscape. You may choose from absolutely any style or period, and although your drawing should hold together as a single image, your architectural elements need not “make sense” (in other words, feel free mix and match styles and periods). As long as the perspective and proportions are accurate, your city can be as unreal or otherworldly as you want it to be.

3. Making your drawing: Begin by drawing the boxes using sighting only (no rulers). Since you will be adding doors and windows and other such things, keep the initial drawing light and general (i.e., map out the general shapes first). When you feel satisfied that the angles and proportions of the boxes are right, begin to import elements from you reference material. Each building should have several elements such as the following (although other items may certainly be included): windows, doors, balconies, awnings, columns, etc. Exactly what you choose to include is up to you; the idea is to create a visually compelling drawing that makes the viewer want to “step into” your imaginary city.

As always, give great consideration to your composition.

Materials: You may use either charcoal, charcoal pencil, conte crayon (if you’ve had experience with it), Ebony pencil, or whatever combination thereof for this assignment.

Information for off-site class next week

Next week we’ll be having an off-site class at the Cathedral of St. John the Divine in upper Manhattan. We’ll be drawing inside the cathedral all day, making use of its enormously high ceilings and interesting interiors. Throughout the course of the day I'll be walking around talking to each of you individually. By the end of the day I expect to see one complete drawing (one that is fully "fleshed out" with a full range of values) that demonstrates your grasp of perspective. Below are the guidelines for the trip.

1. What to bring: You will need your newsprint pad, some metal clips, a charcoal pencil (no loose charcoal, since it’s messy), an eraser, some paper towels, and a paper bag for pencil sheddings and other trash. Please keep in mind that the cathedral is very welcoming and friendly to artists (it has a Keith Haring sculpture in one of its rooms), and we want our behavior to match its generosity. Please be respectful by cleaning up after yourselves throughout the day.

2. Where to go: The cathedral is located at 1047 Amsterdam Avenue, between W.111th St. and W. 112th. To get there by subway, take the 1 or 9 train to 110th St. and Broadway. (If you get lost, you can call the cathedral at (212) 662-6060, or else call me on my cell at (607) 435-6908.) We will meet at 1:30pm inside the main entrance. If you arrive late (strongly discouraged!), come find us.

3. Cathedral info: For more info on where we’re going, go to the cathedral’s website: www.stjohndivine.org.

4. Admission fee: There is a suggested fee of $4 to enter the cathedral. Please come prepared to give whatever you can.

Sol LeWitt

(For this week's assignment see post below.)

Dear Class,

Since we happened upon some sculptures by Sol LeWitt in City Hall Park today, I thought I'd show you some of his signature wall drawings, which are absolutely wonderful. LeWitt was an American artist who is generally associated with Conceptual Art. What makes his drawings "conceptual" is that he didn't execute any of them himself; instead, he came up with sets of rules for his team of assistants to follow. The team would follow the rules laid out by the artist, and the result would be the monumental works you see below (thus, the artist's hand had no part in the work itself).

Homework Assignment #4

PROTEST DRAWING:

This week's assignment is to make a drawing that both depicts some aspect of what we saw today and that conveys something of the emotional range you experienced while in Liberty Park.

Begin by selecting a photograph either from the media or from Karen's collection of images (as she is the only one of us who had a camera today). Spend some time on your choice of image, and choose one that seems representative of the scene we witnessed today.

Using any of the drawing media we have used so far this semester (or pen), make a drawing based on your selected image. Feel free to simplify (or alter, distort, exaggerate, etc.) the forms in the image; in the end, your drawing should be a stand-alone work of art independent of the image that inspired it.

Concentrate on using your mark-making, your selected tonal range, and your use of negative space to evoke the emotion you want to convey rather than relying solely on the narrative depicted in your image. The challenge of this assignment is essentially to make a drawing that is more powerful -- more emotionally compelling -- than the photograph. Remember that formal elements (i.e., mark, line, shape, tone, negative space, composition) themselves speak volumes.

Notebook Reminder and Assignment #4

NOTEBOOKS: Please bring your notebooks with you to class next week for the first check of the semester.

THE DRAMA OF LIGHT AND SHADOW:

Picking up where we left off in class, this assignment is about further exploring the “logic of light” and the key role it plays in drawing.

Begin by obtaining a clamp lamp that you can use to shine strong “directional” light onto a tabletop or desk. Next, select an object to draw that creates interesting shadows but that is not too detailed (things with patterned surfaces are not recommended).

For this piece you will be drawing your object twice, dramatically altering the direction of the light source between the two times. Spend some time playing around with the lamp, paying particular attention to the shadows cast by your object. Be sure to move the lamp and not the object, and choose two lighting situations that create shadows that differ considerably from each other.

Using charcoal and/or charcoal pencil, make a single drawing on your regular homework paper that incorporates both sets of light and shadow configurations. The two drawings can sit side by side on your paper, but arrange them so that they relate to each other in an interesting way (don’t divide the picture plane with a line!). Concentrate on drawing the tonal values (highlights, shadows, and mid-tones) as interlocking shapes. Keep the shapes general and simplified.

Materials: Charcoal, charcoal pencil, eraser.

Homework Assignment #3, due Monday 10/3

SINGLE MARK DRAWING:

This week's assignment is a bit of a departure from what we've been doing in class for the last two weeks. It will, however, take us into our next area of study, which is volumetric form. And it bears some resemblance to the in-class drawing you did today from the slide in that it will further encourage you to see things as shapes rather than as nameable, "real-world" objects.

For this drawing you will be using only one kind of mark, which will be repeated over and over again and overlapped to achieve varying densities. The areas with the greatest density of mark build-up will correspond to the darkest areas of the object/s you will be drawing, while those areas with fewest marks (or even no marks at all) will indicate the lightest areas of the object/s. This technique is similar to crosshatching, where sets of parallel strokes of the pencil are layered over one another; the difference here is that instead of parallel strokes you will be using another kind of mark.

After choosing your mark (see image below for some suggestions), set up a small still-life on a table top with at least two volumetric objects (cylindrical objects such as bottles, cups, and vases are recommended). Choose a strong light source that will cast dramatic light on your set-up and create interesting shadows.

Make a drawing of your still-life using only your mark. You may vary the size of the mark as you wish, but don’t insert extraneous marks into the drawing (i.e., no contours around objects!). Concentrate on the various shapes that interlock in your composition (some of which will be formed by the shifting tonal values, or the interplay of light and shadow) rather than on rendering the details of your objects. Let the drawing be as abstract as it needs to be.

As always, give great consideration to your composition.

Materials: Ebony pencil only (keep it sharp!). You may erase as needed.

Some suggestions for marks:

Today's image

Dear class,

For your reference, here's the image we worked with today. It's a photograph by Dorothea Lange titled North Carolina, 1939. Several people asked if they could finish their drawing using a photograph instead of the slide, and I encourage anyone who would like to do this to do so. You might be able to find a higher-res image online.

Giorgio Morandi

(For this week's homework assignment see post below this one.)

Dear Class,

Since someone mentioned the artist Giorgio Morandi's work during our critique today I wanted to show you some images. I hope you might be inspired to do some research on your own based on what you see here!

Note how he brings his objects to life with his dynamic, wobbly edges -- and how, as in Seurat's drawings, there are no outlines around them.

And here's one of his signature paintings:

Homework Assignment #2, due Monday 9/26

DRAWING SPACE:

This week’s assignment will be a continuation of our in-class studies of negative space. Before setting up your drawing pad, find at least two objects in your room that will create interesting negative space shapes, both within and around themselves and in relation to each other. Set them up in an arrangement that will make for an intriguing drawing composition.

Just as we did in class, begin by creating an even, toned ground with charcoal. Be sure to cover the entire rectangle with this ground, since the paper’s edges and corners will be crucial players in your composition.

With your eraser, “carve out” the negative space shapes you observe in your arrangement of objects. Remember that by drawing the space around something you will also be drawing the thing itself. In the end, your composition might look completely abstract, and this is fine. The important thing is to achieve a unified composition made up of negative and positive shapes that fit together like pieces of a jig-saw puzzle.

Materials for tomorrow's class (9/19)

Dear class,

Please be sure to bring with you to tomorrow's class the following: Charcoal (both vine and compressed), a good eraser (preferably the block kind rather than the kneaded one), and your newsprint clips.

Please see below for the specs for the first homework assignment.

Werner Herzog film

(To see my "welcome" post that contains the first homework assignment, see below.)

Good news, class! The Werner Herzog film I talked about in class, Cave of Forgotten Dreams, is still playing in New York. It's playing at the IFC theater on Sixth Avenue at W. 4th St. (within easy walking distance of SVA). I *strongly* recommend seeing this film (in spite of the steep price of the ticket and some minor annoyances with the director); it's something you don't want to miss. The images of the cave drawings will stay with you for a long time.

For more information and showtimes see www.ifccenter.com.

Welcome and First Homework Assignment

Welcome, incoming class! I'm excited to be working with you for the upcoming year. My hope is that you will all participate as much as possible in all facets of the course and in so doing inspire each other to make the most of your freshman year at SVA.

As we went over quite a bit of material on the first day of class, I want to urge you to take a few minutes to reread the syllabus on your own. Please let me know if you have any questions, and if you do just send me an e-mail at the address listed above. I'll make every effort to respond to your mails as quickly as I can.

For your first homework assignment (due next week), I'd like you to purchase the basic materials you'll need for the course (see page titled Basic Materials List to the right), and then to make a contour drawing following the specifications below. Please read the entire assignment carefully.

CONTOUR DRAWING

On one of your sheets of sketch vellum, make a contour drawing using only Ebony pencil. Your contour may be a continuous contour or not, but it should not be a blind contour (i.e., go ahead and look at your drawing as you draw).

Set up some kind of familiar object on a windowsill in your room. Before beginning to draw, take a few minutes to study your object, the windowsill, and the images you see in the panes of the window, taking special note of small details. Concentrate on discerning edges -- both those that delineate the objects from the space around them and all the internal edges. As you begin to draw, concentrate on letting your pencil "feel out" the edges you see; let your hand respond to their various qualities by applying and releasing pressure, speeding up and slowing down, etc. Remember that in a contour drawing, you are working with line only (i.e., no shading or modeling of any sort).

Be as selective as you wish, but your drawing should include something of the object on your sill, the window itself, and whatever you see through the glass (foreground, middleground, and background). The quality of your line should reflect the differences in visibility (i.e., objects closest to your eye will call for bolder lines than those furthest away, etc.).

Do not use photographs for this assignment! It is important that you work from direct observation, so set yourself up in a place where you can work for several hours.