mm-110-03
multimedia
VISUAL CONCEPTS I
WEEK FOUR
MAPPING LIGHT
Up to this point, we have been trying to create a range of ways to impact the flat surface. Mark, line and texture are kind of like raw materials for image making. They also force us to be creative using a limited set of possibilities. Last week we started to make these elements move and organize the surface. Today, I would like to do more of the same, but I would like to translate the light and dark information from a painting or photograph. The idea is to understand how light and shadow are used create the illusion of space, but also to guide our composition.
IN CLASS
Letıs begin by selecting an image with a rich contrast of light and shadow. The first order of business is mapping light.
Image analysis
Using a grid structure, organize the values of the image within the defined squares of the grid. The brightest section white and the darkest black. The other values are shades of gray. Due a few of these.
Next try one where the values are created by texture or a build up of mark or line.
Next try one where the values are defined by a found surface that you scan in and paste. These could be anything from fabric, crumpled paper, newsprint, etc. Please be gentile with the scanner.
HOMEWORK
Select a Caravaggio painting and create a collage of just the values - loosely depicting the painting. Remember, no color. Just gray scale. Create the collage with your various types of gray blocks. Perhaps some of the discarded or throwaway attempts would be good source material (MATISSE always used discarded materials in his collage). Arrange them in rows or randomly on an 11"x 14" sheet pasted to depict the light and dark definition of the painting. Explore the different compositional possibilities of the various rendering styles and tonal qualities. Try to work artistically to explore the way the different pieces and grey scale techniques work together. These can be the foundations for composition. Keep it lively, creative and well crafted.
Sample student work:
Value collage 1
Journal Entry
Create a HIGH CONTRAST self portrait. Try to produce the image using just black and white. No in between grays and no line. Just define the portrait using extreme light or extreme dark to define the features.
