The first session of the Drawing Foundation class for Fall 2015 was held on Thursday, September 17. The program is designed to develop skills of observing, understanding, and expressing to enable communicating what we see, imagine, and feel.
Homework assignments
In-class assignments for week 1
Perspective DVD drawing assignment #1, optional
Class recap
Drawing with linear perspective was emphasized in Dick’s undergraduate training on the West Coast, while in graduate studies at Yale the emphasis was on drawing from observation. This program teaches both, as he feels both are important, and complementary. Understanding linear perspective allows you to draw realistic scenes from life, as Brunelleschi exploited in the Renaissance, and also gives you the ability to draw something you imagine, that doesn’t exist or isn’t in front of you, instead of being restricted to things within your sight. Drawing from life trains your observation skills and eye-hand coordination – you learn to translate what your eyes see into physical movements and marks on paper.
Sighting lengths, angles, and proportions for perspective drawings
Videos and recordings
Dick Nelson demonstrates how to draw a sheet of paper and a rectangular box in one-point perspective.
Drawing a head in perspective: Dick demonstrates how understanding perspective with simple rectangular shapes applies to being able to draw something as complex as a human head later.
