Athlete in action.

After my advanced art classes completed drawings from student models using controlled line and value charcoal techniques, I felt that a change of pace was in order. I developed the Athlete in Action project which stresses a loose gestural approach to figure drawing, and introduces an expressive use of color in rendering the selected figure.

Description

Since American culture is so inundated by the games and the personalities of the sports world, and since most sports involve dynamic movement, balance and physical force, they provide a rich subject area to explore while studying expressive figure drawing. The moving athlete is an ideal subject for a gestural description where shapes are defined by quick color slashes and actions can be emphasized by bold expressive color.

The use of athletes as subjects also encourages an expressive empathy between the student artists and the sports figure they have selected. As a teacher, I encourage students to create in their drawings a sense of energy and drama (using color, line, shape, and space) that the athlete is experiencing. The value of expressions produced by artistic elements becomes clear immediately and students begin to use these elements intuitively. The concept that color, line, shape and space do not have exclusively representational functions is discussed which provides a basis for exploration in future drawing assignments. An excellent opportunity is created to discuss the work of the Fauves and German Expressionists and their contribution to twentieth-century art's departure from expression using only natural colors and purely realistic images. This project has been so successful that it is the first drawing assignment I give when starting the history of twentieth-century art forms. The Athlete in Action introduces the medium of oil pastels which are fluid and very different from any other color medium. Its nature inhibits a tight, precise approach and encourages color, line and shape to be used in a loose and expressive fashion. The immediacy of oil pastels allows for quick color applications, but rich color surfaces can also be developed where hues have depth and texture.

Objectives

Students will:

1. complete a drawing of a selected athlete in action using oil pastels.

2. use color, line, shape, and space in an expressive way, choosing each for its ability to enhance communication about a figure's energy, balance, force or drama.

3. gain an understanding of the historical origins of artistic elements being used for expressive purposes rather than for purely descriptive ones through discussion of the Fauves and the German Expressionists.

4. become aware that gesture line is a viable alternative to contour line in figure drawing.

5. learn the technique of drawing using oil pastels.

6. learn how artists throughtout history have used sport as a subject for art (i.e., Greeks, Romans and American artists Benton, Bellows and Nieman).

Procedure

After a demonstration of gesture line technique, students spend a class period completing twenty-four, one-minute gesture drawings using each other as models. The next class period, students complete ten more one-minute drawings of student models, and look for source references for athletes in action from Sports Illustrated and other sports-related periodicals. As students look for a figure for their final oil pastel drawing, they complete four, five-minute drawings from photographs in the sports magazines. It is quickly apparent to students that their images will not reflect the visual qualities found in the photographs. Here the teacher must reassure students that the drawing is not supposed to capture photographic reality; the picture acts only as a reference point from which the student is expected to depart.

Examples of the Fauves and the German Expressionists are shown and compared with the work of the French Academy. The expressive possibilities of color, line and shape are discussed and students are encouraged to use these elements to enhance their drawings. Students select their final figure for a large oil pastel drawing. During the third class period, the instructor should demonstrate how to use oil pastels. Students begin a gesture drawing on a gessoed piece of two-ply Bristol board using a light colored pastel. They should allow the line work to suggest mass and form as well as motion, then begin building color from light to dark, concentrating on large masses of color.

Students continue adding mass and volume to their figures and begin to add color to suggest shadow and highlights. Color should be the dominant concern providing expression about emotions and drama found in the figure as well as describing physical form and features. The background should be lighter and duller, or much darker than the figure to provide adequate contrast. Finally, accent lines for emphasis and motion may be added completing the drawing. A medium spray of clear fixative may be applied to allow the drawing to be handled. It should be noted that no oil pastel is truly permanent even when sprayed, and care must be taken while matting.

Evaluation

1. Does the figure have a gestural feeling in its appearance, and does the gesture communicate the action of the figure?

2. How effectively do the elements of color, line and shape provide expression in the figure drawing beyond purely descriptive details?

3. Does the figure express some kind of action, drama, force or tension in its appearance?

4. How successful is the use of color in establishing a sense of lights and darks, mass and volume?

5. Does the figure contrast from the background, becoming a focal point, and does the background provide an interesting space for the figure to be seen in?

Conclusion

The Athlete in Action assignment creates the opportunity for students to capture feeling, energy, action and drama while figure drawing. It has produced drawings in which students have become intensely involved in expressing "the thrill of victory and the agony of defeat" as seen in athletic competition.