- Problem: portray landscape in a figure/ground reversal.
- Limits: simple (economy), flat shapes (decorative space)
- Materials: Sketch pad; pencils; black ink pen set; 4 sheets Bristol Board 9x12”; Black drawing paper; scissors, exacto knife, ruler, glue.
- Terms: abstraction, composition, economy, decorative space, form, figure-ground relationship, picture plane, picture frame
- Criteria:
- Is the ground as interesting as the figure? Is there reversal?
- Do the proportions of the final compositions reflect the proportions of the original thumbnails??
- Is the composition interesting? Does it draw the viewer in? How?
- Is the presentation professional?
Procedure:
- Imagine the landscape discussed by you in class and brainstorm with a minimum of 20 small (1 or 1.5") thumbnail sketches in journal. Remember to start each thumbnail sketch with its picture frame. Let each picture frame have different proportions as required for your idea. Space the thumbnail sketches out on the page (at least 2" apart). Leave the opposite page in your journal blank for step 2. Experiment with different views of the same landscape (far, close-up, another perspective). Include as much detail as you can remember.
- On the opposite page from your original thumbnail sketches, re-draw each using the concept of economy to pare them down to simple black and white, figure/ground relationships. The goal is to create a figure/ground reversal effect.
- Ink on 9x12 Bristol board: Choose the six strongest thumbnail sketches. On Bristol board draw these six compositions slightly larger (approximately 2" studies). Spread them out neatly on the page for presentation. Use pen & ink to fill in black areas. The goal with these is to simplify, pare down, (economy) the design to a figure ground reversal. Examples
- Four cut-out compositions: Choose from the six compositions on bristol and make four full size compositions using cut black shapes on white Bristol (or white on black). Compositions should range in size between 8-10 inches. The shape of the composition (its picture frame) must be accurate to the proportions of the chosen thumbnail sketch. Use tracing paper to make patterns for your shapes in order to keep the final composition neet and clean.
DUE DATE & CRITIQUE: (see syllabus)
