Auto Pilot Drawing Machine assignment given to my Intro to Drawing students in ART 131 at Portland State University, College of the Arts, School of Art and Design.
From the Syllabus: An introduction to observational, expressive, and formal modes of drawing. Critical approaches drawn from art history, aesthetics, and art criticism are examined relative to these modes of drawing to establish methods of evaluating art and placing one’s own work and that of others in an historical context. Emphasis is on strategies, methods, and techniques for translating three-dimensional form and space onto a two-dimensional surface using the language of line and value, and the illusion of depth and texture. Mark making and its expressive and descriptive qualities are examined.
Drawing is arguably the most spontaneous and immediate form of visual expression. Intimate or distanced, expressive or technical, drawing is a vast visual language that opens easily to the creative process. This directness is conducive to connecting the hand, head and heart. This course is an introduction to the materials, techniques and thought processes of drawing. Through primarily dry, black and white media, this course is structured around a series of assignments that will give students first hand experience in a wide variety of approaches. We will explore formal visual elements such as line, value, texture, light, shape, space, perspective, and composition as well as introduce some conceptual approaches to drawing. We will draw. No experience necessary.