I'm reasonably assured that most of the students who enroll in basic drawing have little idea about what they're getting involved with, or the nature of our work together. And we do WORK- purposefully within focused tasks...It's a very singular activity to sit and observe carefully for 3 1/2 hours, to build relationships in drawings that are proportional, and follow a rational process. It's hopefully a tonic to an otherwise fragmented and busy world. Drawing is a global skill, like driving a car or swimming, and is readily accesable. The majority of my students are taking this class as an elective, and even those with a dedicated interest in pursuing art are generally inexperienced in observational drawing. We don't trade in symbol systems, but rely on our perceptions to guide us through a progresion of process based exercises.

The examples on this page reveal an aquisition of skills- the line drawings have a matrix of pulled lines that are based on percieved angles, and are initially laid down as pure athletic motions, page edge to edge. The students then establish a clear proportional relationship between two elements, such as a height and width dimension- and this "basic unit" serves as a benchmark for building the shapes proportionally in the drawing. We stretch the limits of what can be the subject of our observations- such as relating the angle and length between two objects that are separate and unique, and have no name.

We create an armature of proportional shapes on the picture plane to serve a proportional observation of light and dark, noting the extremity of values we see to benchmark the other values in the drawing. The range of our materials to create value is more limited than what the subject provides, but if we study the proportions, we achieve a strong sense of form expression. Underlying the charcoal drawings is a structure very similar to the line drawings. The first charcoal drawing below clearly demonstrates process.

As our skills strengthen, we engage more advanced issues, such as hatching, texture, and composition- and find that these qualitative decisions can be implemented upfront and concurrent with a refinement of the quantity, and there is much expressive terrain to explore! the final 3 drawings at page bottom are from an outside assignment- applied learning within a subject of the students choosing.