Welcome to the fifth week in my art course! The middle of term break is approaching, so if you’re feeling tired you only have to wait two more weeks until you get a nice break.
If you haven’t had the chance to participate yet, don’t worry. You can jump into the course at any time. While the assignments do build up on each other, if you have a bit of art experience already it shouldn’t be too difficult to understand what’s going on.
In this week there are four assignments for you to do. Don’t get too stressed out about perfectionism while working, and always remember ‘finished, not perfect’.
With that said, let’s get into the assignments.
Illustration assignment.
We’re continuing with the animal studies this week, so please do illustration studies of at least five animals. When choosing the animals try to go with some diversity, as animals come in many shapes and sizes, and it’s important to learn about them.
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.
When doing these studies, you should use some references. I’ve compiled some photo references for this assignment, but feel free to find your own.
While working on your illustrations, try to pay attention to things such as the shapes, gestures, movements, and volumes that make up each animal.
Perspective assignment.
In this week we’ll be working with two point perspective by drawing a street corner. The street can include things such as fences, telephone poles, street lamps, buildings, etc.
For this assignment, please don’t use any color washes or render out any shading. Use lineart, and if you want, you can use some minimal and simple shading.
I’ve compiled some photo references for this perspective assignment, however these are not photo studies, so don’t copy the references exactly.
If you’re unfamiliar with two point perspective, please have a look at the examples provided in the fourth week of this term.
Design assignment.
This week’s design assignment is to create a mood board and some thumbnails for some furniture designs!
Please choose three to five inspiration images (that cannot be of furniture) and combine the elements of the inspiration images with the furniture piece you choose to design.
For example, you could choose to design a chair, and incorporate your inspiration images into the design of a chair.
Once you’ve chosen your inspiration images, please do at least three thumbnail sketches per inspiration image. That means that if you’ve chosen three images you’ll be doing at least nine thumbnails total.
Your thumbnail sketches should have no color washes or shading. They’re just to iterate on ideas in order to come up with some solid designs.
Here are some reference pictures of various kinds of furniture, and here are some inspiration images if you’re feeling stuck.
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 that have varying textures, using a reference.
Here are three reference pictures that you can use for this assignment:
Please don’t have any lineart in the finished picture, as your edgework and shading should be enough to differentiate the shapes.
Don’t try and reproduce your reference photo exactly. This isn’t a photo study, so try to play around with the angles, lighting, shapes, or materials used.
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.
The week 6 assignments will be posted at 10:30 a.m. ET on the 10th of February. For a better chance of having your artwork featured at the end of the month (on the 22nd), please post your work for this week’s assignments before then.
If you have any questions, or need any clarifications, please let me know. I am more than happy to explain things further!
Cozy Rebekah 