Learning Objectives:
Students will be able to demonstrate an understanding of pattern and line quality.
Students will be able to demonstrate the ability to draw from observation.
Print / Download Friendly VersionMaterials:
Sketchbook
1 sheet of 18” x 24” watercolor or white drawing paper (or larger)
Pencils (graphite or colored)
India Ink
Brushes
Sharpie Marker
Mushrooms, plants, bark, rocks, leaves, grass, bones, lichen, moss
High resolution color images
Mini-Assignments:
1. Research cell and plant structures, fungi, lichens, wood, dendrites, cells, algae, hyphae, fabric and pattern. Use the websites isomorphology.com and n-e-r-v-o-u-s.com as a starting point.
2. Include at least 20 different images of the above materials. These can be drawings, photos or print outs.
3. Read and take notes – Gemme Anderson Isomorphology (2.7mb PDF)
Assignment:
Create one large drawing that explores pattern and line. You can use multiple different patterns or one pattern repeated over and over, perhaps shifting the scale from smaller to larger. You may use graphite (keep the tip sharp), colored pencils, sharpie and ink. You should use ink to help you create value and three dimensionality.
The drawing does not have to be of any “thing” and may just be pattern (from natural elements) for the sake of exploring pattern. Think about composition and where you are leading the viewer to look. Are you going to have so much pattern that the drawing becomes afocal (no focal point) or are you going to have areas that have more details and some areas with less? Use moss, mushrooms, lichen, etc as a source of inspiration.
Process:
Observation
Drawing and handling each specimen enables close observation, revealing unexpected comparisons of form. Observational drawing involves hand-eye coordination, analysis, delineation, abstraction, improvisation, collage and deep concentration. Perception of the object is a process of transition from experience to judgement, insight to application.
Trained Judgement
Concentrated observation within the act of drawing creates new perceptual knowledge. The morphology is observed in detail – activating the process of comparison. Each form observed joins a bank of knowledge in the observer’s mind and each new drawing experience triggers a different formal memory stored in this bank. Each drawing adds value to each drawing previously made, and vice versa.
Abstraction
A necessary process of abstraction occurs during the observational drawing process. All knowledge of the object and its conventional context and name are forgotten; what is left is an involvement in the form of the specimen. The concentration shifts from drawing the whole to drawing a series of parts. This process, which concentrates on form, trains the artist to abstract: to draw and to play with the form, eventually without observing the object and thus entering a new realm of understanding.
From http://www.isomorphology.com
Research:
NERVOUS
Gemma Anderson
Vija Celmins
Julie Mehretu
