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Art Foundations 1

Art Foundations 1 Poster Small.jpg

This is a beginning drawing class that is a prerequisite to all other art classes offered at Vista Heights (except Intro to Ceramics). You can see some examples of student work (left and below) of some of the projects we do.

The focus of this class is on learning the basics of drawing.  The concepts you learn will help prepare you to succeed in more advanced classes.  We use both black-and-white and colour media.

Scroll down this page to see some important class information and links to a class calendar, documents, and assignments, as well as some very helpful links.

Basic Class Info.

Grades are based on the following weighted scale:

Assignments                  60 %

Out-of-Class Hours        10 %

Quizzes                          10 %

Posters                           10 %

Participation                   10 %

Students will expand upon previous art knowledge and fundamental art skills within these four basic areas:

 

Aesthetics (I like it/I hate it)

Art Criticism (It's good/It's bad)

Art History (artists, genres, etc.)

Art Production (making art)

Most of the time spent in class will focus on in-class art production (drawing pictures), but there are other assignments students will be responsible for, including quizzes, posters, and critiques.  There will be a total of six different posters over the entire semester for which students will be responsible (see below for a link to the  Poster assignment).

The poster topics and due dates are outlined on the calendar, and students are responsible to have them ready to present on time.  Past experience has shown that students who do not take this particular assignment seriously receive a grade that reflects such.  There is not much homework for this class, and these posters are not very difficult to produce.  As an added bonus, any time spent on creating these posters counts on their out-of-class practice hours log.

Antman by Jacob Nelson 2019.jpg

Important Documents

Concepts Covered in Art Foundations 1

Elements of Art

  1. line: varied, gesture, contour, expressive, implied, outline, blind contour, varied

  2. shape: positive, negative, geometric, organic, implied

  3. space: positive, negative, depth, perspective,

  4. value: value scale, 6 degrees of light, shading techniques

  5. texture: smooth, rough, natural, hard, soft

  6. colour: definitions, colour wheel, mixing, schemes, creating depth, creating forms, emotional impact

  7. form: 1-pt. perspective, 2-pt. perspective, cylinder, spacing

Principles of Art

  1. emphasis: focal point, methods of creating emphasis

  2. movement: line, visual path, pattern, rhythm

  3. balance: symmetrical, asymmetrical, mass, number, volume

  4. proportion: sighting, size, foreshortening

  5. repetition: pattern, colour, texture, line, shape, subject

  6. variety: pattern, colour, texture, line, value, shape,

  7. unity: repetition, colour, value, texture, line, shape, etc.

Other Concepts

  1. drawing  from life

  2. drawing from memory

  3. drawing from imagination

  4. 2D replication

  5. concepts that build on each other

  6. perspective

  7. colour mixing

  8. shading a face (celebrity, superhero)

  9. art history (posters)

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A Note about Grading Art

 

 

 

Out-of-Class Hours  (see calendar for deadlines)

For all of my art classes, students are required to complete 8 hours of out-of-class practice per term.  This is ideally a way to practice what is being learned in class.  The time spent practicing will be recorded on a practice log, which will be handed out in class.  This counts for 10% of  a student's grade.  To see a sample log, please click on the button below.  Note the arrows, indicating some very important requirements for this assignment.

Please take the time to read through this document carefully to make sure it is completed properly for full credit.  Note that there are many activities that are listed at the bottom of the sheet that will count for these hours, as well as some that will not.

Make sure the log has:

  1. the student’s name (first and last, printed clearly)

  2. the proper items filled in legibly

  3. the hours totaled correctly

  4. the hours signed by a parent

Some Helpful Links

*some links may take some time to load.

The Basics

Perspective Drawing

Value Drawing

Drawing Faces

Colour Drawing

Some Other Important Information about Hours Logs:

1. Unsigned hours will not be accepted.

2. If I have any question about the authenticity of a parent signature, I will call home to confirm that it was signed by the person indicated.  If it has been determined that the signature has been forged, the assignment will receive a zero.

3.  The first 4
hrs. are due at midterm.  If they are not turned in by the deadline, this assignment will not show up on their midterm grade, but students may turn it in late for partial credit.

4.  The second 4 hrs. (the ones with the deadline at the end of the term) will not be accepted late
FOR ANY REASON.    Dates are posted on the class calendar, on the board in my classroom, on the calendar hanging on my wall, and on this web page.  I will also remind students in class leading up to the deadline. Turning them in early is possible and highly encouraged.

5. 
I will only accept the hard copy of the Out-of-Class Hours log that you receive at the beginning of the term.  I will not accept notebook paper, phone calls, scans, photos, or e-mails.  If you lose your Hours Log, please come and get a new one from the classroom.

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Multiple Arrows.jpg

All of these buttons are links to really good resources to help you learn more about drawing. They are also important references for class projects and assignments.  You should start clicking on them to see what they show you.

Black Panther by Carter Seymore 2019.jpg
Wasp by Avery Romrell 2019.jpg
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Superhero SB 2021.jpg

More Coming Soon

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