Weeks Five & Six: Sketching, Composition, Form, Value, Rhythm

We've had very productive sketch sessions the past couple of weeks! Everyone got into learning new sketching techniques. You explored the elements of composition by drawing an agave plant and how to draw accurate proportions by drawing a dog. Everyone accomplished the goal of sketching loosely, quickly, and accurately.

Be sure to check out Gustavo's and Marcial's cool drawings in eXpReSsiOn sEsSiOn! Click here


Above: Design by Gustavo

I look forward to drawing with all of you after the holiday break.

Happy Holidays!!! --Rob

Jose

Excellent! Drawing! Jose! Great job of loosening up and sketching quickly and accurately (you had time to make two study sketches)! This is very much how artists sketch from real life so they can capture as much visual information as possible. The contour edges of the plant's leaves look very natural. Really nice job of adding lighter and darker gray tones to show different values of green. Fantastic work on the drawing of the dog! The proportions of its head are drawn accurately and the contour lines are drawn well, especially the folds of the ears. Keep sketching, man!

Antonio

Whoa!!! These sketches are awesome, Antonio! This is a BIG step toward drawing realistically. It's really cool how you made several study sketches of the plant until you got one you like--very much how an artist would do it. With each drawing the proportions (sizes of shapes compared to other shapes) became more accurate. The contour edges of the leaves look very natural. And the lighter and darker gray tones do a nice job of showing the different values of green leaves. Nice composition, Antonio.

Stephanie

Stephanie, your contour lines are a pure delight!! You're gaining more control of your line work with each new drawing you make. The proportions of the agave plant and the dog are very well drawn. I really like how you drew delicate contours of the leaves and blended lighter and darker tones, giving it a very natural look. Great job of drawing the facial features of the dog and the folds of the ears. :-)

Ernie

Your drawing of the plant makes for a great composition, Ernie!! The contour lines showing the edges of the leaves look very natural. How you overlapped the leaves and added gray tones gives realistic depth to your drawing. Nice job on drawing accurate proportions of the agave plant. The proportions of the dog are also well drawn! The contour lines realistically show the folds of the ears and positioning of the facial features.

Tasha

Your style of sketching realistically is progressing beautifully, Tasha!! You got right into loosely sketching contour lines for the form of the leaves. By keeping your guidelines light you were able to easily draw on top of your mistakes; then you drew darker contour lines for shapes that looked accurate to you. The overall proportions of the plant are very well drawn. All of your lines work together to make a wonderful composition!

Raul

The artist inside of you is really showing in these drawings, Raul!!! The way you loosened up and let your pencil fly all over the page created an artistic composition of the agave plant. Your expressive lines capture accurate proportions of the leaves. Nice job of adding gray tones to show the different values of green in the leaves. And you did an excellent job of drawing the contour lines forming the dog. Nice work in positioning the facial features and folds of the ears. Really cool contour lines forming the bird, too! Keep it going, man!

Marlene

Welcome to Success Sketchers, Marlene!! Wonderful start in drawing the contour edges that form the egret and the toucan! Overall you did a nice job of drawing accurate proportions of the birds' bodies, especially the 's' curve in the egret's neck and the beak of the toucan. Your line work shows a lot of control in all your drawings. Great job of getting all the details into your drawing of the dog! Overall, the proportions (sizes of shapes compared to other shapes) are drawn accurately. The facial features are drawn well, especially the positioning of the eyes.

Jesus

Very cool drawing, Jesus!!! Excellent job of drawing the contour edges forming the egret's head and body. The 's' curve in its neck is accurately drawn. I REALLY like how you drew the details for the beak and eye--very natural looking features. The pattern for the feathers are a nice touch that adds interest to your composition. You're gaining more control of your line work... keep practicing sketching light guidelines before drawing darker contour lines to finish.

Gustavo

Excellent start in drawing the dog, Gustavo!!! The overall proportions are drawn very well, especially the realistic folds of the ears! The contour edges are drawn accurately and you did a great job of positioning the eye. It would be really cool if you could finish this one. Hope you get back into drawing again, soon!

Damian

Welcome to Success Academy, Damian!! You got it all going with a fantastic sketch of the agave plant! I really like how you sketched loosely and quickly while keeping accurate proportions (sizes of shapes compared to other shapes) of the leaves. The contrast between lighter and darker tones make your composition very interesting to look at. Keep working on sketching light guidelines for accurate proportions then drawing darker contour edges to finish. Keep drawing!

Our Teachers

Nathaniel


EXCELLENT! Composition! Nathaniel! You took a big step in drawing realistically! The contours of the agave are very well drawn. The gray tones showing different values of green really make the leaves come alive. I know drawing accurate, natural looking proportions of the dog were real challenging, but your work paid off as you broke loose with great sketches of both the dog and plant!

Oops! Need a name for the new school counselor who drew this awesome pic:


Welcome to Success Sketchers!! GREAT start with the drawing of the dog! Overall, the proportions are VERY accurately drawn. The contour lines forming the head and facial features look realistic and natural. I really like how the contour lines show the folds of the ears and texture of the skin and fur around the eye. Excellent job of adding details such as the nostrils and contours of the eye. The contours for the neck and jaw add a lot of depth to your drawing.