Basic Design

Orientation

This class is your first stop on the way to becoming a professional artist. It is suitable for a wide variety of visual arts practitioners: fine artists, graphic designers, digital artists, photographers, landscape designers, architects, interior designers, fashion designers, and more. If you are not majoring in a visual arts subject, but would still like to take an art class at Fullerton College, look on the class schedule for ART 110 F Introduction to Art

The class covers, in simple and accessible ways, the basic elements of two-dimensional artwork (such as drawings and paintings), some ways of making these artworks, and examples created by various artists.

More importantly, this class will try to help you create personal and fulfilling images that reflect your own unique talents.

Things to get right away:

• textbook (see below).
• black pencils (and eraser).
• black markers (thick and thin).
• lots of inexpensive paper, for instance the "plain paper" used in printers and copiers (20 lb letter size bond paper).
• folder (throughout the semester you'll need to have all your projects with you whenever you come to class).

Additional supplies may be needed for later projects, as indicated by the instructor during lectures.

Textbook

• Keys to drawing with imagination
  by Bert Dodson
  published by North Light Books in 2007
  ISBN: 978-1-58180-757-8

  The book will be available for purchase at the Fullerton College bookstore.

• The textbook contains a wide range of intriguing exercises that will spark your imagination and help you refine your artistic vision.

Projects

• "Take a line for a walk" design space exploration - week 1
  • 5 continuous-line drawings (p. 11 of textbook) in a 2-axis series. Each drawing differs from the previous one because of a single attribute change—either different fill (axis 1) or different line shape (axis 2), but not both at the same time.
  • The line shapes are: flowing (uninterrupted curves), broken (straight segments in random directions), vibrating, straight segments in horizontal / vertical directions, straight segments along a diagonal. Use non-uniform fills—two are shown on pp. 11-13: dots (variable spacing) and water (variable size). Or you can devise your own, making sure to maintain consistency.
  • Add a sixth drawing, in which you change an additional attribute of your choice (e.g., line thickness, or fill color). This will add a 3rd axis—but we still want to explore our design space in one-step increments, so do not change line shape or fill type in the 6th drawing.
• Shape clusters - week 2
  • 5 shape cluster drawings (p.19), using a combination of line shapes. Make sure to maintain the negative space roughly even between shapes, and to fill the entire page, pushing shapes into the sides and corners of the sheet. This will force unexpected distortions in your drawings.
  • These shape clusters will provide raw material for later projects. To ensure that you have a wide variety of material to draw upon, we will set the following "themes" for each drawing:
    1. People
    2. Animals
    3. Plants
    4. Objects
    5. Your own Personal Selection
  • silhouette (p. 23) each shape cluster drawing. Use uniform fills—three are shown on pp. 11-13: patches, concentric and undulating. Or you can devise your own, making sure to maintain consistency. Fill positive space in some of the five drawings, fill negative space in others—choose the fill that best sets off the shapes you drew.
• Doodling in depth - week 4
  • Tangle
  • Roots
  • Waves
  • Straight Walls
  • Curved Walls
• Modular complexity - week 6
  • Shape Tangle
  • Receding
  • Revolving
• Visual balance - week 8
  • Formal
  • Informal
• Distortion and texture - week 10
  • Forced
  • Grid
• Obscuring and engaging - week 12
  • Collage
• Figure/ground inversion - week 14
  • Tessellation
• Final Project
  • Plan
  • Design Space
  • Deliverables

Topics

1. Form (Basic Design Elements and Principles)
   1. Line
      1. Contour
      2. Wandering
      3. Straight
      4. Curved line
      5. Broken line
   2. Shape
      1. Geometric
      2. Organic
      3. Positive and negative
   3. Value
      1. Light and dark
      2. Value as compositional emphasis
   4. Color
      1. Hue
      2. Value
      3. Intensity
      4. Color schemes
   5. Texture
      1. Tactile
      2. Visual
      3. Trompe l'oeil
   6. Pattern
   7. Volume
   8. Mass
   9. Composition
      1. Symmetrical
      2. Asymmetrical
      3. Radial
      4. Balance
      5. Contrast
      6. Unity
      7. Rhythm
      8. Repetition
      9. Proportion
      10. Scale
      11. Focal point
2. Content
   1. The visual environment
   2. The mind's eye
   3. Art Movements and Cultures
3. Art processes
   1. Generative
   2. Transformative
4. Techniques
5. Professional practices

Grading and attendance policies

• This is a 3-units course. The grade is based on class participation and satisfactory completion of the work assigned.
• Satisfactory completion of assigned projects, and regular attendance for the entire duration of the class, will ensure high marks. All assignments must be turned in by the last day of regular classes, except for the final project which is due on finals day.
• Attendance is mandatory.
  • A sign-in sheet will be provided by the instructor every time the class meets. Make sure to sign in, since attendance records are entirely based on this sign-up sheet.

Contact

To get in touch with the instructor, Sandro Corsi:

• Office: rm. 1254-06, (714) 992-7273
• Art Computer Graphics Lab: (714) 992-7000, then dial ext. 24299
• Art Department Office: (714) 992-7116

This page is Bobby Section 508 Approved, accessible to the disabled.

This page qualifies as valid HTML 4.01 transitional.

This page qualifies as valid CSS 2.

Created: 2008-12-14. Last Updated: 2012-02-01. This document originally at <http://www.sanedraw.com/LEARN/ACG/ART_120.HTM> Copyright 2012 by Sandro Corsi