Drawing I

Course Description

Students will acquire skills in drawing through guided daily practice. Students will work from observation in media such as pencil, charcoal, color pencil and pen and ink. Students will build hand-eye coordination and fine motor skills. Students will critique artwork.

Grade Level(s): 9th-12th grade

Related Priority Standards (State &/or National): Missouri Grade Level Expectations for Visual Arts

Essential Questions

• How are the elements and principles of design chosen in an informed manner?
• How does media choice aid in the success of an artwork?
• Why do artists create the work that they do or historically did?
• How should an artist present their artwork?
• How should one respond to another person's artwork?

Enduring Understandings/Big Ideas

Students will understand that:

• Form follows function: formal qualities and what form something takes is dependent on what it is supposed to do.
• Media is a vehicle for expression: the base materials of art can be loaded with expressions (especially when done wisely).
• Meaning, feeling, or narrative or not innate in artwork; they have to be wisely uploaded, and then driven into the artwork.
• People create artwork in response to activities, events, and conventions surrounding them: all artists have reasons for what they do.
• The meaning and quality of artwork are subjective, but justifiable.

Course-Level Scope & Sequence (Units &/or Skills)

Unit 1: Space Drawing

Unit 2: Line Edge

Contour drawing, is an artistic technique used in the field of art in which the artist sketches the contour of a subject by drawing lines that result in a drawing that is essentially an outline; the French word contour means, "outline." [1] The purpose of contour drawing is to emphasize the mass and volume of the subject rather than the detail; the focus is on the outlined shape of the subject and not the minor details. However, because contour can convey a three dimensional perspective, length and width, as well as thickness and depth are important; not all contours exist along the outlines of a subject. [2] This technique is manifested in different styles and practiced in the honor of drawing development.

Unit 3: Blind Contour

Blind contour line drawings are created by not looking at the paper while drawing.

Unit 4: Pure Contour Drawing

Pure contour drawings are created while looking at the subject and not lifting the drawing tool.

Unit 5: Modified Contour Line

Modified contour line drawings are created using only contour lines. The artist is able to lift a drawing tool and look at the paper. Only lines are used to define the object. Contour drawings contains form, weight, mass, space, and distance.

Unit 6: Cross-Contour Line Drawing

While contour lines describe edges, cross-contours describe form and volume. These lines can follow planes of form, moving around and across objects as well as through them.

Ongoing units include value, sighting, and composition.

Course Resources & Materials: Art of Education Flex and Pro for ART

Date Last Revised/Approved: 2009