Jo and I have decided to do an online drawing course together. It is located at Drawspace.com and produced from lessons created by Brenda Hoddinott. The plan is to be “study buddies” and work through each section at the same time so we can help each other and stay motivated through the course. I will be logging my thoughts and impressions here as I learn new things, and hopefully Jo will do the same on her Web site.
In our first lesson we are reading through Brenda’s beautifully illustrated glossary of drawing words and terms, who cheerfully introduces the topic with the word *talent* – “to find out what a talented person looks like, go look in the mirror!”
Some new terms I learned from this lesson:
1. Cast shadow – the dark section on an object or surface that receives little or no light (giving a 3D appearance). The values of a cast shadow are darkest next to the object and become gradually lighter farther away (I hadn’t noticed this before!).
2. Compound curve – used to describe the line created when a curve changes direction – think of the shape of the letter “s”.
3. Golden Mean – a precise composition devised by the ancient Greeks, based on the division of a rectangle into three triangles (also known as the Rule of Thirds).
4. Key – refers to the overall amount of light and dark values in a drawing. Low-key, dark drawings tend to be moody or ominous. High-key drawings are full of light and medium values rather than dark.
5. Negative space – refers to the background around or behind a drawing object (positive space ergo refers to the space occupied by a drawing object).
6. Nose wings – refer to the soft rounded shapes extending each side of the tip (or ball) of the nose; these lead down to the nostrils.
7. Reflected light – faint light reflected or bounced onto an object by those surfaces that are close to our surround it.
8. Squirkling – a method of shading using random circular scribble or squiggles.
9. Tooth – refers to the surface texture of a piece of paper, which can range from silky smooth to very coarse. The more “tooth” paper has, the rougher it feels to touch.
10. Values – are the different shades of gray created in a drawing by various means.
Well, I wasn’t expecting to learn much from this lesson but it seems I did. I am very pleased to learn that I do in fact have *wings* on my body, although they are not located precisely where I thought they would be!
Next lesson is Drawspace A02 – Understanding Talent.
http://www.drawspace.com/lessons/lesson.php?id=a02
Another drawing lesson site I might check out after: http://www.drawingcoach.com/
Hi Liss,
Just viewed some of the first lesson that we are doing. And from the bit that I read so far found that it is more interesting then the art lessons I did at school. It didn’t interest me much then (school) but I’m glad that I can come back to it.
I’ll also be writing something up on what I got from doing the art lessons.
Hi Jo, I’ll look forward to reading your impressions of the lessons. Thanks for agreeing to do this with me.