2/18/09: Geometric Shapes: Drawing Buildings, Cars, and Robots

The following material is provided as reference material for young artists who want to learn how to draw.  These web pages are are supplementary to the free class offered at the Tijeras Library on "Drawing for Young People" January 21-April 15, 2009.

How to Draw Buildings
Here are some great internet sites for you to learn in 5 easy steps how to do 2 point perspective to create a building, a citycape, and landscapes with buildings. How Stuff Works has some great material such as: "How to Draw a Cityscape in 5 Steps" , "How to Draw a Country Church in 5 Steps", and  "How to Draw a Village in 5 Steps".


How to Draw Cars
The How Stuff Works website has great ideas on drawing cars like the following:
"How to Draw a 1957 Chevy in 5 Steps"
"How to Draw a Classic Car in 5 Steps"
"How to Draw a Corvette in 5 Steps"
"How to Draw a Ferrari in 5 Steps"
"How to Draw a Lamborghini in 5 Steps"
"How to Draw a Minivan in 5 Steps"

Want to draw bulldozers, cranes, cement trucks, backhoes?
"How to Draw Construction Vehicles"


How to Draw Robots
If you can draw basic geometric shapes, you can draw robots. This eHow website has a nice tutorial on how to draw robots using circle, squares, and rectangles. The How Stuff Works website has easy directions for drawing a cartoon-style robot: "How to Draw a Cartoon Robot"  And don't forget to use your Legos for models for drawing robots.

Online Resources

Using Colored Pencils:
"Improving Color Intensity: Make Your Colors Look Brighter and Stronger"
By Helen South, on About.com .  Helen South has great tips for “Colored Pencil Basics” and “Drawing Shiny Metal in Colored Pencil”
Using Water-Soluble Colored Pencils:
“What You Need to Know About Watercolor Pencils and Water-Soluble Crayons” by Marion Boddy-Evans on About.com.
"How to Draw with Water-soluble Pencils" (Video Lesson) by Bob Davies on Graspr The Instructional Video Network
Basic Drawing Lessons:
About.com: Learn To Draw (Basics for Beginners)
TLC Family Art Techniques


Using the Computer to Draw
Drawing on the Computer using Microsoft PowerPoint, University of Rhode Island Dept. of Computer Science
Mike's Sketchpad Drawing Basics using Deneba Canvas™, Adobe® Illustrator®, CorelDRAW® and Macromedia® FreeHand® computer illustration programs
Artist Forums and Online Galleries
When you're ready to learn more and get better as an artist, I suggest the following sites on the internet for tips, lessons, and answering questions for beginning artists. Registration in the forums requires a minimum age to protect young people from inappropriate material or persons. Ask your parent to register and monitor the forums and bulletin boards if you want to participate in the forums.

Draw Space (Lessons and Forum)
Wet Canvas (Cyber Community of Artists in all media Forum)

2/4/09: Color and Composition.

What makes the difference between a good drawing and a not so good drawing? Look at different photographs or life subjects. What draws your eye first? This is called the focal point.

You do not need to draw everything in the photo or life subject. Eliminate distracting elements, especially if they are not necessary to the subject matter of the drawing.

Perspective. Vanishing Point for one-point perspective. The horizon line. Perspective lines. Using a ruler or grid lines to assist.

Proportionality. Size relationships or scale. You can use tools like a pencil or ruler to measure distances. The need for proportionality is up to you – do you want a natural-looking drawing or an abstract drawing?

Basic Color Theory. Primary colors are Red, Blue and Yellow. Secondary colors are Orange, Purple and Green and are a mixture of two primary colors. Complementary colors are mixed from the other two primaries. Blue/orange, red/green, and yellow/purple are complementary colors.
Landscapes. Things get lighter in value the further away they are. Things farther away are fuzzier, smaller and appear closer together than they really are. Daytime sky repeats color from the ground.

Practice drawing a landscape. Select a predominantly foreground, or background photo. Use a view finder to frame a 1/3 to 2/3 foreground or background composition. Think diagonal lines. Check perspective and proportionality. Use complementary colors next to each other for high interest.



Three Primary Colors

Excerpted from: http://www.dreamhomedecorating.com/color-wheel-chart.html)
The most widely used basic color wheel (developed mainly by painters from the 18th century onward) starts with three primary colors: yellow, red, and blue.

These three are taken as the starting point for mixing all other colors. Together they produce a neutral color, usually a murky gray (it depends on the pigments you use).When you mix the primary colors of this basic color wheel with one another, you get the secondary colors: yellow and blue produce green, blue and red produce purple, red and yellow produce orange.
That leaves each primary color with a complementary color (mixed from the other two primaries). Blue/orange, red/green, and yellow/purple are complementary colors.Obviously, the fun really starts when you go on mixing primaries and secondaries. This gives you all the fabulous hues around the color wheel, from greenish blues to yellowish greens. (These are sometimes called ‘tertiary’ colors, but the term is not used in the same way everywhere.)

The complementary colors sit directly opposite each other on the color wheel chart. Each pair complement (= ‘complete’) each other to produce a neutral color. Mix two complementary colors, and you’ll get the old murky gray.

1/21/09: Drawing Basics

Today is a day of infinite possibility. What will you do today?

Drawing Rules to Live By or Life Rules to Draw By
1. There is no one right way to draw.
2. Don’t compare your artwork to other people’s.
3. There’s really no messing up.
4. Practice.
5. Don’t stress out about showing your drawings to people.

- Kathryn Temple from “The Best Drawing Book You’ll Ever Need to Be the Artist You’ve Always Wanted to Be”

The subjects we will draw from come from photographs, life, and our imagination.

The drawing tools we will use in this class have been donated and are provided at no charge:
Graphite pencil charcoal pencil, eraser, tortillon (stump), pencil sharpener, sandpaper paddle, colored pencil, newsprint paper for practice, white drawing paper for finished drawings, ruler, compass,
T-square, triangle and protractor.





If you want your personal drawing tools to take home, please contact the instructor. A pack with items pictured to the left plus 10 sheets of white drawing paper (9”x12”) are available for purchase for $5 from the Instructor only.



What the class will cover:
1/21/09: Drawing Basics - Shapes, patterns, and textures. Shadow and Light. Learning to draw using your eyes, not your brain. Practice drawing a still life.
2/4/09: Color and Composition - Look at different pictures, what draws your eye? Incorporating a focal point. Eliminate distracting elements. Perspective. Proportionality. Measuring distances. Basic color theory. Practice drawing a landscape.
2/18/09: Geometric Shapes: Drawing Buildings, Cars, and Robots - Using drafting tools (ruler, protractor and compass). Components, shapes, and parts of man-made things. How their function defines their form. Use of legos to model robots. Textures of wood, metal, stone, brick, glass. Practice drawing buildings, cars, or robots.
3/4/09: Drawing Animals - Practice drawing living animals; for example, wild-life, pets, etc.
3/18/09: Drawing Faces – Proportionality. Basic components of the face. Facial expressions. Use of shadow and light to achieve 3-D affect. Practice drawing the human face.
4/1/09: Drawing the Human Figure - Basic shapes which make up the body. Proportionality. Textures of clothes and hair. Practice drawing the human body.
4/15/09: Cartooning and Manga - How-to make a cartoon figure. Basic instruction in Manga (Japanese-style cartoon figures). Create a cartoon figure from real life or make-believe.
Author
Temple, Kathryn.
Title
Drawing : the only drawing book you'll ever need to be the artist you've always wanted to be
Publisher
New York : Lark Books, c2005.
Library Call No. 741.2 Temple
ISBN:
1579905870 (hardcover)
Contents:
Everyone can draw -- The drawing toolbox -- Open your artist’s eyes -- Line drawing -- Light and shadow -- Proportion and scale -- Perspective -- Drawing faces -- Drawing bodies -- Anything can happen!