Grid Drawing Project

In addition to learning drawing from observation, I have students learn grid drawing.  It works in a similar way, but may be easier since it breaks down an image into smaller, possibly more abstracted tasks.  

For ours, I pre-selected some images, and used http://www.griddrawingtool.com/ to automatically apply a 4x6 grid of squares.  If students wanted a different image, it was easy enough to pump it into the online program and print out in a minute or so.

our drawing paper is 12- 18 inches, so a 3 inch grid works with a 4x6 matrix.

In fact, I made a classroom set of grids that students could place under their drawing so they did not even have to draw the grid!  They could see the grid lightly through the drawing paper.  

We had not talked about color yet, so these were finished with pencil and we focused on value.

  Grid Drawing Rubric:

Accurate drawing          40 points

Full range of Value        30

Craftsmanship               30

total                                100 points

 Here are some of our results.

Drawing with Perspective

Perspective drawings re create the way our eyes really work, but does not rely on direct observation.  Pre-Renaissance  and Renaissance artists like Giotto  and DaVinci figured out how this works.

Its been a while since students used perspective in my class. I introduce t-squares for verticals, a triangle for horizontals, and using rulers for orthogonal (lines that go to the Vanishing Point) then  all the rules of perspective:

Rules of 1 Point Perspective

1.  As things go back in space, they go to a Vanishing Point (V.P.)

2.  Front and back edges match/go the same direction.

3. On round objects, the outermost point connects to the V.P.

4.  If something gets in between an orthogonal and the V.P. the the line stops (overlapping)

5.  As things go back in space they get smaller

Vocabulary:

Vertical-lines that go up and down

Horizontal- lines that go left and right

Orthogonal- lines that lead to the Vanishing Point.

We make 3 projects, 2 class hours each.  After this quick start, students finish one to a higher degree, finishing details and adding color.

Rubric:

Correct Perspective              40 points

Color                                    20

Use of all Space                   20

Craftsmanship                      20

total                                      100 points

Here are some of the results: