Sunday, November 17, 2013

Drawing the (Adult) Head in Correct Proportion

This week we are drawing two pages, one showing the male head from front and side views...

...and one showing the female head from front and side views.



Begin with an 8 1/2 x 11 inch sheet of white paper turned horizontally in front of you on your drawing table. As always, draw (freehand) a 1" border all the way around the page and hand-letter your name between guidelines at bottom right.
Again, working only freehand, sketch a circle in the top LH quadrant of the page as shown. The exact size and placement isn't important. Just try to approximate what you see in this example. Lightly draw guidelines dividing the circle in half both vertically and horizontally.
Extend vertical guidelines down from both sides of the circle, allowing them to taper inward slightly as shown. Extend the centre guideline down as well. Using the half circle as a unit of measure, lightly mark a guideline below the circle so that you have three equal units in height. This is the total height of the head, from the top of the skull to the chin.
Lightly sketch in guidelines 1/3 of the way down from the top of each unit of measure as shown. Note that each guideline represents a landmark on the face, from the top of the head to the chin. Important:Note that the centre horizontal line of the circle if the brow line, NOT the eye line, which is 1/3 below the brow line. Also note the bottom of the circle is the bottom of the nose and that the mouth is 1/3 the distance to the chin - not halfway!
Here's a little trick: if you draw five equal sized ovals touching end to end across the width of the circle on the eye line, the second and fourth ovals are the correct size and shape for the eyes.
Lightly draw guidelines straight down from the centre of each eye to arrive at the corners of the mouth. This is how you establish the width of the mouth.
Since we are drawing a male head, do NOT draw the lips all the way around! Look at how I drew the line for the opening of the mouth and try to mimic it. Add just a sketchy line under the mouth. this represents the shadow under the bottom lip.
Draw a triangle from the centre point of the eye line to the corners of the mouth. point where the sides of the triangle cross the nose line (the bottom of the circle) represent the width of the nose.
Also note how I have drawn angled lines from the side guidelines at around the mouth line to complete the chin. On a male face, always use angled lines, not smooth curves.
Try to draw the nose in the manner shown. A dip in the centre, slight upwards curves for the nostrils, then curved verticals for the outsides of the nostrils.
Extend the eye and nose guidelines outward a bit at both sides of the head. This gives you the height of the ears. Draw a shallow "C"- shaped curve for the outside shape of the ear.
Try adding the interior ear lines as I've indicated. You can now heavy up the eyebrows 9use angular lines as shown) and the top lip and bottom lip shadow, also as shown.
Now extend all the horizontal guidelines across to the right side of the page.

To draw the head in side view as show at the top of this page, follow the instructions at this link, this link and  this link

How to set up you "mug shot" reference photos for this week's Sketchbook Assignment

Begin by taking front and side view photos of your own face using Photo Booth.

Launch Photoshop. Go to File>New.



Create a new file, 11" horizontal, 8.5" vertical. 
NOTE: I started with a 300 px/in document, but it was actually too large. Use 100 px/in instead.



Open the front view photo. Use the Rectangular Selection Tool to select only the part of the photo you will need. Press Command C (Copy)


Go to your newly created 11" x 8.5" file. Press Command V (Paste).
With the Mover Tool, position your photo on the LH side of the page.


You may need to resize your photo. Go to Edit>Transform>Scale.

Grab the corner box on the Transform frame that appears around your photo while holding the Shift key down. This will allow you to scale your photo without distorting the proportion. Once you're happy with the new size, double click anywhere inside the photo to complete the scaling operation.


Open your side view photo file. Use the Rectangular Selection Tool to select only the part of the photo you will need. Press Command C (Copy)



Click back on your horizontal view file. Create a rectangular selection area on the RH side of the page. 


Press Command V (Paste).

 Drag Guidelines down from the top of the Photoshop window and line them up with all the important markers we learned about in class. The top of the head, the brow line, eye line, bottom of the nose, mouth, and chin.

You may need to resize your 2nd photo to get both photos to line up. Go to Edit>Transform>Scale. Repeat the scaling operation described above.


Print the file in b/w and mark up both faces as we learned to do in class, then use the print as reference to draw your face in your sketchbook in front and side views.


Tuesday, February 26, 2013

Sketchbook Assignment #7

Below is an example of MANY good layout designs. Study them.



For your Sketchbook assignment, choose one layout that appeals to you and reproduce it but replace the original words and image(s) with your own modern subject matter (anything of your choice).

Due in the Dropbox at the start of next week's class.

Exercise #7

Drag Layout Page 1 and Page 2 (below) off this blog to your desktop and print them out. Each one should fit on an 8 1/2 x 11 sheet. Once you've printed them, you may use pencil, carpenter's pencil and/or markers to reproduce them.



You can trace through the pages by using a light table, a glass coffee table with a small table lamp placed under it, or by taping the pages to a window.


But don't just reproduce the exercises - study what they are telling you about how to organize a good vs. bad layout.

Due in the Dropbox at the start of next week's class.

Tuesday, February 12, 2013

CC2, Week 5: Herb Lubalin & Frank Chimero

Read this article by Frank Chimero.

Read this article about Herb Lubalin.

Google Image Search Herb Lubalin's logo designs.

Look specifically for "Beards" , "Mother & Child" , "Families" and other Lubalin "typographics"

Beards


Choose a passage from Frank Chimero's Advice for Graphic Design Students and design a Herb Lubalin-style "typographic" that visually describes the subject of your words.

Here are a few examples created by students last year...











Begin as always by sketching four thumbnail concepts, then choose what you feel is your strongest concept and design, and complete it at full size. You can use ink and or/colour if you like, but only a pencil sketch is expected.

Exercise #5 - Letterform Alphabet Drawings

This is a two-week assignment you will do on your own. We will not meet in class this week or next week.

You will need three sheets of 8 1/2" x 11" paper. Work either vertically or horizontally, but be consistent on all three pages.

Divide each page into nine equal spaces (to do so quickly, fold one sheet into thirds vertically, then again into thirds horizontally).

You may use a ruler to draw the grid that divides the space into nine equal sections.

Now look for man-made objects that contain letterforms. Draw one letterform in each space. The first row might look something like this (except yours would be drawings):


After drawing the object in line, use pencil shading or grey markers to add values to each letterform composition. Complete the first 13 letterforms this week and submit them to the drop box.

NOTE: Because this is not a typical in-class drawing exercise, you have all week to complete the first half of the alphabet. The drop box closes at the start of next week's class.

Friday, February 8, 2013

First Major Test: Instructions

The format of this test is the same as the final exam we did last semester. There are four pages to this test...

Page 1 is your rough work page.

Use this page to explore the subject matter. Draw by constructing with basic shapes. To get 5/5 on this page you must demonstrate that you are drawing using basic shape construction and show more than the minimum number of sketches required. There will be three subjects. The best score you can get if you do only three sketches on this page is 4/5.


Page 2 is your thumbnail page.

Use this page to thumbnail four (or more) design compositions. You must use values by shading with pencil or grey markers (or a combination). However you do not need to do detailed drawing or render most of the typographic elements. Simple shapes that can be identified as the subject matter will suffice. Use the examples from last week's lesson as your guide. To get 5/5 on this page you must do at least 4 unique thumbnails compositions using values. NOTE: A composition that is just flopped or has the type moved from the top to the bottom does not qualify as a unique composition.

Page 3 is your pencil comp page.

Choose your most effective thumbnail composition and do a large comprehensive sketch that includes values rendered in pencil shading and/or grey markers. Type elements should be rendered as in the examples from Exercise #3 from two weeks ago. That is, your type elements should roughly approximate the type style/face(s)/fonts you would use if you were eventually taking this project to finish on the computer. To get 5/5 on this page, you must complete Page 4 as well.

Page 4 is your design justification page.

This is an overlay page to Page 3. Use a light table, a light placed under a glass coffee table, or tape your pages to a window. Use arrows, circles, boxes, diagrams and words to justify your design strategy. Demonstrate that you have applied the rules of composition to create and effective design that moves the viewer's eye through the design and to the focal point.



The Test Subject Matter: Start by watching this movie trailer:



The premise of the story is that by using the Rekall technology, you can be anyone you want to be - a super spy, a fashion model, a world class athlete, an astronaut - anything!

Last summer, as the movie was about to be released, Columbia Pictures launched a viral marketing campaign. They hired a company to design fake advertising posters for Rekall - as though the service actually existed here and now - and plastered Los Angeles with them:



(Google Image Search "Rekall viral campaign" to see more designs)


Your job is to design a new viral marketing poster (same vertical proportions as shown above) for Rekall - but with some different parameters:

The headline on your poster will be...

BE THE YOU

YOU WANT TO BE

(You must break it into two lines as shown above, however you do not have to use all caps)

The subhead on your poster will be...

YOUR FACE

YOUR BODY

YOUR FANTASY

(You do not have to break it into three lines as shown above, you do not have to use all caps)

Your poster must include the REKALL logo in the font style shown on the actual posters above, incorporated in some manner according to how you choose to design it.

Your poster must include the URL rekall.com and may (but doesn't have to) include addition type like "Go to rekall.com for details"

There are three visual elements you must include in some design combination: a face and two figures of you, the person designing the poster - YOU are the subject in all three visual elements

Your poster must include your face, your body in your normal clothes, and your body in your fantasy outfit.

To better understand how a montage design of this sort works, look at movie poster designs:


The poster above cleverly combines a face (Colin Farell) and two figures, along with some secondary visual elements. You may use secondary visuals if you like but they are not required.

NOTE: there is a total of 14 required words in your poster design -- there are 14 words in the movie poster design above in the block of type that includes the names of the stars and the title "Total Recall" and "Is it real Is it Recall" -- so you should have no problem incorporating all the type required in your design.

I strongly encourage you to do more research of how movie posters use montages of faces and figures and apply that design strategy to your poster. Go to Google Image Search and search "movie posters" for many examples.

If you have any questions, ask them in the Discussions section of our course homepage on eLearn.






Tuesday, January 22, 2013

Semester 2, Exercise 3

For this week's Exercise you may use a ruler. I recommend you download the jpegs in this post, print them out and place a thin sheet of paper over them and trace each of the three exercises.

If you have a light table available, great. In a pinch, a brightly lit window will do.

In each case, replicate as accurately as possible all the lines and letterforms in each of the three exercises. Draw the grid, then the letter forms on the same grid.


Draw the grid, then the letter forms on the same grid.


Although it's not shown below as it was in the two examples above, by now you should have the general idea: Draw the grid, then the letter forms on the same grid.


These three parts are due in the drop box by midnight if you hope to try for 3 full points. Name them YourLastNameEX03a.jpg, YourLastNameEX03b.jpg, YourLastNameEX03c.jpg