A term meaning “Living Picture,” the Tableau Vivant was a popular form of entertainment in Europe before photography, radio, or film. A group of models would recreate paintings, etchings, or scenes from books by posing in frozen attitudes on a stage, often with elaborate costumes, props, and lighting. Tableaux Vivants are still created at the annual “Pageant of the Masters” in Laguna Beach – a $4.1 million production featuring 40 art works recreated over a period of 2 months. For this assignment, you will create a Tableau of one work of figurative art, and use it as reference for a new illustration. The illustration will be 11”x15”.
Objectives:
To explore existing artistic traditions and history as a source of inspiration, to examine the role of image reference, both historical and created, in creating an illustration, to develop an immersive composition from a static one, to use warm and cool contrast in a painting.
Procedure:
Choose one of the artistic traditions listed below:
Chinese Scrolls
European Illuminated Manuscripts
Egyptian Painting
Greek Vase Painting
Persian Miniature Painting
Ukiyo-e Prints
Research the tradition, and find an example of it that you would like to base your piece on. You must have a high quality copy of this image, at least 3”x3”. The image may be Xeroxed or scanned from a book. A low-res JPEG is not acceptable. Put the copy in your sketchbook. Record the name and period of the piece, and, if appropriate, the artist. Write about what is occurring in the image; identify all of the characters, the environment, and any significant objects in the image. Be specific. Do as much research as possible.
Reference:
Using friends or classmates, re-enact the scene from your image. You may want to arrange equivalents of the costumes, props, and setting, for instance, using a broom handle for a sword. Pay attention to the lightning of your tableau. When you are satisfied with your tableau, photograph it. The artistic traditions listed above tend towards flattened, theatrical compositions. Work against this in your photo-reference. Strive to find the point of view that will create the most interesting composition. Consider the depth of your arrangement: background, middle ground, and foreground. Present your photos in class.
Drawing:
Based on the feedback you receive in class on your photographed compositions, develop your drawing at the size of the final illustration. Focus primarily on value, and refining your composition.
Painting:
Execute the painting utilizing the concepts of warm and cool and bring attention to certain areas (push & pull) and create the correct emotional mood. Use Titanium White, Burnt Umber, and Ultramarine Blue acrylic paints. By mixing the blue and umber paints, you will create a dark near-black color. Adjusting it with a little more blue or brown will make it cooler or warmer, respectively. Adding white will provide you with full range of warm and cool values.
Presentation:
When the painting is finished, mat it. The mat should have a second window for a good, clean copy of the source image. Flap the mat with a sheet of tracing paper and a sheet of cover stock.
1.19- Project 1: Tableau Vivant assigned
In class and homework: Exercise 2: Texture Matching Scavenger Hunt
1.24- Due: Tableau research, Exercise 2.
In class: Review research for Tableau Vivant
Begin thumbs, sketches for drawing
1.26- Due: Tableau reference photos.
In class: Review sketches, reference. Work on Tableau Vivant drawing.
1.31- Due: Tableau Vivant drawing
In Class: Begin painting
2.2- In Class: Exercise 3: Expression Studies
2.7- Due: Tableau Vivant critiqued.
2.9- Due: Tableau Vivant matted, flapped, labeled and turned in.
Wednesday, February 1, 2012
Monday, November 21, 2011
Thursday, November 17, 2011
Project 5: Memory
Make a list of 18 childhood memories: (6) from ages 1-6; (6) from ages 6-12; and (6) from ages 12-18. Try to come up with specific events, not general situations (so, not simply “Fishing with Grampa,” but “the time I went fishing with Grampa, and I fell out of the boat.”).
From this list, select the three memories that seem the most compelling and personal. Take some time and write about each memory. Consider: Why is this event significant enough that you have bothered to remember it? What led to this event? What were you feeling at the time? What do you think other people were feeling? How would you react differently to this situation if faced with it today? What kind of specifics and concrete imagery can you remember? Chronologically, how did this event transpire?
Type up and edit each memory. Print off 4 copies of each piece (12 total). In class on Monday, break into small groups, give one copy of each memory to each member in your group, and read your memories to one another. Note your peers’ reactions and associations with the stories you tell.
Edit your peers’ stories. Specifically: note what isn’t clear narratively, what kind of specifics could use more detail, what is effective and what is too vague. Highlight as much concrete imagery as possible.
Using the feedback you received from your group, choose one of these as the memory you want to work with for this project.
Prepare 15 thumbnails of your memory. Do not look at any photographs during this time. Create the compositions based solely on your memory. Consider the Molly Bang principles: structure your compositions to heighten the emotions conveyed in your stories. From these thumbnails, prepare (3) 7” x 9.5” refined sketches. These presentation sketches should be refinements of the thumbnails, advancing your understanding of the composition, and clearly communicating your content.
In class, prepare a 7” x 9.5” painted study of the best of the three compositions. Only after this sketch is completed can you look at any photo-reference for this piece. Shoot or construct your own reference as much as possible.
Based on your painted study, develop the full-size composition, and lightly transfer it to your painting surface. The final illustration will be 11”x15”, and will be executed in either black watercolor wash or black and white gouache. Take care to ensure that your final is clean and isn’t warping.
Materials
A sheet of good paper: watercolor paper or Bristol Board
Tracing paper
Black tube watercolor paint/Black and white gouache
Plastic mixing tray
Water container
Round watercolor brushes
Mop brush
11.9 - Assigned: Develop Memory List
11.14 - Memory stories due, peer editing. Begin thumbnails.
11.16 - Review thumbs, refined sketches due at end of class.
11.21 - Half-sized painted sketch due. Illustrator Paper DUE.
11.23 - Turkey Day Break!
11.30 – Illustrator Presentations DUE
12.5 - Memory DUE.
12.7, 12.12. – Illustration presentations, Last Day of Class.
From this list, select the three memories that seem the most compelling and personal. Take some time and write about each memory. Consider: Why is this event significant enough that you have bothered to remember it? What led to this event? What were you feeling at the time? What do you think other people were feeling? How would you react differently to this situation if faced with it today? What kind of specifics and concrete imagery can you remember? Chronologically, how did this event transpire?
Type up and edit each memory. Print off 4 copies of each piece (12 total). In class on Monday, break into small groups, give one copy of each memory to each member in your group, and read your memories to one another. Note your peers’ reactions and associations with the stories you tell.
Edit your peers’ stories. Specifically: note what isn’t clear narratively, what kind of specifics could use more detail, what is effective and what is too vague. Highlight as much concrete imagery as possible.
Using the feedback you received from your group, choose one of these as the memory you want to work with for this project.
Prepare 15 thumbnails of your memory. Do not look at any photographs during this time. Create the compositions based solely on your memory. Consider the Molly Bang principles: structure your compositions to heighten the emotions conveyed in your stories. From these thumbnails, prepare (3) 7” x 9.5” refined sketches. These presentation sketches should be refinements of the thumbnails, advancing your understanding of the composition, and clearly communicating your content.
In class, prepare a 7” x 9.5” painted study of the best of the three compositions. Only after this sketch is completed can you look at any photo-reference for this piece. Shoot or construct your own reference as much as possible.
Based on your painted study, develop the full-size composition, and lightly transfer it to your painting surface. The final illustration will be 11”x15”, and will be executed in either black watercolor wash or black and white gouache. Take care to ensure that your final is clean and isn’t warping.
Materials
A sheet of good paper: watercolor paper or Bristol Board
Tracing paper
Black tube watercolor paint/Black and white gouache
Plastic mixing tray
Water container
Round watercolor brushes
Mop brush
11.9 - Assigned: Develop Memory List
11.14 - Memory stories due, peer editing. Begin thumbnails.
11.16 - Review thumbs, refined sketches due at end of class.
11.21 - Half-sized painted sketch due. Illustrator Paper DUE.
11.23 - Turkey Day Break!
11.30 – Illustrator Presentations DUE
12.5 - Memory DUE.
12.7, 12.12. – Illustration presentations, Last Day of Class.
Thursday, October 20, 2011
Some period dress
Found by Luke! Thanks Luke!
Keep researching and piecing together accurate reference for Monday.
Thursday, October 13, 2011
Sinbad the Sailor
For the next assignment, you will illustrate a story from the One Thousand and One Arabian Nights. This story will be executed in scratchboard. The size is 10”x15”, either landscape or portrait, and should be measured out in the middle of a larger sheet of scratchboard—do not work at the edge of your board.
List 3 events in the story of Sinbad that would be interesting to depict. Write a stream of consciousness statement of each, summarizing what is happening at the moment you wish to illustrate. Try to understand the back-story and motivation of each of the players involved, even if this means you need to invent this information. What is Sinbad feeling at that moment? What are the other people feeling? Why are they doing what they’re doing? How would you feel if placed in that situation/Has there ever been a time when you have encountered something analogous to this event, however tenuous the connection? Even though you are illustrating a pre-existing story, it can and should be informed by your personal experience, and even become a vehicle to tell your own story.
After writing the 3 statements, begin drawing thumbnails of the chosen moments. Prepare at least 15 thumbnails for each moment. Consider the overall emotional tone of each moment, and how you can communicate that with the composition, as you did with the Card Suit project. Consider the emotional state of the characters, and how that will inform their body language, as you did with the Pantomime project.
Research the history of the Arabian Nights, and Sir Richard Burton’s translation, in particular. Because they result from an oral tradition that circulated for centuries, there is timelessness to the stories. But, in order to illustrate them properly, you must root them in a specific time an place, so that you know what people will be dressed in, and what their environments will look like. Based on your research, determine a place and time for your depiction of the voyages of Sinbad. Research the culture that Sinbad comes from (is he Muslim, or Sikh? Arab or Persian? Or something else entirely?). Write a 500-word summary of your research and conclusions, and email these to me at john@johnleedraws.com. Collect as much visual reference as you can for your chosen period. Collect at least 5 images of period-appropriate male clothing, 5 of female clothing (costume history books are a great resource), 5 of buildings, 5 landscapes of that part of the world, and images of ships, animals, weapons, furniture, and whatever else you might need for your illustration.
Take your 3 most successful thumbnails (these may or may not be from the same moment), and draw a 7.5”x11” compositional study for each. Your 35+ thumbnails, 500-word research summary, visual references, and 3 comps are due 10/19. Remember that complete and on-time research and sketches are a significant part of your final product grade.
Based on feedback in class, do a full-size, refined, 10” x 15” pencil sketch in preparation for transfer to your scratchboard.
During the next class, we will have a figure in costume for posed reference. Bring materials for drawing the figure, the larger the better. Also bring cameras if you choose. I will bring mine for use as well..
10/12- Mid-Term. Pantomime critiqued and turned in. In-class: Scratchboard studies.
10/19- Illustrator Research due. Story sketches and research due. In-class: figure drawing with costume
10/26- Full-sized pencil sketch
11.9- Finals due, critique
Materials:
Large and small sheets of scratchboard
Scratching tools
Tracing paper
White chalk for transfer
Ink
List 3 events in the story of Sinbad that would be interesting to depict. Write a stream of consciousness statement of each, summarizing what is happening at the moment you wish to illustrate. Try to understand the back-story and motivation of each of the players involved, even if this means you need to invent this information. What is Sinbad feeling at that moment? What are the other people feeling? Why are they doing what they’re doing? How would you feel if placed in that situation/Has there ever been a time when you have encountered something analogous to this event, however tenuous the connection? Even though you are illustrating a pre-existing story, it can and should be informed by your personal experience, and even become a vehicle to tell your own story.
After writing the 3 statements, begin drawing thumbnails of the chosen moments. Prepare at least 15 thumbnails for each moment. Consider the overall emotional tone of each moment, and how you can communicate that with the composition, as you did with the Card Suit project. Consider the emotional state of the characters, and how that will inform their body language, as you did with the Pantomime project.
Research the history of the Arabian Nights, and Sir Richard Burton’s translation, in particular. Because they result from an oral tradition that circulated for centuries, there is timelessness to the stories. But, in order to illustrate them properly, you must root them in a specific time an place, so that you know what people will be dressed in, and what their environments will look like. Based on your research, determine a place and time for your depiction of the voyages of Sinbad. Research the culture that Sinbad comes from (is he Muslim, or Sikh? Arab or Persian? Or something else entirely?). Write a 500-word summary of your research and conclusions, and email these to me at john@johnleedraws.com. Collect as much visual reference as you can for your chosen period. Collect at least 5 images of period-appropriate male clothing, 5 of female clothing (costume history books are a great resource), 5 of buildings, 5 landscapes of that part of the world, and images of ships, animals, weapons, furniture, and whatever else you might need for your illustration.
Take your 3 most successful thumbnails (these may or may not be from the same moment), and draw a 7.5”x11” compositional study for each. Your 35+ thumbnails, 500-word research summary, visual references, and 3 comps are due 10/19. Remember that complete and on-time research and sketches are a significant part of your final product grade.
Based on feedback in class, do a full-size, refined, 10” x 15” pencil sketch in preparation for transfer to your scratchboard.
During the next class, we will have a figure in costume for posed reference. Bring materials for drawing the figure, the larger the better. Also bring cameras if you choose. I will bring mine for use as well..
10/12- Mid-Term. Pantomime critiqued and turned in. In-class: Scratchboard studies.
10/19- Illustrator Research due. Story sketches and research due. In-class: figure drawing with costume
10/26- Full-sized pencil sketch
11.9- Finals due, critique
Materials:
Large and small sheets of scratchboard
Scratching tools
Tracing paper
White chalk for transfer
Ink
Thursday, October 6, 2011
Scratchboard
Remember to bring scratchboard to class next Monday, 10.10. We'll be experimenting with it on a still life.
Pantomime
In class, on 9/28, watch the selected materials from Martha Graham's A Dancer's World. Look for expressive body language, and sketch in your notebook. How much information can be expressed with nothing more than the human figure?
Select 4 of the emotions listed below:
Acceptance; Ambivalence; Apathy; Anxiety; Compassion; Confusion; Curiosity; Despair; Disgust; Doubt; Ecstasy; Envy; Embarrassment; Forgiveness; Frustration; Guilt; Gratitude; Grief; Hope; Horror; Homesickness; Loneliness; Love; Pity; Pride; Regret; Remorse; Shame; Suffering.
Your assignment is to convey these emotions solely through body language. This will require the assistance of one friend, peer, family member, class crush, or paid persons to act as a model for you. Working with your model, develop body language that clearly conveys your chosen emotional states. Refer to your in-class sketching for ideas. The poses you develop may or may not be wholly naturalistic; they may be exaggerated. You may costume your model however you wish, but the model must remain in the same outfit for all 4 emotions—no changing costumes to reflect the emotion being depicted. Draw your model from life. You may take photo-reference, as well, but only as secondary resource to your live-model drawings.
From these sketches, develop 4 images, each 7"x10", of the human figure, expressing your chosen emotions. You may use either litho crayon or ink on white paper. Choose either quality drawing paper or smooth Bristol board depending on your choice of media. The drawings should contain the figure only: no props, no background. Mount the four drawings 2 x 2 on mat board with 1” in between each drawing, and with a 2” border. Label the four emotions depicted on the back of your mat board.
The four drawings are due for critique on Wednesday, 10.12.
Dimensions of Final:
(4) 7” x 10” drawings.
Mounted on matte board with 1” in between drawings and a 2” border on each side (final mat size will be 19” x 25”)
Flapped, with an image tag on the back, as well as the corresponding emotions.
Materials:
• Smooth Bristol board or quality drawing paper (like Rives BFK)
• Tracing paper, heavier stock paper for flap
• Litho Crayon or Ink, with brushes and nib pen.
Select 4 of the emotions listed below:
Acceptance; Ambivalence; Apathy; Anxiety; Compassion; Confusion; Curiosity; Despair; Disgust; Doubt; Ecstasy; Envy; Embarrassment; Forgiveness; Frustration; Guilt; Gratitude; Grief; Hope; Horror; Homesickness; Loneliness; Love; Pity; Pride; Regret; Remorse; Shame; Suffering.
Your assignment is to convey these emotions solely through body language. This will require the assistance of one friend, peer, family member, class crush, or paid persons to act as a model for you. Working with your model, develop body language that clearly conveys your chosen emotional states. Refer to your in-class sketching for ideas. The poses you develop may or may not be wholly naturalistic; they may be exaggerated. You may costume your model however you wish, but the model must remain in the same outfit for all 4 emotions—no changing costumes to reflect the emotion being depicted. Draw your model from life. You may take photo-reference, as well, but only as secondary resource to your live-model drawings.
From these sketches, develop 4 images, each 7"x10", of the human figure, expressing your chosen emotions. You may use either litho crayon or ink on white paper. Choose either quality drawing paper or smooth Bristol board depending on your choice of media. The drawings should contain the figure only: no props, no background. Mount the four drawings 2 x 2 on mat board with 1” in between each drawing, and with a 2” border. Label the four emotions depicted on the back of your mat board.
The four drawings are due for critique on Wednesday, 10.12.
Dimensions of Final:
(4) 7” x 10” drawings.
Mounted on matte board with 1” in between drawings and a 2” border on each side (final mat size will be 19” x 25”)
Flapped, with an image tag on the back, as well as the corresponding emotions.
Materials:
• Smooth Bristol board or quality drawing paper (like Rives BFK)
• Tracing paper, heavier stock paper for flap
• Litho Crayon or Ink, with brushes and nib pen.
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