ARTimus Prime is your destination to check out all the projects going on at the Fountain Lake Cobra Digital Prep Academy. Bookmark this page to check back here all year to see what we are doing in the Art Room and to keep up with all of your assignments.
Notan is a Japanese term which literally means "light dark harmony". Artists use "notan studies" to explore different arrangements of light and dark elements in a painting, without having the distraction of other elements like color, texture and finer details.
Asymmetrical balance (or Asymmetry) means thatthe two halves of the work of art are different, however, try to create balance. In other words, although the sides may not be exactly the same, there will be elements that interact in a way that makes each side equally important.
Contrast is simply defined as difference. Difference between art elements like color, value, size, texture, and so on can intensify the elements used. As a result, the elements used in a work of art can become more powerful. Although contrast is closely related with variety, it is usually considered a principle of art.
Positive space refers to the subject or areas of interest in an artwork, such as a person's face or figure in a portrait, the objects in a still life painting, or the trees in a landscape painting. Negative space is the background or the area that surrounds the subject of the work
DIRECTIONS:
For this project you will be creating 2 digital notans.
You must use shapes that you create from the scribble, polyline, or curve tool. It must be complex and contain overlapping shapes.
Take a look at the link below to check out a Google slideshow with info and video tutorials to get you started.
Alana Dee Haynes is a contemporary mixed-media artist who uses photographs as a base for her zentangle styled drawings. She draws meditative patterns across the face and body of the models in the photos and in the backgrounds of the artworks.
DIRECTIONS:
PROJECT 1
You will be randomly assigned a photo of a celebrity/model for this project.
Using a sharpie, add zentangle patterns to your model.
Use at least 5 different patterns on your piece. Take your time and make complex patterns following instructions on TanglePatterns.
You can use a pencil first if you like.
Please return sharpies back to the appropriate bucket when finished.
Use tanglepatterns.com to find interesting patterns to create for your
Our next project takes a look at contemporary artist Eric Joyner and creating a metallic effect with colored pencils by blending them together.
Contemporary art is the art of today, produced by artists who are living in the twenty-first century. Contemporary art provides an opportunity to reflect on contemporary society and the issues relevant to ourselves, and the world around us.
Take a look here for more examples of contemporary art:
In 1999, I started to enter various juried shows at Artisans Gallery in Mill Valley, CA. and the work was well received. Shows in other galleries, (usually group shows) were positive as well. In 2000, after years of painting other people’s pictures, I made the decision to only paint things that I liked. Four series of paintings of different subjects were started; they were: San Francisco urbanscapes, paintings of old newspaper cartoons characters, Mexican masks, and last but not least, Japanese tin (toy) robots. Though all four series of these subjects were enjoyable to do, I chose to focus on the tin robots, as they were the most popular and seemed to have the most possibilities.
So, armed with a small collection of tin robots and spaceships I began painting them in earnest. In attempt to bring them to life without losing their charm, I showed them where they belonged: outer space. By 2002 the paintings were looking good, but they still needed something to play off of… perhaps a nemesis. After a month or so of searching for a ‘nemesis’ I had an epiphany while watching the movie ‘Pleasantville.’ In one of the scenes, Jeff Daniels paints a still life of…donuts. With thoughts of Wayne Thiebaud’s pastries always close at hand, it wasn’t difficult to see the battle scene of robots retreating from 300-foot tall donuts when I went to bed that night. The rest, as they say, is history.
This video is a tutorial showing some different colors you can blend together to create some metallic textures.
Directions:
Create a robot artwork inspired by Eric Joyner.
Add donuts (or another type of sweet treat) to your robot drawings like Eric Joyner.
Create a metallic texture on your robot using the blending techniques we worked on in class.
There are many robot part examples below here for inspiration.
For this project, you will be creating a complex arrangement of pipes to show depth and value in an artwork. You will be using shading, value, and contour lines to help create the feeling of depth in your artwork.
DIRECTIONS:
Take a look at the worksheet above before you begin.
In your sketchbook, practice creating 4 pipe shapes with shading and contour lines added. You may use the same 4 pieces that are at the bottom of the worksheet.
After you have practiced 4 shapes and are comfortable making the pipe shapes, you may get a 12x18 piece of paper to begin your final artwork.
Your final artwork should be a complex network of pipes. There should be at least 3 layers of depth in your pipework and it should fill the page. You may add extra details, like knobs, regulator valves, leaks, and any other pipe related details you can think of. Your pipes need to be in color and have full value work to show depth.
Our first project will take us halfway around the world to an ancient tradition practiced for over 5000 years. You will create a henna design on a hand using the zentangle method and then color your design using crayons or colored pencils. Zentangles and henna designs will create awesome patterns and textures in your artwork.
The art of henna (called mehndi in Hindi & Urdu) has been practiced for over 5000 years in Pakistan, India, Africa and the Middle East. There is some documentation that it is over 9000 years old. Because henna has natural cooling properties, people of the desert, for centuries, have been using henna to cool down their bodies. They make a paste of henna and soak their palms and soles of the feet in it to get an air conditioning affect. They feel its cooling sensation throughout the body for as long as the henna stain remains on their skin. Initially, as the stain faded away, it left patterns on the skin surface which led to ideas to make designs for decorative purposes. In the ancient Egyptian times mummies wore henna designs and it is documented that Cleopatra herself used henna for decorative purposes.
Henna was not only a popular adornment for the rich but the poor, who could not afford jewelry, used it to decorate their bodies as well.
Henna in the West
Today people all over the world have adopted the ancient traditions of adorning their bodies with the beautiful natural artwork created from the henna plant. It became a very popular form of temporary body decoration in the 90's in the US and has become a growing trend ever since. Celebrities like Madonna, Gwen Stefani, Yasmine Bleeth, Liv Tyler, Xena, and many others proudly adorn their bodies with henna and show them off in public, movies, videos, etc. People throughout the west have adopted the eastern tradition in their lives by having their hands and feet painted for weddings, bellies painted while in pregnancy, heads adorned with henna while going through chemotherapy, scars camouflaged to make them unnoticeable, etc.
DIRECTIONS:
STEP 1: TRACE YOUR HAND, PUT YOUR HAND TOWARDS THE TOP OF THE PAGE SO YOU CAN HAVE SOME OF YOUR WRIST TO DRAW ON.
STEP 2: CHOOSE A TRADITIONAL OR ZENTANGLE STYLE HENNA HAND DESIGN.
STEP 3: CREATE YOUR DESIGN IN YOUR HAND. USE THE WEBSITES PROVIDED ABOVE TO HELP WITH YOUR DESIGNS.
Your second task will be to find an item in the real world that looks like a face and take a photo of it. Then you will use what you learned creating your emoji smiley to create a unique character from your item.
Take a look at the video for some examples of this. This is a phenomenon called pareidolia and everyone experiences it.
NOW take a look at the slideshow and begin your project!
