403 || The Art Room: Early bird Art, Period 0.

[Vergil von Wulf]

The Art Room is where one will find all your needs to express yourself may it be through:
-the art of painting in acrylic, oil, egg tempera, watercolor, et cetera
-graphite pencils (organized from 6H to 9B in neat tin boxes)
-charcoal (both willow and vine in stick and in pencil)
-colored pencils (also in prismacolor stix, verithin, softcore, scholar, et cetera)
-pastels (both oil and chalk- soft and nupastel)
-markers (prismacolor double-ended, illustration markers, and copic for the advanced students)
-spray paints (don't forget to do this near an open window and wear a mask as well as warn others present)
-collage work (there are boxes of old magazines, newspapers, and the like neatly stacked in a far corner near the shelves where labeled student portfolios are kept)
-And so on.

The entire area is large and the far wall is line with large double windows that open outward to allow good light for dramatic shadows should the students or teacher set up a still life, someone needs to air out their piece, or any other positive thing that came with such an advantage.

You are asked to please:
-Thoroughly clean all of the brushes under warm water (and with soap if necessary) after every usage; clean them after every dip with acrylics for once it dries, the rubbery paint is hard to get out and the brush is sufficiently ruined.
-Respect all artwork hung or set out to dry and be mindful of the canvas area. An accidental kick could sent the easel toppling along with someone's work.
-Like anywhere, anything you use should be put back the way you found it. Everyone that uses this room comes here for the same reason you did, thus they deserve to find the materials you used in the same, pristine condition.
-If you desire to leave someone critique, make it constructive and preferably don't make it anonymous. If the artist were to have an inquiry about your honest, and hopefully helpful, words and ideas they'd need to find you.
-There is a Kone Hand Vacuum at the teacher's desk in the front for those who use chalk pastel, charcoal, or any other material that leaves a powdery residue to use to clean up afterward. If it's left, it gets tracked around the room and finds its way onto other people's work, ruining it.
-Sealing sprays for preventing smudging and for finished work can be found inside the third cabinet where all spraying materials are aligned by color in an analogous color scheme followed by the neutrals.
-Please do not take clay outside of the room and use it immaturely, i.e. smothering it against school property. Keep it in the room and use it wisely. You are all young adults and should behave as such.
-Any sculptures (freestanding or relief) made, should you not trust them to be safe here, can be moved to a small storage room connected to this room via the dark blue door.
-All in all: Welcome to the Art Room! Enjoy your stay and come back often: art can be very therapeutic you know.
________________

The Teacher:
Eveleen, that's all she wants to be called, or Eve for those who want something quick and snappy. She was a redhead with wild hair that was held back by a headband of faux white daisies, black vest with silver beads at the ends of swaying strands clinking together with every step as she welcomed her first class of the day in an airy voice. Her reputation on campus was somewhat the resident hippie, though her students love her and her ability to give them freedom and free reign as well as trust. She's an open-minded individual who's willing to listen to anyone about a project they have in mind and allow them to replace whatever they're doing now with it if they can finish the in-class assignment on their own time and bring it in around the established due date.

[Vergil von Wulf]

"Good morning my little flowers!" Eve danced near her desk from foot to foot very happily. Her red hair swayed as if there were a breeze while the bead stopped strands on her vest clicked and clinked together, mimicking a chime, "Welcome to early bird art, I'm very joyous to find so many bright faces this early in the morning." There were about fifteen people in her firstly first class though it really didn't have a number, it was just class zero, so she liked calling it early bird. They were her little early birds~!

"I'm sorry to say we won't be touching anything but note paper today my little flowers. Before one can create, one must master the fundamentals! Only then may you break free and explore the wildest areas of your mind." She turned to the white board with a little leap and began to write, "Don't bother with this little ones.. just a fact to encourage you."
Pablo Picasso mastered the art of his time and the realistic movements, exemplified in his work before 1901, the Blue Period, and the Rose Period (as well as his African-influence period), before he led the 20th century avant-garde art movement with Georges Braque known as Cubism.
She moved away from the corner of the board to divide it in two with a steady hand, a black line now down the middle of the otherwise white writing space. "My little flowers, today we'll be covering something you will always encounter when it comes to art, to design, or anything related: The Elements and Principles of Art."

The Elements of Art:
Form is an element of art that is three-dimensional and encloses volume. Cubes, spheres, and cylinders are examples of various forms. Form is the three-dimensionality of an object whereas shape is only two-dimensional. You can hold a form, walk around a form, and in some cases, walk inside a form. In drawing or painting using value can imply form. Shading a circle in a certain manner can turn it into a sphere.
Line is an element of art which refers to the continuous mark made on some surface by a moving point. It may be two dimensional, like a pencil mark on a paper or it may be three dimensional(wire) or implied (the edge of a shape or form). Often it is a outline, contour or silhouette.
Shape is an enclosed space defined by other elements of art. Shapes may take on the appearance of two dimensional or three dimensional objects.
Color is an element of art with three properties:
1) Hue/Chroma, the name of the color, e.g. red, yellow, etc.
2) Intensity or the purity and strength of the color such as brightness or dullness. When speaking on digital terms, this is called Saturation.
And 3) Value, or the lightness or darkness of the color.
The color wheel is a way of showing the chromatic scale in a circle using all the colors made with the primary triad. Complimentary pairs can produce dull and neutral color. Black and white can be added to produce tints (add white), shades (add black) and tones (add gray).
Texture refers to the surface quality or "feel" of an object, such as roughness, smoothness, or softness. Actual texture can be felt while simulated textures are implied by the way the artist renders areas of the picture.
Space refers to the distance or area between, around, above or within things. It can be a description for both two and three dimensional portrayals.
Value describes the lightness or darkness of a color. Value is needed to express volume and often to express the principal of contrast.

The Principles of Art:
Emphasis in a composition refers to developing points of interest to pull the viewer's eye to important parts of the body of the work.
Balance is a sense of stability in the body of work. Balance can be created by repeating same shapes and by creating a feeling of equal weight.
Harmony is achieved in a body of work by using similar elements throughout the work; it gives an uncomplicated look to your work.
Variety refers to the differences in the work, You can achieve variety by using difference shapes, textures, colors and values in your work. Many also include a variance of line thickness, form of the lines, implications between colors, etc.
Movement adds a sense of excitement to your work by showing action and directing the viewers eye throughout the picture plane. This principle is often said to conflict with emphasis but a good artist can emphasize a portion of the work while forcing the viewer's eye to continue along. "The rule of thirds" is a compositional rule of thumb in visual arts that is filed under movement- we will cover more on this later.
Rhythm is a type of movement in drawing and painting. It is seen in repeating of shapes and colors. Alternating lights and darks also give a sense of rhythm.
Proportion (or scale) refers to the relationships of the size of objects in a body of work. Proportions gives a sense of size seen as a relationship of objects, such as smallness or largeness in comparison to one another as well as a scale inside the piece to relate the size of two objects together.
Unity is seen in a painting or drawing when all the parts equal a whole. Your work should not appear disjointed or confusing, though there is an exception to every rule.

[Vergil von Wulf]

As the class hunched over their notebooks to copy down the large wall of legible writing on the board, Eve just continued to prattle on with a spin in her chair, "These! my little flowers, will lead you on your path in art and the rest of the years you decide to pursue it. However, rules are meant to be broken- just break them well!" There was a bit of a crazy giggle to the ending tone of her words, the twenty-six year old quite bubbly.

Vergil was quite content to take everything in with furious scribbling. He wrote this all inside of the front cover of his sketchbook where he could easily refer back to them if need be. The woman still prattling on in the front of the room was now playing with a paintbrush, brushing the bristles against the tip of her nose. She was out there, that was for sure, but her energy was very relaxed and it flowed around her comfortably. Eveleen was obviously very happy being who she was and even happier with where she was in life now. It was a good feeling to be around.

One by one, students set their pens and pencils down to signal they were done, Eve standing when she saw the last few finish, "That's all I have for you today my little early birds! Enjoy the last.. twenty-five minutes to yourselves. Talk! Draw!" Eveleen pulled out a stack of cheap, large, white paper and put it on a table nearby, "Feel free to take a sheet and share with a few classmates, make something together. It's better to get to know one another early on than be lonely for the year." She wandered around the room as groups slowly began to form, Vergil being approached by a freshman girl. She asked him to join her forming group and introduced herself as Dawn, Vergil reciprocating as he politely agreed and moved over.

[Vergil von Wulf]

When the bell rang, Eve picked up all of the large sheets and promised to keep them until the next class. They'd be covering the value scale tomorrow and they'd probably want the sheets around if they finished early.

Everyone cleared out steadily and soon period one file in to find the beaming redhead watching them intently.

[Vergil von Wulf]

"Good morning my little flowers!" Eveleen walked around with a basket, placing a little bag of cookies in front of each of her fifteen early birds. "Today we'll be expanding on what I went over yesterday- can anyone remember what it was?"
There was a chorus of "The Elements and Principles of Art" though some switched Element for Principle but the answer was still correct, "Mmhm, I'm glad it being so bright and early doesn't affect how well you remember things. Though! Today we'll only be expanding on the Elements of Art. To expand on the Principles requires them to be put into practice." When the last person had their cookies, she went to the windows and began to open them once by one, "Please look to the board. It's up to you if you'd like to copy it on your notes from yesterday or if you'd like to make a completely different set altogether."

The Elements of Art:
Characteristic of Line are:

* Width- thick, thin, tapering, uneven
* Length - long, short, continuous, broken
* Direction- horizontal, vertical, diagonal, curving, perpendicular, oblique, parallel, radial, zigzag
* Focus- sharp, blurry, fuzzy, choppy
* Feeling- sharp, jagged, graceful, smooth

Types of Line:

1. Outlines- Lines made by the edge of an object or its silhouette.
2. Contour Lines- Lines that describe the shape of an object and the interior detail.
3. Gesture Lines- Line that are energetic and catches the movement and gestures of an active figure.
4. Sketch Lines- Lines that captures the appearance of an object or impression of a place.
5. Calligraphic Lines- Greek word meaning “beautiful writing.” Precise, elegant handwriting or lettering done by hand. Also artwork that has flowing lines like an elegant handwriting.
6. Implied Line- Lines that are not actually drawn but created by a group of objects seen from a distance. The direction an object is pointing to, or the direction a person is looking at.

Categories of Color

Color Wheels a tool used to organize color. It is made up of:

* Primary Colors-Red, Yellow, Blue these color cannot be mixed, they must be bought in some form.
* Secondary Color-Orange, Violet, Green, these colors are created by mixing two primaries.
* Intermediate Colors- Red Orange, Yellow Green, Blue Violet, etc.; mixing a primary with a secondary creates these colors.
* Complementary Colors-are colors that are opposite each other on the color wheel. When placed next to each other they look bright and when mixed together they neutralize each other.

Color Harmonies

Color Harmonies is when an artist uses certain combinations of colors that create different looks or feelings.

*Analogous Colors are colors that are next to each other on the color wheel for example red, red orange, and orange are analogous colors.
*Triadic Harmony is where three equally spaced colors on the color wheel are used for example, yellow, Red, Blue is a triadic harmony color scheme.
*Monochromatic is where one color is used but in different values and intensity.
*Warm colors are on one side of the color wheel and they give the felling of warmth for example red, orange and yellow are the color of fire and feel warm.
*Cool colors are on the other side of the color wheel and they give the feeling of coolness for example blue, violet, are the color of water, and green are the color of cool grass.

Categories of Shapes:

* Geometric Shapes-Circles, Squares, rectangles and triangles. We see them in architecture and manufactured items.
* Organic Shapes-Leaf, seashells, flowers. We see them in nature and with characteristics that are free flowing, informal and irregular.
* Positive Shapes-In a drawing or painting positive shapes are the solid forms in a design such as a bowl of fruit. In a sculpture it is the solid form of the sculpture.
* Negative Shapes-In a drawing it is the space around the positive shape or the shape around the bowl of fruit. In sculpture it is the empty shape around and between the sculptures.
* Static Shape-Shapes that appears stable and resting.
* Dynamic Shape-Shapes that appears moving and active.

Categories of Space

Positive space-Like in positive shape it is the actual sculpture or building.

* Negative space-Also like negative shape it is the space around the sculpture or building.
* Picture Plane is the flat surface of your drawing paper or canvas
* Composition is the organization and placement of the elements on your picture plane.
* Focal Point is the object or area you want the viewer to look at first.

Types of Perspective

* Nonlinear Perspective is the method of showing depth that incorporates the following techniques.

o Position-Placing an object higher on the page makes it appear farther back then objects placed lower on the page.

o Overlapping-When an object overlaps another object it appears closer to the viewer, and the object behind the object appears farther away.

o Size Variation-Smaller objects look farther away in the distance. Larger objects look closer.

o Color-Bright colors look like they are closer to you and neutral colors look like they are farther away.

o Value-Lighter values look like they are farther back and darker value look like they are closer. For example in a landscape the mountains often look bluish and lighter then the trees or houses that are closer to you. (Also referred to as "Atmospheric Perspective")

* Linear Perspective is the method of using lines to show the illusion of depth in a picture. The following are types of linear perspective.

o One-point perspective-When lines created by the sides of tables or building look like that are pointing to the distance and they all meet at one point on the horizon this is one-point perspective. To see an example stand in the middle of the hallway and look at the horizontal lines in the brick or the corner where the ceiling meets the wall. See how they move to one point on the horizon.

o Two-point perspective-Here the lines look like they are meeting at two points on the horizon line

o Three-point is not often seen but it's commonly referred to as the "bird's eye" perspective.

Categories of Texture

* Real Texture is the actual texture of an object. Artist may create real texture in art to give it visual interest or evoke a feeling. A piece of pottery may have a rough texture so that it will look like it came from nature or a smooth texture to make it look like it is machine made.
* Implied Texture is the where a two-dimensional piece of art is made to look like a certain texture but in fact is just a smooth piece of paper. Like a drawing of a tree trunk may look rough but in fact it is just a smooth piece of paper

Categories of Value:

* Tint is adding white to color paint to create lighter values such as light blue or pink.
*Shade is adding black to paint to create dark values such as dark blue or dark red.
* High-Key is where the picture is all light values.
* Low-Key is where the picture is all dark values.
* Value Contrast is where light values are placed next to dark values to create contrast or strong differences.
* Value Scale is a scale that shows the gradual change in value from its lightest value, white to its darkest value black.

There are five different kinds of light used to shade objects in art:

Types of Form:

Cubes
Spheres
Cylinders
Pyramids
Cones
Etc.

[Vergil von Wulf]

There were a few groans under the breaths of students all trudging tiredly to reach for their backpacks and take out their notebooks. It didn't take too long to copy it all down, Eve had kept it fairly simple and to the point, but it was the fact that they had to copy notes again that made a lot of people sigh with irritation.
Eve was busy looking for something in one of the portfolios, a white one with faux white daises for a handles like her headband. She made a little squeak when she found what she was looking for. Looking around, she looked from person to person and saw no one writing any longer, "So today, we're making value scales. This is relevant to the intensity of a piece, practicing value variation, atmospheric perspective, and so on my little flowers. It's just black and white for today however- later, we'll make value scales for each basic color of the color wheel as well as a color wheel."

She passed around a value scale she kept from a student last year, "You may use your own graphite pencils or the ones we keep here, so long as there are ten boxes and you show a scale from the lights- being white and untouched, to the darkest- usually an 8B or 9B."
As soon as everyone finished looking at the value scale, Eveleen slid a sheet of paper into there hands that was of the same size, "The boxes should be two inches in width, so that's twenty inches across the twenty five inch sheet, and five inches in height. Rules are over there~" Her hands motioned off to an umbrella stand where there were large, metal rulers sticking out.

Dawn tugged at Vergil and led an initiative action to pass the rulers out to the class, murmured thank you's filling the room for a minute. Eve was busy fumbling at a window sill and soon a celtic harp was heard in the silence that had taken over. She finally got that CD player to work, "This isn't due today per se little flowers. Take your time. Oh! And if anyone would like to bring in and donate music to listen to, feel free. I'll accept anything." That sent another ace of mummers between the students. She pulled from the window sill where the new CD player was and returned to it with speakers, plugging them in and adjusting them so they pointed out to the large room.

During a silent portion of the CD, the squeak of marker caught the attention of the small class and sure enough, Eve was scribbling on the board.
OBJ.: Our first drawing exercise is to do a horizontal value chart of 10 gray levels. There are two ways to accomplish this using a pencil.
1.Tone/Shading. Start with white and black at the ends and then establish a mid-range gray. Gradually expand the chart out till you have 10 values. (AUG 19th)
2.Crosshatch. First establish a crosshatch pattern at equal distances. Then adding layers of crosshatch in different directions gradually darkens the plane. Crosshatching is series of lines that cross each other, just like the name says. These lines follow the contour of the object in at least two directions.(AUG 20th)
3.Hatching is a series of parallel lines that all go in the same direction. Ideally, they are not supposed to cross. You can build value by letting these lines get closer and closer to each other. This particular project is to be done with pen. A ruler can be used but is not necessary. These lines usually follow the contour of an object to show the shape of an object. These lines don't need to be straight, they just need to go in the same direction. (AUG 23rd)
4.Stippling is a pen and ink technique done with a serious of dots. Comic books and old-fashioned TVs used stippling (otherwise known as pointillism). These dots get closer to each other to achieve greater value. (AUG 24th)

Eveleen turned and startled, her marker falling to the floor, when she saw her little early birds all staring at her. One boy spoke up, "What's that, teach?" She looked back to her writing and then to her class, "An outline dear little flower, of what we'll be covering for a while. Today you're all doing tone, tomorrow we'll do the same thing but you'll be crosshatching instead of blending your tones or, shading." She then noticed no one had eaten at all, "Are you all not fans of sweets?" They looked at each other then the untouched cookie bags. They had forgotten about those. Rustling into the plastic bags, they all took bites and made sounds of contentment, "I made them myself~ I do enjoy baking once in a while." There was a chorus of thank you's directed at her, making her flush, "Oh, you're all too sweet little flowers! Enjoy them."

[Vergil von Wulf]

Eight o'clock made itself known with a chime and that was it, the end of period zero and the beginning of the day for a lot of sleepyheads. She waved them all on and promised to put their value scales in their portfolios, and made a pile to keep for those that didn't have one, wishing them well for the rest of their day. When she finished putting away the last once, she noticed everyone had taken their cookies with them. That made her happy.
Period one filed in and she went for her basket to place the treats in front of them each, greeting them in the same fluttery voice she had greeted her early birds in.

[Vergil von Wulf]