mm-110-02
multimedia
VISUAL CONCEPTS I

WEEK THREE

VALUE

We are fast approaching the elements of drawing that produce modeling. Elements that create the illusion of space. Most people equate line with drawing, and there is no doubt that line is the basic element in a majority of drawings. After line, the next basic element is "light and shade". The term light and shade is a catch-all expression for tone, value, modeling, light and dark. Light and shade generally refers to the way light hits a given object and to the shadows such light creates. Traditionally, you can spend years understanding the "rules" of light and shadow. However, in the modern era, we tend to use light and shadow more intuitively to achieve our immediate expressive ends rather than as a means of duplicating reality. These assignments will help you develop a sensitivity to light and dark in your drawings and to better understand the critical elements of the manipulating the visual space.

HOMEWORK
The Gray Scale For Monday I would like to see a total of seven pieces. The first is an academic exercise designed to help you understand how to produce and control tone in your drawings. Start with your pencils. Use the full range of leads and experiment with the lightest and darkest shades each pencil can make. Try to keep your pencils sharp and free of graphite dust so as to control the tone you can produce. Starting with the darkest or lightest shade, make a total of ten progressively lighter or darker shades. Cut these out into one inch squares with your newly aquired x-acto blade and paste them down onto an 11"x 14" sheet of paper (or bristol board) side by side, with no space between to create a scale of gray tones. Bellisimo! You've created your first gray scale. Observe whether the tones are progressing evenly from light to dark. Craftsmanship, accuracy and neatness count!

Shaping light with mark, line and texture
Utilize what we have learned about mark and line. In other words, create tone with an ACCUMULATION or ABSENCE of either mark or line to make various tones of light and dark.

FIRST THREE DRAWINGS
The first three drawings will be very similar to what we did in class. For these three drawings, I would like us to experiment with drawing technique. Using creative applications, accumulate marks and or lines to build a texture that will provide a tone or value. As we did in class, have these textures shape the light and dark on your page. I would advise working loosely on a large sheet and trimming it down and pasting it on a backing sheet. Craftsmanship counts!

SECOND THREE DRAWINGS
For the next three, use a different geometric shape in each one. One with a circle, one with a square and one with a triangle. Define the shape in each drawing using a texture to create value. Allow the light and dark to define the edges of these shapes. Also allow the light and dark to move within these shapes. Craftsmanship counts!

Loose Pencil

Gestural Texture

Cutting and pasting geometric shape

Journal For the Journal assignment and last drawing, create an undulating movement across the composition. Fill the page with a range of light and dark areas randomly placed. This should create a modeled texture or the illusion of an uneven surface. Modeling is the effect produced by contrasting values. These devices will help to produce form and illusion on the page. No need to produce an identifiable image, just create an undulating surface.