A six-phase drawing project.

Over the past several years, I have worked to find practical ways to bring awareness of the content for study in art to students at all levels. This article focuses on one such practical approach for teaching students about the elements and principles as they apply to a single work of art, and for developing technical skills for creating these effects. It's called a "six-phase drawing." I have tried this approach with students ranging in age from fourth grade to college level. I find it very successful in all instances. In addition, students discuss ideas for drawing and learn to make choices based on the visual qualities inherent in the idea.

The six-drawing series can be mounted and displayed end to end as a mural to demonstrate the concepts studied. I find it useful to have this type of student work on display whenever visitors are around since the learning is so obvious in the completed pieces. It is even more impressive to have students explain the series to parent-teacher groups, or at an open house.

Phase I: Lines Define Shapes

Students begin with a line drawing in pencil on a piece of paper. They use only lines to completely fill the picture plane with meaningful shapes and lines so that there is no large open area. I ask students to avoid stick figures and focus on scale and proportion to create a sense of visual depth and emphasis within the drawing. Smaller-scale drawings work best with younger students. Older students can work larger.

This basic drawing needs to be visually balanced and look complete as a finished work of art. We make five copies of this drawing. Two of the copies face the same direction as the original. Three of the drawings are reversed left to right. This provides challenges with visual balance as we add other elements to the basic composition. The drawings may be traced on a light table, or against a clear glass window, or scanned into the computer and printed out as needed in the direction required. This works especially well if you have a large-format printer available.

Phase II: Value Patterns

Students select one of the copied drawings with the composition reversed. On this copy, students are to maintain visual balance, emphasize or subordinate objects within the drawing, and differentiate between figure and ground. I suggest that students add at least three values (flat gray tones) plus black and white. Getting students to think of shapes as gray tones that interact to create visual excitement on a picture plane can be challenging since most want to go right to color. However, this phase and Phase IV relate to the concept of underpainting.

Phase III: Texture and Pattern

Students now go to one of the copied compositions in its original direction. This time, the goal is to maintain visual balance while adding visual (rather than actual) textures and patterns to create interest through repetition and variation. Students learn to deal with figure ground relationships by leaving some shapes empty, and by dealing with the picture plane as one of the shapes/spaces to be considered. Students can create visual textures so that objects look rough or smooth; hard or soft. Emphasis and focus are discussed so that the drawing is easily readable. Many students find that this is a very exciting stage as they invent textures and patterns to bring out the various shapes within the drawing.

Phase IV: Chiaroscuro 

In this drawing, another in the opposite direction from the original, students use modeling to create a sense of visual dimension. The drawing is in black and white only. In addition, students see how to create visual emphasis by changing values within an object, and by creating light and dark sections of the drawing. Students working on a computer may actually defer this phase until they have done Phase V. Then they can use an image-editing program to remove the picture's color, reverse the orientation of the image, and tweak it if necessary to retain visual balance and bring out the black-and-white modeling.

Phase V: Mood

Phase V reverses direction again. Otherwise it is the same as Phase IV, except that color is added. In this instance, color and mood are emphasized so that a sunny day, a cold night, sadness, joy, etc., might be portrayed through color choice and application. As in Phase III, students find this one of the more exciting phases as they learn to use color for effect. If a student has trouble understanding modeling and relationships of color to feeling, I have them do Phase IV before they attempt Phase V.

Phase VI: Definition and Emphasis

This phase is similar to Phase II in both direction and flatness of color application. Here, color is used to create visual depth through placement of the color, focus, and emphasis; differentiation between figure and ground; and repetition and variation for visual interest and to direct eye movement through the picture plane.

Theme Driven

The emphasis in this drawing series is knowledge of the elements and principles of art, and the focus is on developing the technical proficiency that enables students to employ these art concepts. However, significant content and the development of meaningful ideas are also treated in this six-phase exercise. Students must begin with a worthy idea if the project is to work well. I often suggest a theme such as a tall tale or legend, song titles or lyrics, stories, nursery rhymes, or even such mundane things as pets and family situations. As students work with a given theme, they develop their own vision of the subject and then use the phases to emphasize different aspects of that idea.

Grounded in Tradition

Art teachers may use the project to integrate art with other subjects by illustrating stories, giving visual form to music, and so on. For those trying to find historical references, various artists throughout history have used the concepts in dramatic ways. Calder used line to define shape in his circus drawings. Picasso's Guernica is a good examples of value patterns. The drawings of Seurat and Leonardo show the use of modeling and chiaroscuro. Durer often employed extreme use of visual texture and pattern. Vermeer used underpainting and glazes as did Thomas Eakins. Matisse's large cut and paste pieces are extreme examples of the use of shape and color for definition and emphasis.

William R. Detmers is a professor of art at the University of Arkansas, Pine Bluff, Arkansas.

NATIONAL STANDARD

Students use knowledge of structures and functions.

WEB LINK

www.learn-to-draw.com/drawingbasics/