2019 Art Course – Term 1 – Week 2 (Jan 13 – 19)

Welcome to the second week of my 2019 art course! I hope you enjoyed the assignments from last week, and if you haven’t done them yet, then don’t worry. You can still do the week 1 assignments.

During this week there are four different assignments for you to complete, one for illustration, one for perspective, one for design, and one for rendering.

I suggest you try to spread out one assignment over one day, that way you have a couple of extra days to polish things up before you get the next week’s assignments. Remember that if you work in a timely manner, your art is more likely to be featured at the end of the month!

Try not to get too caught up in perfectionism while working on these assignments. At the end of the day, it’s more important for your work to be finished, not perfect.

With that said, let’s get into the assignments!

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Illustration assignment.

Your illustration assignment this week is to do at least five studies of medium-sized items found in nature. This includes things such as moss, vines, bushes, foliage, coral, and aquatic plants.

These studies will be pretty minimal, done with just lineart. Simple shading is encouraged, but not required. Please don’t render things out or use any color washes.

You may do photo studies for this illustration assignment. When working on this assignment, make sure to use references, and keep an eye on these things:

• Shape
• Volume
• Contours
• Perspective

Don’t draw what you think you know, instead, draw what you see. Take measurements, start with broad shapes, and don’t get caught up in the details.

If you’re unfamiliar with lineart or shading, please check out the tutorials provided in the first week.

I’ve already compiled some photo references for this assignment, however you are free to gather your own references.

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Perspective assignment.

For the perspective assignment, please draw a hallway or street in one point perspective.

The hallway can be furnished with things such as picture frames, windows, paneling, shelves, etc.

The street can include things such as fences, telephone poles and wires, street lamps, minimal buildings, etc.

As with the illustration assignment, this will be fairly simple, done with lineart. Again, minimal shading is suggested, but not required. Please don’t render things out or use any color washes.

If you’re unfamiliar with one point perspective, please check out the tutorials provided in the first week.

I’ve compiled photo references for this assignment, however this is not a photo study, so your perspective studies should not look exactly like the reference pictures. Try to do different angles than the reference pictures, and add your own personal touches.

And of course, you’re free to gather your own reference images if you want to.

One point perspective tip: The lower the horizon line, the closer to the ground you are. The higher the horizon line, the higher up you are. You can use this create interesting compositions.

One point perspective tip: Putting the vanishing point off to one side of the canvas can make the composition look more interesting than if you were to put it in the center.

One point perspective tip: Want to find the center point on a plane that’s in perspective? Draw an X through it. The center of the X is the center point of that plane.

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Design assignment.

This is the final week in the flower pot design challenge. If you haven’t done last week’s part of the assignment (making a mood board and thumbnails), please do so before doing this part of the challenge.

Take the thumbnails you made from last week, and choose your favorite one for each inspiration image. So if you had three inspiration images last week, you should be choosing three thumbnails this week. If you had four inspiration images, then you’ll be working with four thumbnails this week, etc.

Now we’ll be refining the designs into some clean lineart. Minimal shading is suggested, but not required. Do not render your designs or use any color washes.

Along with your refined plant pot designs, a few notes on design features and a bit of explanation on your choices is encouraged.

Design tip: Don’t be afraid to break away from your thumbnails a bit while refining them. You can add a lot more detail now than you could last week.

Design tip: Consider any constructive criticism you received on your thumbnails while working on refinements. You don’t have to apply the critiques if you don’t think they’re helpful, but it’s good to keep them in mind.

Design tip: Pay attention to the shape and silhouette of your overall design, as these can communicate a lot to your viewer.

Here’s an example of some thumbnails that were refined into clean lineart:

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Rendering assignment.

Rendering in art is about making things look three dimensional with shading and lighting. For this week’s rendering assignment, please render some simple shapes using reference photos from last week.

Here are the possible reference images to use:

Level 1 photo references (1 light source, 3 shapes)

Level 2 photo references (1 light source, 5 shapes)

Level 3 photo reference (2 light sources, 6 shapes)

Unlike last week, this is not a photo study, so you should use different viewing angles, light source positions, or shapes. The photos provided are just as references for how light works when hitting various shapes.

There should be no lineart in your finished artwork for this assignment, as the shading and edgework should be enough to communicate the different shapes in each study.

If you unfamiliar with rendering digitally, please revisit the tutorials provided in the first week.

Rendering tip: If you’re feeling overwhelmed about shading, start by breaking down shapes into blocks of shadow and light.

Rendering tip: If you’re working traditionally with pencils, using something to blend your shading on round objects will make them look more smooth.

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Sharing your artwork.

If you’re going to be sharing your artwork on your website, please let me know so that I can check it out.

If you’re going to be sharing your work on Instagram, please tag me in it (@cozyrebekah) and use this hashtag: #crartcourse

Let me know if you also want some constructive criticism on your artwork. Often times it can be difficult to see our mistakes, so having a more objective eye can help us improve more quickly.

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The week 3 assignments will be posted at 10:30 a.m. ET on the 13th of January. For a better chance of having your artwork featured at the end of the month (on the 25th), please post your work for this week’s assignments before then.