Practical Art: 3D Observational Drawing

On successful completion of this module you will be better able to:

• Identify and evidence (through drawn outcomes) understanding of drawing processes and how they interlink with, and inform, one another
• Demonstrate an understanding of core foundational ideas around observational drawing (materials and subject matter)
• Evidence an understanding of drawing from historical works through your development across the module
• Reflect critically on your practical drawing work in class via evidencing personal development through your personal sketchbook.

Through a focus on drawing, you will examine ideas and approaches to creating the illusion of space on a flat surface (also known as the picture plane). By examining and breaking down historical images by artists of the past we will gain a deeper practical and academic knowledge of what these artists were doing and how they were doing it, what they were looking at and how they responded and even the similarities in these artists work even though they may be separated by decades. Alongside this a development and understanding of drawing from life through practical approaches shall inform your own unique outcomes and insights in drawing. Considering ‘good’ or ‘bad’ drawing will not help us and only serves to create a concern for being ‘correct’, instead we shall take the position that everyone’s drawings are of worth as they tell us how they experience the world! What we can gain is confidence and an ability to play and take risks, to risk failure and find opportunities and insights in our drawings. To this end, we shall consider a series of approaches to drawing toward visual problem solving. We shall remove ideas around classical perspective drawing made famous by the Italian Renaissance and instead consider the how marks, lines and flat shapes or ‘planes’ related to the edges of the paper to create exciting, sensorial, spatial drawings that our eyes move around and through, which some have suggested is closer to how we experience space in the real world. In considering these dynamics we will gain a new appreciation of how drawings and paintings can work and how, through looking intensely at them and the world around us, they can be ‘unlocked’ and opened.  

The module will include: 

• Copying past artists’ work
• Drawing from life
• Re-evaluate how we approach line, form and tone
• To look at how flat shapes and forms in drawings can relate to one another to create light and space
• A self-led sketchbook in which to draw outside the workshops to embrace mistakes and increase confidence 

This practical drawing module is primarily designed to increase your confidence and skills in drawing.  

Anyone can draw! You can only embrace how you draw rather than try to be somebody else. Development (as opposed to a style) in drawing is achieved through an historical understanding alongside practice and application. This module will combine both toward a deeper experience in how you think about images and how they work.  

Each session will focus on a specific idea or process such as line/contour, tone, composition, speed and so on. In this way the complexities that observational drawing entails will be broken down into 'bite size' elements, separated from one another. As the module progresses these individual processes will be combined. First, it may be line with elements of tone, then bringing in touch or sensation, then applying those to ideas around copying artists work or drawing from still life. In this way you will be able to identify your learning and understanding toward assessment on which you can reflect, considering how you’ve gained a deeper understanding of how you might approach drawing and the value derived from the experience.

Drawing materials will be provided and each session will employ a combination of practical exercises and historical references either on screen or printed out. Comparisons of work will allow students to learn from each other, encouraging further risk-taking and insights towards boosting confidence.  

You will be provided with a sketchbook and encouraged to continue drawing between sessions to ‘keep your eye in’. Over the weeks this will support you to gain confidence in your drawing and greater hand to eye co-ordination to develop as well as considering the ideas from the sessions. Your progress in the sessions across the module will be evidenced through submission for assessment in the form of a Personal Development Blog and a selection of images you have made. This will be done in two stages, once before the Christmas break and once before the Easter break. This will allow a mid-way point to give context to your leaning and a final assessment of your work. 

• Practical: 4 Drawings/Sets of drawings (30%)  
• Coursework: Personal Development Blog – 1,200-1,300 words (40%)
• Practical: 4 Drawings/Sets of drawings (30%) 

• Requirements: You are expected to attend all classes and undertake approximately 85 hours of independent study in total during the module. Independent study includes reading and preparation for classes, researching and writing coursework assignments and preparing for other assessments.
• This module is designed as an undergraduate Level 6 module. For an explanation of levels, view the Imperial Horizons Level Descriptors page.‌‌