Sketchbooks

This was one of the pages from Jessica's sketchbook, and by the time she had exceeded the 20 page minimum, her approach and process with charcoal was starting to have a unified consistency and style.

This is one of Fran's pages, clearly showing a commitment to observation and mark making.

This page is from Aberlyn's sketchbook in which she explored a variety of approaches and media. This particular image was almost like a sustained gesture of a tea kettle sitting on a stove.

Daphne's sketchbook also had a variety of media explorations, and this collage was especially intricate in the way she assembled the page.

Katie had several pages of media and form explorations. This particular page (which I unfortunately had to crop on the scanner) did some interesting things with composition and design.

The examples above demonstrate "substantive pages" from those sketchbooks. In same cases there were 19 more pages of equal substance, in others there may have been only a few more. However, when the sketchbook was utilized to accelerate progress in drawing, I felt they were very successful.

This is from the syllabus:

Keeping a sketchbook can accelerate your progress in drawing, and given that this summer course is only six weeks long, use your sketchbook as often as possible. It will constitute, in part, 20% of your final grade. Your sketchbook should have at least 20 substantive pages by the end of the session. It can (and should) be used for practicing observational drawing outside the studio or for recording notes on ideas or visual observations in written form. It can function like a scrapbook or diary (provided you don’t mind me reading it) or a combination of all of the above. It is the best place to work out ideas visually because it is always at hand, but only if you make the commitment to carry it around with you.  Our Blog has a link to Artists’ Sketchbooks Online (Posted January 09) an amazing web site with hundreds of sketchbooks.  The site should be visited as frequently as possible.  There’s lots of inspiration there. The first page of your sketchbook should be used to catalogue your blog entry times and dates.

Sketchbook entries ranged from quick sketches to labored renderings, from collages to media experiements, from observational studies to imagination.  If they were "substantive", then they were awarded credit, if they weren't "substantive", then they didn't receive credit.  I looked for 20 substantive pages (I usually require 40 pages during a full semester).  20 pages = A, 19 pages = A-, 18 pages = B+, 17 pages = B, etc., etc., etc.  You get the picture.

See you Monday for individual critiques over your series.