How do you achieve balance in your subject?

Focus on the core and create desirable relationships!

Ever wonder how to draw an object without making it look like its falling over, or bending on one side more then another?

Well, think about what keeps your posture up, strong and aligned?

 For most of us, its our core. Ever try to stretch on your tip-toes and find yourself falling over? Try it again while focusing on keeping you core aligned….you are likely to stay up more balanced.

Samething in drawing. Everything has a core--an invisible line that runs through the center of each subject. We just need to be able to imagine it in the right place and mark it on our paper.

After you get the core down, the next step is to learn to measure and create desirable relationships between vertical and horizontal planes.

Here are a few links that explain measurement in some detail:

Written description: http://www.beginningartist.com/measure-like-artist-drawing-lesson.html

Video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T3PGcMxEHM0&feature=related
(Note how the measurement is done at full arms length, not bent. This is important because it will keep your measurements consistent.)

Come to Musical Drawing class and I’ll guide you through the steps and show you different ways to create desirable relationships as we explore the shapes of a guitar to the sound of its music.

What do you see? ...a note on positive and negative

Identifying general shapes and noticing the negative space.

 One very handy tool artists use, is the attention they pay to negative space. Most of the time our eyes are trained to focus on positive general shapes--the overall shape of the object. And that makes complete sense since the general shape, more then color or texture, helps us identify what we are looking at and gives us general orientation to maneuver through our environment. For example, when we look at leaves, we often rely on their shape to identify what they are rather then their color. This is particularly useful with a leaf like poison oak since it changes colors through the seasons.

But if we want to do more then just identify objects and, for example, notice the beauty of what we see, there are other perspectives we can take. One perspective is to step into a conscious awareness of the negative space and the shapes it creates.

Take a look at the image at the top of the post, what is the positive (black) shape?
....can you identify a set of hands?

Now look at the negative space (the space with green and brown colors)? What shape do you notice?
The negative space is forming the shape of a tree.

Now take a look at the images below, what are the positive shapes? what new shapes can you notice forming in the negative space?

  





Share your perspective on our Facebook page at Fine Art Adventure and come to Musical Drawing class  at the Mission Cultural Center to find out how to use this positive and negative perspective to draw objects more accurately and build more creative compositions.

What is a Viewfinder?

Basically, a viewfinder can help you choose what you want to draw and where to place it on your sheet of paper. With so many shapes, forms and details in reality, sometimes it can feel overwhelming to try to capture it all. A viewfinder is a tool that helps you simplify and focus only on what you want to portray and it also helps you see 3-D reality in a 2-D format.

Where can you get a view finder

You can buy one, or you you can make one.

Here are a few links to both options:

To buy, check out:

http://www.dickblick.com/products/guerrilla-painter-composition-finder/

http://www.dickblick.com/products/compose-it-grids-with-value-finder/

To make your own, take a look at these links below. 

http://www.allaboutdrawings.com/how-to-make-a-viewfinder.html

http://painting.about.com/od/composition/ss/MakeViewFinder.htm

Bring your viewfinder to the next Musical Drawing class and I'll be happy to show you how to use it!

If you are still having trouble getting a viewfinder, just bring a thin piece of cardboard (ie: cereal box, old greeting card), and a ruler and I'll show you how to make one during class.)