TONO + TEXTURAte TONE & LIGHT TONE iF the world were e black and white phoiogreph. its content \would be seen as chapes of fone, ranging from white through 2 series of greys to black Tone is not to be confused with colour. Tone is @ quality of lightness and darkness. Colour is defined by its hue, chroma, and ‘tonal value’, and itis its ‘tonal value’ that we need to ‘acknowledge when making monochromatic drawings. Tonal velue’—is the lightness and darkness of a colour, and whiist drawing, we have to constantly assess whether the colour of, fone object is lighter or darker than the colour of another. ‘When describing a shoe as being bisck, we are acknowedging both what is termed its Tocal colour’ [biack] and also its ‘onal value’ (black is darkl. A black shoe is only black os a labelled concept. We must recognise that within the blackness of the shoe, there willbe differing amounis of absorbed and reflected light that require us to draw changes of tone. A black shoe with a shiny surfece might reflect so much fight that parts of it are seen as white. The same black shoe with a mati velvety suede surface might reflect a subtle range of mid-ione greys, Where these changes of tone are and how well they are seen, is crucial to the depiction of the objects character, form, and context, ‘A drawing that uses @ range of tones from the white the paper tc the darkest tone @ pencil can make is said to be showing ‘full contrast’. and conveys the subject as being seen in something tke bright dayight, or strong artificial ight. This is the norm for most drawings. Imagine ¢ dimmer swilch being turned on, from complete darkness through gradual increments of light, 10 reveal your subject in twilight, you Would see it in “half tone’, where the lightest point would be rid-grey, and the daricast point would be black. This is a alf- tone’ drawing, Simarty a drawing of a white object in 2 while contexi, or a misly morning landscepe, where the lightest tone is white, and the dariest tone is mid-grey may also be called a half-tone’ drawing, It fs very difficult to use mere than four or five tones when using a single pencil this is usually enough within eny one drawing] bul f you are using @ pencit, each pencil wl offer a different kind of tone, and may be used in any combination 1 required, The H range of pancils offers @ harder mark and lighter tones, and the B range ottess a sotler mark anc derkec nes, The HE sis in the middle. blish the lightest and darkest points in the drawing and recognise thet every tone is lighter then your darkest poin and similarly, every tone is darker then your lightest point. Us your scale of tones fo metch the tones you see between these Iwo extremes, ‘Science felts us that all the objects and surfaces of our world absorb and reflect light, and whal we see as colour. oF 2s lone, is absorbed or reflected light. Darker objects absorb ‘nore light, and lighter objects reflect more light, Shadows are TOE Georges Sous Sete wit ‘Siow May, or Bates: Aes, o85-84, back Come crayon enicaet paper, 23 93cm, Curry le nwersty rt Gilery.@ 29 Yale Galery Reece YE BALL Tonal ranger 78,20, 25, «8 SEPOSITE Arita Taylor, Reso real on si, 2 16cm Cowes) ‘he ret aeons FeunstionTONE e Lair6 c ¢ C c C C C ¢ Cc € C c c € € € ¢ C c € Cc ¢ Cc € c € C C © € C C ¢ oC oy RAMS PROJECTS caused by en absence of ight, endless and less light wil resul in ¢ darker shadow. The stronger te ight, the mere emphatic the shadow. When we crew the objects, surfaces and spaces of our World, we are to avery large degree, drawing an experience of light. The strenge end wonderful peradox is that ight is invisible, but makes things visible. Without light our worid would be irvsisle. The ebjecte we know end touch are seen by the grace of fight, and when we ‘make drawings, we must not only depict the meterial nature of objects, but also the energy ofthe absorbed or reflected light that makes them visible. This ight becomes the tone of the drawing, and may have very particular ques. It may be: dygh, moonlight, night tight, summer ight, winter light, hard fight, sof light, northern igh, Mediterranean light, candle ight, neon light, warm light, cold light, etc. Light reveals form, and how we see form is dependent on how much ight there is, and its directional origin table top with a group of ‘til ie’ objects oni is in effect e stage upon which the objects are actors playing 2 part, Ther roles inthis ‘crema’ ere rade visually richer by the creative and considered use of lighting, and the same objects will appear significantly cfferent when tit in different ways. Ifa group of objects is strongly lt and dramatic shedows are Created, the shapes and strength of tone of the shadows cen be 2s importent fo the overall structure of the drawing as the objects themselves. REFLECTED LIGHT ‘The term “reflected ight, refers to a situation where light hit surface, and is then reflected back onto the surface of an object in close proximity. Its particularly evident on objects whose surface is round or curved, and will be seen on the underside ‘of them, being reflected back from the plane ofthe surface they are standing on. It is very important to train your eye to look for reflected light, 2s its depiction is especially crucial to the realisation of the roundness of form, An experienced drawer can always see inexperience in someone else's drawing, when there is no observed evidence of reflected light SHADING The term “shading” is often used io describe the placing of tone in a drawing and is usually made as an optional extra, After reaching @ certain point in the making of @ drawing, schoolchildren often esk their eacher whether er not they can ; ‘means that they want to carefully fi! Ina range of smoothly graded tones that direct the drawing towards & rather lfeless mechanical photographic likeness, For some students this can become a habitual mennerist solution to all tonat problems, and although usefut in some insta may need to be thoughtfully considered and only used when appropriate to the overalt language af the drawang, Much the seme can be said about ‘cross-haiching’ CROSS HATCHING A cross-hatched ares of tone holds the eye's altentian more, oF less statically in a net of criss-crossed linee/marks, and the eye cen sometimes have diffcully in escaping fram the net to re-engege in its exaloretion ofthe rest of the drawing. I can be used to positive effect when an eres of @ drawing neads to appear fat HATCHING When close parallel lines {hsiched marks) are made, they have a directional emphasis that offers the eve a way in and out of the tonal area, and their use is often preferable to ‘crass-hatched marks. They may also inform the eye about the. rection of surfece planes, end express both the energy of light, and the life energy of the hand that made them, BEAUTIFUL SCRIBBLE INis not our intention to encourage and give license to sloppy _2ppraach to putting tone into 2 drawing, end the word seriable has been used purposefully to imply an undefined looseness that has an easy relaxed feel to it, The word beautiful is used to value the scribble, f the occasion is right, make 8 beeutitul scribble, as if you were a bind person touching the surfaces of the objects you are drawing, with sensual, tactile intent, These ‘words are a rather limited atternpl at suggesting being involved in making marks that are made in response to being in the experience of feeling with your eye/hand,one suchtAPTER FOUR cH : VALUES AND SHADOWS ‘ometimes pale values suggest distance, as we saw in the first chapter. But often a dark value suggests depth, as in the case of a dark window f or door in a building, or a dark crevice in a brick wall. In either case, : its the contrast in values that does the trick, Put a dark next to alight and it's almost impossible to see the two as equally distant from you, Pale values, lke those distant hills we've discussed, draw you gently into the : distance. Dark values reach out and grab you by the throat and say: Look at me! They aggressively pull you in. While a picture surface that's either aiflight or all dark may be intriguing and beautiful, itis unlikely to give you much sensation of depth. ‘The most important instances of value change are shadows, areas receiving less light than adjacent areas. Some shadows are bold and dark; some are more gentle, If they're bold and placed next to a brightly lit area, asin the example below, the result is hard to ignore. But if they're quiet they may only nudge you into the distance or subtly pull you around the curve of a face or a tree trunk, Value Adds Punch ‘The contrast between the leaves and the dari area 50 strong that it's hard to image ine both areas equally distant from you, t youwere to replace the dark with alboright ae, snost all depth would bs ‘Auturan Leaves Pastel ane watercolor on Ares 3004b. (64095) col: pressed aaper Sixes Bi Teen «24cm a ee ae AWATERCOLORASSIST Jo get the nich dark in this sketch | undlerpainted first with dark watercolor, then colored the leaves with pastel ines PARK 18" 20" 0. x S0.gem) i Collection of Marlyn Ket 2 59KINDS OF SHADOWS c ce There are two basic kinds of shadows: ! C cast shadows and shading. A ca sbadowis c an area deprived of light because some c object is blocking the light coming from a the source. Shading is the darkened area you see on the unl or lessee side of an object. Some shading is soft and gradual, like that on the ball, below, while ocher shading has more abrupt edges, le the darkened side of 2 box. Both shading and cast shadows have a role co play in arareleleleleley perspective Shadows on Rectangular Objects ¢ ¢ When you shade an jet you create the O ion of trd dimension, wih in tun, = ches the picture cept i. very artist has his or her own way of painting shadows. One way is to paint them directly essentially mix. ing color to look ike what you see in the shadowed area of the subject. Another is to fist paint the subject asit would appear without any shadow and then thinly paint the shadow on top of that base color. Highighs Core shadow ast shadous Shadows on Rounded Objects ( Any three-dimensional objec, unless t's totally bathed in light fram mute OUrces, has.a shaded side The abject also 30505 a cast shadow. Within both the C ight and shadow areas on the abject are {nuances called hightohts, core shadow, and 5 reflected tight.SHADING Shading isthe darkened side of an object. With a single light source és: usually lear chat one side is ighter and! che other side datkes, period. Ifthe ate = ‘multiple light sources, asin some still lifes, shading is not to eut-ande-ried: in such cases you have to selyon your = : observation and paint what yousee. | Whether youte painting an apple! cor abuilding orsomething else the instant you shade aside of an objece you ! introduce dimension and depth. There > Flat Better ate usually nuances—the shading is + This bulding is lat asa tontita, Justa simple wash gives the building soy. lighter here, datker chere—but as long ¢ as you show a distinee difference in value between one surface and another, you'll inevcably create some perspective. Flat Better Pretty tlat—not a convincing apa, is it? that’ mote liken. When you draw or point ‘sn apple, ty to ge the feting you coule rap you hand around i if you'e eiting 8 barn, ty to imagine what’ around the corner behind the bar, orSHADING PORTRAITS Porteait artists take pains ro light cheir subjects co suit cheie artistic aims (or co suit che scer's wishes). If light is flooded directly over the subject’ face, leaving none of the features in shadow, the results likely to be flee and uninter- ‘sting, To make the head seer round, play off lighted feautes aginst dark: ened fearures. How much shadow you? arrange depends on the mood youre! afer Fora gentle mood, maybe moder- | se shadow makes sense, but fora stron- | {get conttast you may need colose an! sate sie of the head in deep shadows. A Fully Lit Face ¢ This pena sketch is prety ft, not mech ¢ depth ¢ c ¢ ¢ € € oO € C ( c ¢ c c O ( € Face Lit From One Side ; Here lve used 2 wash to throw one side ofthe face inte shadow, | More Value Contrast imbroweg the sense of depth, although did ths “wash” ona st for fun, ve placed a stong dark behind the ighted sie ofthe Comps You could easy use penciorcharcoat~or even nk or | ead. The contiast between the ight and dark areas searats the ‘aetclor provided you fst spray the pene dawing with ary ype background frm the head, thus adding mote depth of frative to prevent smearng 62 : :fi LON COCOOCE CAST SHADOWS A.cascshadow isan atea receiving less! light chan surrounding areas because? something is blocking the light coming from the source. IF you take the apple ‘and building sketches on page 61 and add cast shadows, i cleat the shadows add to the illusion of depth, Cast Shadow of a Rectilinear Object Cast Shadow of a Rounded Object Because the roof overhang casts asmal_ ‘The shadow ada Iitle more realty 50 the shadow on the face ofthe building, we isnot hanging in space, ‘know the roof projects cutward by some smal, but measurable, amount-—so there ‘we have bit of depth. The shadow caston, £ the ground gives the bulding some connec- + tion with the ground, which helps us to see the building as area object. COMBINING SHADING AND CAST SHADOWS Few realistic pictures have no shadows at all, and few have only shading or ey cast shadows. Usually you have bath—as the song goes, you cant have one without the other: Both types of shadows work together to punch depeh into a Bat picture suoface. Try to imagine the ree piceure on this page without shadows, J — Oar: aganst ign I Goh sosins: dark Shading and Cast Shadows Working Together ‘The tee is all about values—bath shading and cast shadows. you paint a subject ke this, lok for places where you can play of light ates against a dark, and vice versa, ‘ase sruoy Oloneamvesboors ers 12" em 30cm)AIMING YOUR SHADOWS ‘You can put cas shadows to work helping suggest distance by aiming chem ro suit you A shadow filling straight across the picture plane does the least to suggesc depeh; slanting a shadow inco the background or bringing ic forward helps. : to A Bacle seene yo These shadows } absoleadbackinto thepicue. Tse ¢ she way shadows (= would pearing backlit scene; that i iswiththesunin the dstance behind = che wees - i | | THATLUCKYOLD SUN -» got nothing to do but rol around heaven al ey! Lucky ‘you, you have complete control ofthe sun. Stick it wher ever you want, but be consistent. the sun sat postion X forpartof your scene, make sureit'snot at postion ¥ for another part. C a 7 S| Sideways Shadows J | ; Ry Minimal perspective Oblique Shadows “These shadows take your eye back into the picture WHAT ABOUT MULTIPLE LIGHT SOURCES? (Often youte confronted with more than a singe light source. Tina sil fe you may have one or more room lights as well ae of light from a window. Such conditions may be complex and g hard to figure out withoor actually setting up a model. but they GQ fom the lightest spor (the highlight): diveedy from a primary source or via to the edge where things begin getting > some other route much datker, And in the datker side, che! shading is not uniform. There's a frly : fa eee dlscinct area where light meets dare tem ttortom hawsshsa om called the core shadow and you also see iret sanight something called reflected lighs Reflected light is everywhere on almose all objects, Ie’ light chat has bounced (reflected) fiom some other surface. In the case of the ball, the light is veflected from the white sucfice on which che ball is resting. Put any ewo objects near one another and there's alays some reflected light from both objects onto each other, Sometimes its Gains and may be of litele importance to your picture, but reflected light can often s eT ‘ ( beused to jaz up an otherwise dll area. : eft ght On the ball the reflected light is ‘ite, but if we intraduce cofor (asin the example on this page) the reflected lighe will inchade whatever colors are nearby: So were not only concerned with Jight, but with the color of the light. Sunlight c Reflected Light Can Cast Shadows For the beams to cast shadows upward there must be a light source lower then the beams. ican‘ be the sun—its high inthe sky. The ight source ints cassis sunlight + bouncing of the meta! oof below the igle ing Rea ES subject in gosseous colo: When asked whether heacts- fedight rom the rec balistefiecred nthe _allyseW allthatcoloy he said not at fist buthe forced surface ofthe white balland vice vers, ‘ibe einphese ver evaggerain edd s2e.and eveniuely he began to cee loa in eveything. So if ou don't sect pi Youre an artist andyou have a igh cb of:WHY DO WE CARE ABOUT REFLECTED LIGHT? ‘We use shadows as tools co help create depth in a piceue, bu there’ no reason for them to be dull, dark, uneven teas. Like any part of a picnure, shad- cows should be made at least pleasant and ac bese exciting, Reflected lighe give us a peefece way 10 wake up our shadons. Shadows often cover lage ateas of the {paincing: long shadows case by buildings, (> ( £ forexample. Those big areas could be 2 dull and uniowiing # we painged thems, say, a uniform gray. Buc if we spice them up with some reflected surrounding color, we can make them a more exciting ancl more integrated par of the picture. Panera Reflected light can be effective anywhere on the surface of a pice because it adds lle oomph. You Ricocheting Color This white houses surounded by feds of «olor, 50 it perfectly reasonable to expect might wear our your eyes tying to find some of thatcotr to be Bouncing around reflected light (its not always so obviows) snd iting the house but dontt be too hard on yourself, Just ‘ House on ts {know is there and por it in your paint Yates on Aes 3h algun cl ing wherever you think it will add some arsed paper i : 1a 24" 5 Fem Sten) spark, Detail Here’ closer look 2t some ofthe finventec reflected ight in Heusen ei.WHAT AFFECTS A CAST SHADOW? Bioythig affects a case shadow the light source or sources, the object blocking the light and the surface owes which the shadow fills, Add to thatthe time of day, the color of the sky and an equation * developed by a guy named Fresnel and you have a pretty complex subject. We'll take a brief look at the conditions that THE LIGHT SOURCE ‘The more concentrated the light fiom che source, the sharper the shadows. If you have mote than one source—ffom a window and a lamp, for instance—you at fuzzy and perhaps ovedlapping shadows. Even if you use just a single source such as bulb serewed into a reflector, you really have a double source because che bulb acts as one source and the reflector, a second. Whatever the source if something else —eg, a loud or a curtain-—incerferes with et ‘on its way to your subjec, che light that falls on the subject will be softer and the shadows ic produces, fess sharp ‘Maleiplefghe sources ae expecially important when yout painting sweet scenes or stil lifes. You donit havea loc of conte over the lights i the seees, bur you can ange your sill ie with more chan one source to get some effects, THE OBJECT BLOCKING THE LIGHT Th «ase shaslow may be 9 yect Nock and causing a s.and so on. All these conditions can affect how the shadow looks. 7 vase : Reflector Bulb top eu An Object Lit By ¢ a Floodiamp 1 solid vase gives afaidystrong, deen shadow, but notice ‘the dark viangulr 5 shape inthe mile 2 of the shadow. es 5 there because the 2 *single” light source + Tused, a photogra- + pher’ flooalamp, really two sources, a bulb and a refectr, ‘What yous in 5 the shadow isthe 5 overlapping of two shadows BELIEVE) TTust your eyes and paint what you see-—but ty always to figure out why something unusual’s happening. That ey you'll have one more tool use in your fature paintings. Inner shadow from reflector and ui)¢ C C € € SAOABONOAPMADMARONMAANDAND C You've noticed that the shadow cast by a solid abject is not solid, One of the reasons for that was explained by a fellow named Augustin Fresnel in tis simple equation: EQ = aA fds Asm sure you know, this says that when light passes by ‘an edge, it gets slightly bent in a sort of fuzzy vay (the fin the equation must be for fuzzy), So the light passing around the edge of even 2 smooth, sald object gets. litte messed up and produces 2 fuzzier shadow than you might expect. This phenomenon is known as diffraction. ‘A Transparent Object ght passes through the center pat of the jar into what would be, for an opaque | object, the shadow area, Less ight gets : through the thickness of the edges of the jar, s0 theresa better defined shadow around the edges. The darker end a bit more color- {ui) shadow close tothe jar is caused by the ‘opaque candiesin the jar, An Irregular Object The clantto gives a fuzzy shadow partly because ofthe oveal regula shape, party ‘because each leaf has an itegular edge and partly because of Augustin Fresnel (se side bar below). This isthe sort of shadow you'd expect fom tee faliage. anConversation: Drawing Patricia ©. Phillipe 2 ubiquitous form of serve and parfes st century art and design practice? P: 8, Dean of Graduate Studies, Architecture; Cas Holman, Assistent Profeseor, Industrial Design; Daniel Lefcourt, Assistant Professor, Foundation Studies; Andrew Raftery, Prof sor, Printmaking; and Kevi cer, Associats Professor, Paintin ic seek th large, in their emerged as experimental, iterative, and improvisatory, and the conversation, in tum, took surprising directions— pping into chence and discovery. Lefoourt calls an teaching, and developing what “ethics of making.” ed five RISD faculty members—Silvia Acosta, Professor,ADAMOAAAMABDADIAACG ARAMA AOAADAMAD Drawing has « long history of representation that esels to imitate through lose observation and carefully contrived symbolic systems of lines and ‘marks rendered objectively. Drawing also often elaborates on reality and ‘happens intuitively. While the unfolding of the process itsel! cen invite both ‘analytical and abstract interpretation, for hundreds of years, drawings were ‘expected and assumed to be a representation or interpretation of some thing, Person, of place—"the miraculous conjuring of images from thin aint But 4n the twentieth and twenty-first centuries, drawing has hecome a subject ‘and process of exponentially expanding exploration, including images that emerge from imagination, the process of malting, expository gesture, impro- visational act, and diagrammatic explication, Today, drawing is a noun and 8 verb that is ubiquitous, partially prozosed, or radially redone. Indeed, ae Jean Fisher and Stella Santacatterini describe. “The impulse to draw is not (© capture appearance so much as a demand te animate thought, Thus drew: {ng is always beyond perception, the other side of perception." ‘Whenever in New York 1 faithfully go to the Drawing Center where, ‘whether an exhibition is contemporary or historical, am reliably immersed Im questions shout the “expanded feld" of drawing? For some 30 years, I have witnessed extreme virtuosity n the ambitious, ephemeral intallatione, striking meteriel experimentation, and countless puzzlements of form on ‘process. I witness the same discureive and generative approaches to draw {ng is the student work et RISD—in studios, galleries, incidental spaces: and occasionally wh le locking over the shoulder of a student drateing in her journal. Unless your eyes are closed, on any given dey at RISD you will encounter evidence of the speculative, searching, whimsical, obeervationzl, abstract, obsessive, and projectively imagined in the form of drawing, 1 was honored to hare @ conversation about drawing with fve RISD faculty mambero, each representing @ different history, Serving from one to 29 years at RISD, all are practicing artiste or designers and committed and {Introspective teachers whose perapectives on drawing and teaching are es varied as their disciplines and subjectivities. Cur conversation considers“the drawing,” but what emerges is evidence that the process of drewing—its sometimes messy vitelity, vulnerable contingencies, and temporal condi tons of making—serves as 2 rich metaphor for @ range of experimental, open- ‘ended, or improvisatory activities. The restlessness and inherent inquiry of drawing serves as a striking surrogate for art itself, as well as for how ‘we think about its dynamic and symbolic role in art and design teaching and pedagogy. Arguably, drawing ie one of the best~and most companion able—resources to teach about and with, as well as ¢ flexible instrument to sake speculative forays into the future of art with the young women and men, we are tesching. If ponder Richard Sorve’s declarative aphorism, “There is only drawing," I unquestionably endorse that "there is drawing” at RISD that {s profoundly connected, if not core to ts teaching and learning mission. CTA PH Lites This is @ conversation ahout how we teach, utilize, and engage drawing as sn action, idea, pedagogical resource, and vibrent metaphor. I expact there will be moments when we will be very focused on arawing at RISD, | elso hops there will be expansive moments where we contextualize our work end address critical questions about art, design, and teaching, Perheps we should begin our conversation on drawing with how we understand it in the world at large. As you consider a historical trajectory of Grewing, has there been significant rethinking about it in the past few Gecedes, for example, given the expansion of digital medie? "A. Thate to stert off on this note, but while the impact af drave- as BUCK Ing in early conceptualism, process ext, and systems-based work in the ‘twentieth century was significant, I think the growing market for collecting Grnwings in the past 30 years has changed things. What was 2 space for experimentation mnight now be the predominant art product. ANDREW RAFTERY Yes, in contemporary art there is « huge part of the art ‘market that is dedicated to elaborate worke on paper as finished works. TheySOPODOIOOCAPANMADADMIAADMAARANDAD CONVERSATION, BRawnG sr6 not exploratory necessarlly—and generally not ae intecesting as many sketchy drawings, SHLVIA ACOSTA Can't an exploratory drawing also be a finished work? 8 Tthink so, Look at Raphsel’s or Michelengelo's exploratory drawings for sainting, sculpture, or architecture. Part of the reason they are so compelling that the artist had a question thet wes being asked while the drawing was being made. And the drawing was finished when the question was answered ‘and it was time to go on to the newt question, SEC LEPCOURT What is it about drawing in relation to the rest of visual ‘culture that has caused this surging market for drawinge? Ie it acoincidence ‘hat it has heppewed elongside the rise of the digital? 2 Of course there's the fetishizing of touch that is partially in cesponse toa ‘world increasingly comprised of screens, Ilse think that there is an embrace of the provisional and related aesthetics, PP Yes, there ie something ehout a drawing that can be constructively condi onal or contingent, It is often imperfect, half done, or redone. It can live ia ' spatial and temporal conditions. It can he spontaneously evocative or tunfold aver 2 prolonged period of time, Its ubiquity and inherent flexibility ‘make drawing ¢ iremendous resource, 2s well a something difficall to pra- cisely define, Perhaps this partially explains our preoccupation with drawing at this very moment CAS HOLMAN T can't help hut link the interest in drawing to the fact that cursive ss no longer taught in many elementery schools. Many children are not leering to write script and, astead, often learn typing in third grade, en teking act classes, People too often think ‘hat some people are “naturelly" good at drawing—that it isn't something Uke mathematics that has to be learned and developed. Drewing is some- ‘hing thet you learn. Forgive this exemple, but you're more likely to draw a Perfect box in two-point perspective if you draw a thousand straight lines And we're seeing fewar childOOOO ia ceo emuecssivemem eranCONVERSATION. ORAWINE TS ‘rst. I think we've going to see that drawing itsalf as a product or work of art Ddecomes more valuable as wo drift further avray from the opportunity or ability to dren. PP Moving {sor the hig picture to RISD, can you chatacterize students’ rela- Honships to drawing? Having grown up with emergent digital technologies, are students passionate about drawing? Thad a colleague (at another school) ‘who taught drawing in an architecture program, He spent the frst half of the ‘semester only talking about drawing. For seven week, students were prokib- ited to draw in their drawing coures! Finally, when they were permitted to raw, following this prolonged act of withholding, they had developed an almost desperate desire to draw. While I do not necesearily endorse this pro- cess, is there a sustained commitment to drawing at RISD? ‘48 RISD's first-year Foundation Studies currioulum consistently helps stue dents to discover how to use drawing to access something within them selves. When they come into the majors as saphomores, they have this drawing background, which allows them to work generatively and freely end to harness their creativity and imeginations (see fg. 15), ‘Toaching drawing at this stage in Printmaking ie getting them in touch with the ides that drawings are made in a particular wey, with particular ‘materials, and that drawing, and by eirlension all forms of making, is some- ting thet they do with their bodies, Foundation Studies » les & great doe! on charcoal, erasing, and pressing and pressuring meterials. When I teach stt- Gents silver point, na matter how herd you press, it doesn't get daviker and it feather, ‘hey cannot press hard or it breaks. They learn new idees about content that ccomnot be erazed, Or if I teach them how to make a quill pen from are inhsrent in the materials themneelves, xz When I was en undergraduate at RIED myself, a big pert of my indsctri- natfon was the number of hours spent on the floar covered in charcos) and niaking marks—this ides of drawing ae a heroic act,« Drawing is physical. We can intuitively understand the consequences of pressure in mark-malking: the sensing ofthe body, arm, and hand. I think this first-year exposure to drawing, which is so much a part of the fine arts, i incredibly valuable to teaching architectural drawing, where one kas to choose critically what techniques to employ, what kind of materials to use, and what sat of ideas to make visthle, Historically, architecture exists in the academic environment through drawing, Tha more exposure students have todifferent drawing tachniques, the more informed their choices can become. BL Following Hurricane Sandy, I was unable to get out of Brooklyn for 2 week, I sent students = message: “Here's the assignment: Make a drawing. ‘That's it, Let's see what happons.” Students’ intereste started to register in different ways. Some just couldn't get enough of drawing, whereas others ‘were more hesitent. Many first-year students aren't neasssarily coming into RISD with deep drawing experiences, The students without much drawing background were reluctant to engage, whereas students who came to RISD having draw ¢ lot wanted to draw all the tims, ‘54 Yes, #f you haven't drawn extensively it’s difficult. In the past 1S years or so, I find myself having to talk about the value of drawing because in practice §’s becoming a little bit extinct. This is not just happening in the Department of Architecture at RISD, but in the discipline as a whole. Software and digital techniques produce amazing things, right? But the participstion of the hand in exploring, thinking, and visual expression hes a significant role in the design disciplines, I am trying to recuperate and preserve it, and I do think it can be brought hack. There are now architectural Srme seeking “digital painters” rather than software programe to produce their imagery. ‘They want to see the evidence of the hand in all of ite tentative expressions tend decisions—rather than finite and chsalute images produced by “straight- up* software » Students come into Industeial Design and in the first month begin ¢rigor- ous drawing experience. We teach sketching 2s visualigation~"rapid vis¢ SAAAAD aa OOK CONVERSATION: DRAWING 82 sketching.” We use drawing as a way to find ideas end represent them, as a Process of ideation that deepens learning. They go through two 200-foot rolls ‘of paper, using only Sharples (fg. 16). There's a collaboration between the ‘act of drawing and whatever they cen picture in their heads that is sorted out (on paper, using the hand to figure out an idea, ‘This exercise challenges what a drawing is or what it does; itis not about creating a precious or finished product. Some students strusgle with this approach. I'l often see their sketchbooks or journals filled with gorgeous drawings. They are comfortable with a particular kind of drawing end have to ‘work to reconcile how it relates to thie other type of process drawing. AR Tim interested in drawings that have a function, that get an artist to ‘another stage. I'm less concerned with drawing as the final reeult and much ‘more interested in the work that drawing fs doing. I would hape that this ‘would be a model for how students engage cthar techniques or technologies 80 that they are not simply about an end product, but opportunities to get where they have to go as artists. In my teaching I frequently use our museum. We look at drawings that ‘are more than 300 yoars olé. There's a eletch of St, Jerome with e certain ‘amount of filling in and resolution. Right next to this ie another drawing that is less developed. The students actually can gee the decision-maising—how ‘the artist got i from one line or presage to the other because of the way the Per has been used on the paper: There fs an immediacy that [don't think we ‘would ever find in the more finished works of that period, We also look at ravings 1m 200 veers later and others from much closer te our time that offer similar insighis. I iry to employ 2 constructive nostalgia for how fdeas and techniques are passed elong. It is wonderful to look at beeutiful rasvings irom the past, but the really exciting part fs to see ho the drancing reveals the thinking process of the original maker. DL A consistent thread here is drawing as ideation, as a provisional and investigative process that fs neither pressured nor pristine,LSA OOD YADQAMAAAMAAS LLL AOA AANA ALR CONVERSATION: ORweNe 23 12 We hava to discuss distinct definitions too though, because diferent con- ceptions of drawing are strikingly evident at RISD. They're not consistent within o across departments. Infact, I think such differences are one of the principal characteristics ofthe school For my graduate drawing class in the Painting departmént, [define draw ings “anything that works in parallel to a student's primary practice.” So, it ccan be photography or writing or performance. Whatever itis, it operates at some remove and can be more experimental. think we all now start with the proposition that drawing can be art; we know it can be of equal value to painting. But I decided to pursue an antiquated ides of drawing as facilitating some other hody of work, We tall extensively about what the two practices do and don’t heve to do with one another. I's never simply preparatory. PP I's codependent, 2 Yes, the idee of codependency is interesting. One thing I teach is to ques- tion the autonomy of individual act objects. The artist Peter Halley talks about exhibitions having replaced works as the basic integer of meaning— and things cen he codependent even across two separate bodies of work. SA Tquestion whether drawing can be anything, terial, or any expres sion. I think that boundaries and celt-limitatione are useful and I'm actually more interested in the differences than the similerities between marks end processes. Recently in my draveing seminar some studente challenged these ‘boundaries, pushing drawing to crose the threehold into something else, like sculpture. One student brought in hanging etring and called it a “drawing” ‘To some degree? understood the impulse, but the lines were not mat by the han¢; it was an arrangement of linear material This preseated a productive conilit that will help me clarify the way I write @ problem in the future-to preserve mark-mnaking as drawing versus selecting and arranging material in the form of en assemblage,8 Would you concider an exchitectural model equivalent to @ drawing? 84 No, [would not cell a model a drawing. Even though both can be steps to clarify or arrive at a purpose, they don't provide the same information. Draw- {ng is a tool that gats you somewhere. In the production of architecture, the ‘act of drawing takes two forms: ons is in the making of objective, calibrated ‘marks in order to understand a space or eet of instructions; the other is the making of subjective images that convey conceptuel traces, experiential properties, and personal artistic expression (see fig. 17). #8 Lalso make distinetions, For example, I would never describe an etching 28.0 drawing even though drawing skills are used in etching. Lilsewise, there fs a significant difference between a lithogreph and a drawing even though they look so much alike and many people confuse the two. I want students to think of e lithograph as e print that is different from a drawing, What comes first Is the drawing that prepared us to do the print. The print invokes « dife ferent level of commitment to the image, CH As T said, we have a reputation for rapid visualization; our students sketch throughout their four years. But I don’t know that it’s drawing. It's visualizing, At the same time, we make sketch modals with paper that ace more like drawing, We hack things together to imagine things in space. We sketch with prototypes. HT substitute the word “drawing” for “sketching” then a lot more of our processes, even down to experiments and research, are forms of drawing, DL, Inmy courses the question is: How de we apply speed, play, and tmprovi- sation to any material—grarhite and paper, video, a thrae-dimensional object ‘made out of clay or paper, or an image in Photoshop? am In my own work, I've started to make small sculptures of Sgures and foamcore models of settings. | coneidar these drawings in that they get me ‘whore I want to go, and I do teach this as a technique to my students: they 17MECC UCCOUCGCUGEGOOSOU DIGGS G9 CoGounoarmake forms and draw from them. I also think itis very impostant to inteo- duce students to collage. In the twentieth century, collage wes an important generative process for artists, For younger artists doing a lot of their work on. ‘computers using Photoshop, some exparience with the physicel, manips leted collage gives them critical insight on the digital process. I think in 20 vyears digital collage will be the art of our time. Artists are finding extraordi- nary ways to make images hy manipulating them through corpaters, which. night end up becoming the handmade paintings or sculptures of the future, bt. In Industrial Design, do you teach drawing on a tablet or is it all analog? cb Well, they learn to uoe a tablet whether or not we teach it, Our students are proactive like that. By the time they graduate they all have software and digital-drafting skills, but we don’t teach drawing as technical drafting eny- more. For a rendering—a glamour shot—we often go back and forth between, digital, the hand, and the three-dimensional model. 1:2 Digital approaches to drawing exe @ significant part of my own practice ‘Semaone once remarked to me that where we used to draw a square as four perpendicular, connected sides of equal length, now, in software, we drag a point diagonally from one corner to another to make a square. ‘an An assignment that I use when we learn color in printmaking speaks to another kind of puzzle, One of the most difficult things to teach in color print- ‘making is the idea of malting separate matrices and then putting them together to make all the colore you need. The impulse is to make an outline and fill it in with color. So, we have a setup in studio that hes a fall range of primary and tertiary colors. The students are given four sheets of acetate and four Sharpie markere in various colors, When they're drawing the yel- low, they stay on the yellow piace of acetate. When they're drawing the red, they draw on the red piece of acetate, Thay use all four different acetates for the different colors and directly see how the whole thing adds up to a full image, full color. When they pull it apert, they see how ebstract those shapesslalalatetetatatatalauetatatntates AAO L LOOBOOMMAABDNAMAAMDAD Oe SATION. DRAWING 97 ‘aro and how they could never have figured it cut without actually eeeing it ‘Then they can transfer those images to their plates or stones and start to ‘work in black. It helps them to make a breal:through about printmaking. PP Since RISD launched its five-year strategic plan last year, we have talled frequently about “exitical making” ae s philocophy, perepective, or sensibil- ity particular to RISD. Is there a particular relationship hetween critical making and drawing? _2R Tp spite of our different departments and disciplines, we share the vale cf working with our hands and a deep commitment to abject malting. I often show e documentary on self-taught artist James Castle, who was profoundly eat and had no language, but who drew so exquisitely ueing only feplace soot an saliva, The film ie about being an artist and the passionate necessity for making things. cH I think that there's a difference between craft and making~end RISD has a rich tradition of making. Whet I like about drawing, sketching, and sketch models are how they relate to @ process of discovary and invention— not craft. sybe it’s about ov to instill an ethics of making as opposed to develop of techniques, The technical-school rod! teaches students how to ‘snot whet ing & 5 fulfill specific, predefined role of what constitutes mastery. 7! you do as an artist. What constitutes quality and excellence if what you sre doing is no longer measurable against an ideal model? I think the alter- native to the master model is teaching stucente how to learz for themselves. ‘The fear many have regarding the loss of this master model is that now any- thing goes. But the real elternative is to teach students how to develop = practice, how to be an inventor, and then to guide them through the stages of development. Theard about 2 figure drawing course at another school where students can only use triangles to articulate form, as training for creating 3-D modelsWhile interesting, this couldn't be mors different from my ovm approach. Ja fact, I don’t tezch observational drawing to firet-year students, All of the work is generated from makting-from material or visual experimentation. ‘Ths goal of drawring ie to learn something. PP Educator and theorist Henk Slager calls the process of art inquiry and research “nameless science.” oH Learning emerges from curiosity rather than trying to confirm some- thing. When you set out to prove something, you're inclined to set up your test in a way that predetermines the eutcome, 2 Confirmation bias. (oH Right, This happens frequently with childeen, They are building with blocks and someone says, "What is that? What are you making?" The child thinks, “Okay, so it has to be a thing, and now I have to communicate what this thing is, thas to be something real because this person asking me these questions has to understand what it Is" The ffaming of the question pro- duces a response such as, “It's building, & car, My house.” But if the ques- tion is, "Cen you tell me about whet you're doing?" they'll answer, “Well I'm stacking come stuff” or, “I'm making a giant giraffe monster spaceship." The framing of the question often perpetustes overly determined outcomes. bt This is « key challenge in developing a curriewhum or an art project. How o you build chance and dfecovary into a prompt and a process? Jam curious if this fs a specialty et RISD. om L try to fine-tune the balance of how much information to provida, It reduces anxiety when people know what's going on but, at the same time, if you tell them where something is hoaded it can limit whet they're open to along the wey, |s2 As e student in Foundation Studies, I had Ken Hori for 3-D design. He ‘would give an assignment and everybody would ak: "Can we do thie? Can it€ P € C < € € € € NOOO KOCGOMOANOA CONVERSATION, DRAWING 99 ‘be made out of that?” At one point, he said, "The more questions you ask me, the more there are imite on your potential responses.” cH I have had good results with, ‘Just paper, just tape, just @ pencil, and nothing else They figure out how to make the tape a hinge and other fantas- ‘tc things happen, Reggio Emilia —the Italian easly childhood schooling based con free inquiry—teaches students to toach themselves by setting « stage or context for them to explore. Teachers, parents, and children are equal share- holders in learning initietives. I think RISD has some of these affinities, We sot 2 stage with specific prompte or teols and aupport thelr exploration. We hhave to have a very open mind for change and innovation because, by the time they graduate, we can’t even imagine what they're going to need to Inovs, They naed to be able to navigate through change. cbr Tiny to walk the students through the process of invention using chance and unorthodox methods of discovery that can be fun or difficult or even emotionally wrenching, But there's always the nagging question, “When do ‘we get down to business and hands-on skills?” There's a pact of me thet wants to sey “never.” You teach someone to teach herself and she develons the skills, And there's « part of me that seys, “Actually, maybe we shoulé do 1 technical exercise,” to establish some foundation, ‘0 Sometimes Il eay, "Come up wi i 10 waye to light 2 room that don’t involve electzicity,” or, "Come up seith 20 ways of geiting water from point 4 to point B." And they respond, “Wel, ‘cupped hands, end there's the magnetic pull of the moon on waten, Whet el can I do?" When they mex out on thinking outside the object and want to ve 8 pelican and a eponge an: \Uuow things at me, I propose, "Okay, now we'll earn some Photoshop,” P You narrow the conditions, create friction, and possibly some frustration, ‘Kevin, Ilmow that you've used the idea of obstruction in your courses, x2 “The Five Obstructions” (inspived by Lars von Trier and Jorgen Leth's 2005 film) is an assignm: i T give to promat studente to question theirassumptions and patterns. For a student whe works very slowly, doit in five seconds, For é student who works very quickly, tale a week to do it. These opposite approaches tend to draw out unexpected materials, process, color, and so on. ‘This question of predetermining outcomes connects to rislc-taking and failure, At RISD, we rightly valorize failure, though thie can become romantic, Pedagogically, when does an idea of risk or fellure become an indulgence with an esteblished—and conforming—set of aesthetics? Yet I ‘am stil interested in what happens when @ material meets some force and Uiseuption secure. Education theorist Netl Postman wrote many books, but two resonate with me as we tall. The first is Teaching as 2 Subversive Activity, with Charles Weingariner in 1969. Ten yerrs later, he wrote Teaching ae a Con- serving Activity. Thinking about the eubversive-conserving dilectic, can ‘someone tellt more about how drawing in particular might sarve those pedac sgogical goals? ‘4 Obsolete technology hes become a cultural preaccupation, Students have fan interest in cinematography, for example, that is so arduous and so unlikely. In my drawing class, when I chow them how to make ink from oalt Sells that we grind up, strain, and mix with ferrous aulfde, then use that inkk to draw with goose quills, I'm really surprised by what good sports they are, ‘They are eager to learn information and solid skills so that they can create their own techniques and processes in the future. I do think that a part of ‘what we do as teachers is stewardship of certain chills and ways of werking that we embody and pass along. | know thet I have learned things that our studente will not learn unless I teach them. I think thet's part of our mission in education. t's not all about always creating new knowledge, cH Thave heard that there ig » RISD prof students’ drawings off the wall. This hse prompted some great conversations or who's famous for tearingi ala alal OLOlalGlelelaleleletslsialslelalelerare) swith students about critique and pedagogy. What's good for one person is ter- ible for another: In my field, what's good for the six-foot-tell person ie tezri- ble for someone ia a whealchair. In the end, I think that the relationship between a teacher and a student involves trust. The narrative is something like, "| suggested thet you to try something and you did. Rt worlsed out and that’s great hecause I wasn’t sure it would.” ‘an When I was in ert echool, teachers drew on our drawings. It was very disconcerting. Igo to the studio with 2 small pad and draw for the students to Gamonstvate different ways things lock or approaches on how to see things -eccuracy, proportions, qualities of line—more clearly cH Conserving and subverting invokes an internal tension in teaching—and pethaps drawing is a metaphor for this. When students come into Industrial Design, we have to reprogram their thinking ebout products, sort of wean them off the shiny objects. So, [think that the process of sketching, sketch modeling, and spending so much time with process is # first step toward ‘what I value or would like to see, not just in my teaching but in the industry 1 teach for > Theat and observe all of the time that RISD students have an amazing ‘work ethic and thet they've very disciplined. I'm interested! in how this might relate to qualities of drawing, bu In Foundation Studies the work ethic end the expectations are estab- lished immediately. Before the students meet the faculty, they've been told, Get ready. You're ebout to work @ lot” 1 don’t know how all of this sociel engineering developed, but it works. ch RISD students’ work ethic fe simple—thoy want to be awesome, They work herd becuse they want to learn, exploce, and be grest designers, br t's not only about hecoming 2 leader in your feld, it's an advanced and persistent sense of inquisitiveness, which might find expression in drawing.SH Yes, you ask for 10 drawings, the students will do 40, and hand you the 2O best. [ think this is unique, Na Obviously, the work ethic is a hugely positive thing, and I certeinly learned that from my RISD education, but I do caution studeats about the equation of labor with value, I have seen a million students who buy into “The more marks I make, the better is." cb Likewise, za sure we have experienced in our teaching and professional lives thet often there's ne room to linger with something. Danfel, I like the lingering that happened when you had the students drew when they missed ‘a work due to the hurricane. We think working hard means more lines or compulsively moving forward, but ws somehow have to integrate lingering and boredom. PP In a recent issue of The Brooklyn Rail (Februery 2013], the artist Mira ‘Schor published a modest inspirational list of "productive anonymity,” which included "the ability to experiment without much at stake except your own process of discovery....time to think and to not think; to look at art; to waste fon dead-end art projects that no one will ever eee again and that your best friends may remember better than you will...the ability to do things with just enough attention to make you feel like you are patt ofa world and can go forward, but not 30 much that your gesture becomes 2 trademark and a ore= ative prison.” I thought this was serendipitous, A Pact of teaching is the transmission of curiosity and excitement in the ‘search for one’s voice in one's work. I share with students things that [have found and I also ask them to find something of thelr own. I sit beside them ‘and we try todo this together. Ido love engaging with studente in thet way. E sit et their desks, I face the same quostions, and J know how much time it ‘takes to produce something of value. Soif I demand this of them, it's because Lam demanding it of mysell,