AP Studio Art Summer Assignments

AP Studio Art – Summer Assignments
2012-2013

Welcome to AP Studio Art! We look forward to an exciting, productive and creative class. This is a rigorous college level course. Keep in mind that you are making a commitment to meet deadlines, to attend class every day and to devote a large amount of time to your work outside of class.

Purchase a sketchbook/journal. It should be in the size range of 81/2”x11” to 16”x20”. The sketchbook must be spiral bound or hard bound. Make sure the sketchbook contains quality-drawing paper. You may wish to purchase two sketchbooks in case you fill the first.  Do not purchase the tablet type. It will self-destruct after a couple of uses and the paper in tablets is usually of poor quality. Sketchbooks can be purchased at any art store. If you submit work that makes use of photographs, published images, and/or other artists’ works, you must show substantial and significant development beyond duplication. Otherwise, it is unethical, constitutes plagiarism, and often violates copyright law to simply copy another image (even in another medium) that was made by someone else.

Sketchbook Journal: You are required to keep a personal sketchbook journal to record ideas, thoughts, inspirations, as well as studies of possible future works. It is suggested that you keep this, along with good drawing pencils, with you at all times. The sketchbook journal will also be a required assignment during the school year and will be checked bi-weekly.

    ⇒Your sketchbook should include: 

• Drawings from observation analytical research 
• Thumbnail sketches for future projects
• Drawings of artwork or sculpture from a museum
• Studio idea development for major projects
• Written critiques of your work and art historical work
• Documentation of discoveries, media experiments
• Personal reflections, musings, future directions

Assignments: The following assignments are due the first week of school. Failure to complete these assignments will cause the instructor to re-evaluate your readiness for the AP Studio Art program. (One of the following assumptions will probably be made if the assignments are not completed over the summer: you cannot budget your time, you have priorities that are more important to you, you do not care, or you are lazy. If any of these are true, you may want to reconsider AP Studio Art as a course for you).

    ⇒A completed artwork should include attention to detail, incorporate middle and background
        information along with foreground. 

• Strive for strong composition. Suggestions: incorporate an unusual point of view, work to the edges of the paper, include a dynamic background, use techniques to move the viewer’s eye through the artwork. 
• Strive for strong values in drawings and paintings. You may use any surface to create you artwork on.
• Always mix your colors when painting. 
• Don’t work directly from the tube! Be neat in your presentation. Take care of your artwork now and always

Assignment #1
Using contour line and uniball pen draw the contents of a closet or cupboard. (medicine cabinet, kitchen cupboard, clothes closet, shoes, linen closet, you get the idea!) Emphasize both outer an inner contour lines. If you want to add color use water color (watercolor will make the uniball bleed---interesting effects!! or marker—consider adding color to a few items or perhaps just the background.

Assignment #2

Show reflections in a metallic object or other reflective surface: Zero in on a section of metallic objects, such as a close-up of part of a bike or motorcycle, car bumper, spoons, an eggbeater or other objects or surfaces that reflect their surroundings. Create a composition making use of hard-edge reflections and cast shadows. Include other detail or background that is necessary to make a strong composition (not just a depiction of an object). The drawing should show skill in rendering detail and surface effects.

Assignment #3

Set up a still life of two unbroken eggs, a tomato and an orange sitting on a towel or cloth. Use white or off-white paper no larger than 12” by 16”. Use charcoal, pencil or oil pastel on the appropriate paper. Lightly lay out the entire page/picture plane top to bottom and right to left. (If you are weak on composition, just have the objects touch or go off three sides of the paper format. That should take care of any negative space problems). A light pencil guideline may be used but no lines should be visible when the drawing is completed. Only value next to value may form the shapes and textures. Pay attention to the smooth ness of the egg compared to the other objects. Again, attention must be paid to the gradation of light to dark. The entire surface of the paper should be covered. Do NOT use fingers for blending (only the pressure of the drawing tool on the paper).

Assignment #4

Draw the following in your choice of media but do not use all the same — One assignment should be done on an out of the ordinary background surface – not white paper (ex: map, newspaper, cardboard wood, colored paper, wrapping paper, etc) — (Complete 4)

·  A figure drawing from an unusual perspective such as worm’s eye or bird

·  An interior space showing the illusion of 3D and dealing w/an usual light source

·  Self-Portrait with dramatic or interesting lighting while looking in the mirror

·  Depict a magnifying glass and what it is being magnified as well as the space around it that is
 not magnified. Include interesting plays of light and reflections.

·  Landscape in a non-traditional way on location

·  A close up abstraction of a zoomed in area of either the still life or landscape.

·  Draw a composition looking out of a window or doorway that shows both interior and
 exterior space.

·  A landscape that shows both near and far space

·  Do a detailed drawing of a mechanical object (example-bicycle) Use a cardboard rectangle to
isolate an interesting part of your drawing and enlarge it.

·  Cut a pinecone in half and draw its structure

·  Compose a drawing from dissections of two distinct household objects. Draw this from
 observation. Include details necessary to make a strong composition (not just a depiction of an
 object). The drawing should show skill in rendering detail and surface effects. Think about the
 entire composition and lighting.

·  Look at material such as: a shirt over a chair, a sheet around pillar, clothes on a line etc. Draw
 this with color (watercolor, pastel) and overlay it with another media like pencil or ink.

·  Draw an object from nature---THINK DETAIL.

·  Do a detailed drawing of a mechanical object (example-bicycle) Use a cardboard rectangle to
 isolate an interesting part of your drawing and enlarge it.

*You must take your own photos. Artworks that copy photos from the Internet or magazines will not be graded!