Lesson VII: Large to Small

Posted: July 20th, 2010 | Author: | Filed under: Lesson VII | 59 Comments »

Take a seat, students.  The Tutor has tallied the results of last week’s midterm exam and as a class, we performed below average: in the multiple-choice portion of the quiz, only 68% of correct answers were given.  The Tutor has the sneaking suspicion that many of you gave incorrect answers just to get his attention.  If this applies to you, please stand up now, face the chalkboard, and write the following 50 times: “I am a bad, bad student.  I am not worthy of The Tutor’s yardstick.  I will no longer bleed the red ink from The Tutor’s grading pen with such disregard, and promise to perform better in the future.”

For everyone else, The Tutor wants you to know that he is a reasonable man who recognizes that the point of any classroom is to learn and grow… so do not despair over the poor scoring of this first exam.  We will learn from our mistakes and grow together as a class in the weeks to come.

Here are the correct answers from last week’s quiz:

  1. Which of the following elements from Lesson I is not a reference to The Molting?  Answer: b.) The Tutor’s rubber apron
  2. In Lesson II, which device cannot be used to sharpen a pencil?  Answer: a.) a pencil sharpener
  3. In Lesson III, which tool is not named after a character from The Molting?  Answer: c.) Staci
  4. In Lesson IV, what does our pencil become?  Answer: d.) a dance partner
  5. Which famous comic book couple is The Tutor’s 6-legged teaching assistants named after?  Answer: c.) Marv and Goldie
  6. In Lesson V, which of the following does not bespeak our greater purpose? Answer: b.) the mattress where we sleep
  7. When painting a straight line, to what degree should we angle our straightedge?  Answer: c.) 135°
  8. In Lesson III, which of the following colors is not amongst The Tutor’s paint tubes?  Answer: a.) Neutral Gray
  9. What adjective is missing from this famous quote by Michelangelo: “If people knew how hard I work to gain my mastery, it wouldn’t seem _________ at all.” Answer: b.) wonderful
  10. Which of the following items featured in Lesson VI does Guilty Susie hold in chapter one of The Molting?  Answer: d.) a handgun
  11. According to The Tutor, what motivates creativity? Answer: c.) order and chaos
  12. According to The Tutor, what’s the only way for an artist to thrive in a critical and unkind world?  Answer: a.) to be proficient in our abilities
  13. How many scratches are on The Tutor’s left cheek?  Answer: b.) three
  14. Based on what you’ve seen thus far in The Tutor’s classroom and The Molting comic book, who has yet to sit in the wooden wheelchair?  Answer: d.) Uncle Henry
  15. According to The Tutor, what cannot be taught in his classroom?  Answer: c.) an artistic “voice”

Surprisingly, the questions most frequently answered incorrectly had noting to do with The Molting comic book (which I know many of you have yet to read), but to elements pertaining exclusively to The Tutor’s written Lesson Plans.   For future reference, be sure to not only watch the tutorials, but to read the supporting homework assignments given here.

For example, only 31% of you answered #7 correctly: When painting a straight line, to what degree should we angle our straightedge?  The most popular answer given was d.) 180°, which is not an angle at all (as far as our straightedges are concerned!).  180° is the equivalent of resting our straightedges flat against our drawing surfaces when the point of the exercise is to angle them so we can run the body of our paintbrushes along a raised edge.  Placing our rulers flat against the canvas will not only result in sloppy lines, but in messy straightedges covered in paint.  This information was originally outlined in Lesson I’s Lesson Plan.

Unsurprisingly, the most popular lesson—according to the answers given in the essay portion of the exam—was the one that required interjecting a personal element into our projects: Lesson VI: Selecting a Subject.  This pleases The Tutor because it lets him know that you are eager to create!  So, wipe off that soiled ruler and brush away those pencil savings… it’s time to leave behind the preparation phase of this class and journey into phase II: Creation! I give you Lesson VII: Large to Small:

Well done, students, you’ve completed another lesson.  Your homework assignment is to draw the still life that you assembled in Lessons V & VI.  We will be applying paint to this drawing in later lessons, so select an appropriate drawing surface—if you plan on using watercolors, consider using watercolor paper; if you plan on painting with acrylics, consider an illustration board or canvas, etc.

Before you begin to sketch, it’s important to decide where you will be positioned in relation to your still life.  Similar to how we don’t want our still life disturbed, it is important that the angle with which we view our still life does not alter greatly… so, pick a comfortable spot, and stick to it.

For many of you, drawing a still life may seem like a difficult leap from our prior lessons, but if you follow The Tutor’s method—begin with large, simple shapes and slowly work down to details—any drawing is attainable.  For example, if your still life is a rose in a vase sitting atop a table, draw the table first, then the vase, then the rose, then the leaves, then the stem, then the thorns.

I can’t wait to see your progress next week!