Context
The context of this assessment reflection is a first year college level drawing course. This course introduces the language of drawing and the use of various drawing materials. Emphasis is placed on drawing techniques, media, and graphic principles. Upon completion, students should be able to demonstrate competence in the use of graphic form and various drawing processes.
A variety of approaches to drawing were covered: including both abstraction and representational image making, but our primary objective and drawing modality was observational drawing. To achieve these goals we used still life, objects, people, and interior and exterior environments as our subjects and draw through direct observation.
The goals of the class for the student are expressed in the following Student Learning Outcomes:
· To gain familiarity with a variety of drawing media and techniques, both contemporary and traditional, and be able to effectively apply materials to content and form.
· To develop facility with a range of approaches to drawing, both observational and conceptual, and be able to implement, discuss and demonstrate them.
· To be able to critique and evaluate your own artwork and others and to learn from constructive criticism, group critiques and evaluations of your artwork.
· Become familiar with contemporary and historical drawing practices, and be able to apply visual principles when viewing drawings.
· Develop your own style of drawing and improve expressive abilities and creative problem-solving through personal investigation of visual form
Reflection
An art studio course is generally designed to introduce students to tools and techniques of the medium to be explored, and then through progressively more difficult assignments the students develops more fully develop the requisite drawing skills required to pass the class and prepare themselves for more advanced studio-based study.
The first several weeks of the semester focus on contour line drawing. A contour is the line that defines a form or edge like an outline, as well as defining the interior surface of the object that exists between the “outlines”. Instruction begins with a technique known as Blind contour drawing, which is done without looking at the paper while drawing, but maintaining intense focus on the subject that you are drawing, translating every subtle nuance in the subject to the paper. The student is only allowed to look at the paper when their pencil falls off the edge of the paper. After much intensive work with the blind contour drawing technique the students are introduced to a hybrid form of contour line drawing where they are allowed to look at their drawing surface only occasionally to check for accuracy. They are told to think of it as 90% of your time is spent in blind contour drawing mode and the other 10% of the time may be spent checking for accuracy and corrections. This technique, more than any other that I know, trains the student to draw only what they are looking at, not what it is they think they are looking at, which is the critical distinction in learning to draw. This is not the only method that the students will learn, but it may be the most important and effective drawing tool that they learn in the course of the semester.
Several methods of assessment are implemented in the course of a semester, including end of the project whole class critique, one-to-one instructor to student critique, and rubrics that focus on specific skills, as well as more general accomplishment. Maybe the most obvious course of assessment, and one that is often overlooked, is to compare student work form the beginning of the semester side-by-side with work executed at the end of the semester, after the student has fully experienced the rigors of a semester long college level drawing course. It is the results of this before-and-after technique that I will be discussing.
Assessment
The structure of the before-and-after drawing assessment is straightforward and easy to understand. On the first day of instruction the students are given very specific instructions to follow as they carry out three separate drawings. It is important that this part of the assessment is done before any instruction has happened.
The first drawing is a self-portrait. The students are asked to place a 9x12 inch or 11x14 inch piece of drawing paper in front of them along with a couple of drawing pencils. No erasers or erasing is allowed during this exercise. While they are getting their drawing tools together, portable tabletop mirror are passed out to each of the students. When all are ready the students are told that they have thirty minute to work on the drawing and that they will be told how much time is left at the 15, 20, and 25-minute juncture.
We follow the same exact process for the second drawing except that this time they will be drawing their non-drawing hand as the subject. The mirrors are collected as they will not need them for the rest of this class.
The third drawing does require a little bit of movement as the students will be required to draw a corner space in the room. Each corner of the room is a little different, but they are instructed to include the walls on both sides of the corner as well as some of the ceiling. The purpose of this particular exercise it to get a sense of the student’s understanding of linear perspective, how to translate a three-dimensional space to a two-dimensional surface accurately.
When the students are finished with all three of the drawings they are told to sign and date them at the bottom of the drawing and carefully put them away into their portfolios until the end of the semester.
Fast-forward to the last day of instruction. After the students have finished all of their assignments they are asked to repeat the process described above. They will once again draw their self-portrait, their non-drawing hand, and a corner of the classroom. They must use the same tools as before and they are given the exact same amount of time to execute each of the three drawings.
Results
As I mentioned earlier that many forms of assessment are implemented throughout the course of a semester in an art studio class. But, it is the before-and-after-instruction drawing assessment that often times is the most effective for judging student progress. I have included examples from three students who recently completed a first semester drawing course at a local college. The drawing on the left in each case is the one that was drawn on the first day of instruction, and the ones on the right were done at the end of the semester. Even to the non-artist or art student the results are clear. In the first example you can see improvements in many categories as you study each of the drawings (Fig. 1). The proportion of the face and head in the drawing on the right is much more accurate. This student has truly grasped the actual shape of her head and where each of the facial features should be placed. In the first drawing the head shape is more round and out of proportion with the length of the head from the top to the chin, which is too short of a distance. In the after drawing it is easy to see how the student has fixed this problem. The head is more elongated, less round. The contour lines are drawn with much more confidence and subtlety. In the first example sensitive contour line is non-existent, the outlines are sketchy and unsure. The final and most convincing piece of evidence, is that the after drawing actually looks like the person who drew it; the first one bears a resemblance, but has a much more generic feel. One drawing element that is still missing is the development of value. There is a hint of rendering happening in the second drawing, but this drawing stands as primarily a contour line drawing in need of a good dose of shading to create a more realistic sense of light and presence in the subject.
This activity proved a great success for the instructor. It was gratifying to see so clearly the progress made by the students. Even the students that started with the least experience with art made dramatic improvements as she remembered to include eyelids in the after drawing, thus ridding herself of the bulging eyes that she found so disturbing (fig. 2).
The context of this assessment reflection is a first year college level drawing course. This course introduces the language of drawing and the use of various drawing materials. Emphasis is placed on drawing techniques, media, and graphic principles. Upon completion, students should be able to demonstrate competence in the use of graphic form and various drawing processes.
A variety of approaches to drawing were covered: including both abstraction and representational image making, but our primary objective and drawing modality was observational drawing. To achieve these goals we used still life, objects, people, and interior and exterior environments as our subjects and draw through direct observation.
The goals of the class for the student are expressed in the following Student Learning Outcomes:
· To gain familiarity with a variety of drawing media and techniques, both contemporary and traditional, and be able to effectively apply materials to content and form.
· To develop facility with a range of approaches to drawing, both observational and conceptual, and be able to implement, discuss and demonstrate them.
· To be able to critique and evaluate your own artwork and others and to learn from constructive criticism, group critiques and evaluations of your artwork.
· Become familiar with contemporary and historical drawing practices, and be able to apply visual principles when viewing drawings.
· Develop your own style of drawing and improve expressive abilities and creative problem-solving through personal investigation of visual form
Reflection
An art studio course is generally designed to introduce students to tools and techniques of the medium to be explored, and then through progressively more difficult assignments the students develops more fully develop the requisite drawing skills required to pass the class and prepare themselves for more advanced studio-based study.
The first several weeks of the semester focus on contour line drawing. A contour is the line that defines a form or edge like an outline, as well as defining the interior surface of the object that exists between the “outlines”. Instruction begins with a technique known as Blind contour drawing, which is done without looking at the paper while drawing, but maintaining intense focus on the subject that you are drawing, translating every subtle nuance in the subject to the paper. The student is only allowed to look at the paper when their pencil falls off the edge of the paper. After much intensive work with the blind contour drawing technique the students are introduced to a hybrid form of contour line drawing where they are allowed to look at their drawing surface only occasionally to check for accuracy. They are told to think of it as 90% of your time is spent in blind contour drawing mode and the other 10% of the time may be spent checking for accuracy and corrections. This technique, more than any other that I know, trains the student to draw only what they are looking at, not what it is they think they are looking at, which is the critical distinction in learning to draw. This is not the only method that the students will learn, but it may be the most important and effective drawing tool that they learn in the course of the semester.
Several methods of assessment are implemented in the course of a semester, including end of the project whole class critique, one-to-one instructor to student critique, and rubrics that focus on specific skills, as well as more general accomplishment. Maybe the most obvious course of assessment, and one that is often overlooked, is to compare student work form the beginning of the semester side-by-side with work executed at the end of the semester, after the student has fully experienced the rigors of a semester long college level drawing course. It is the results of this before-and-after technique that I will be discussing.
Assessment
The structure of the before-and-after drawing assessment is straightforward and easy to understand. On the first day of instruction the students are given very specific instructions to follow as they carry out three separate drawings. It is important that this part of the assessment is done before any instruction has happened.
The first drawing is a self-portrait. The students are asked to place a 9x12 inch or 11x14 inch piece of drawing paper in front of them along with a couple of drawing pencils. No erasers or erasing is allowed during this exercise. While they are getting their drawing tools together, portable tabletop mirror are passed out to each of the students. When all are ready the students are told that they have thirty minute to work on the drawing and that they will be told how much time is left at the 15, 20, and 25-minute juncture.
We follow the same exact process for the second drawing except that this time they will be drawing their non-drawing hand as the subject. The mirrors are collected as they will not need them for the rest of this class.
The third drawing does require a little bit of movement as the students will be required to draw a corner space in the room. Each corner of the room is a little different, but they are instructed to include the walls on both sides of the corner as well as some of the ceiling. The purpose of this particular exercise it to get a sense of the student’s understanding of linear perspective, how to translate a three-dimensional space to a two-dimensional surface accurately.
When the students are finished with all three of the drawings they are told to sign and date them at the bottom of the drawing and carefully put them away into their portfolios until the end of the semester.
Fast-forward to the last day of instruction. After the students have finished all of their assignments they are asked to repeat the process described above. They will once again draw their self-portrait, their non-drawing hand, and a corner of the classroom. They must use the same tools as before and they are given the exact same amount of time to execute each of the three drawings.
Results
As I mentioned earlier that many forms of assessment are implemented throughout the course of a semester in an art studio class. But, it is the before-and-after-instruction drawing assessment that often times is the most effective for judging student progress. I have included examples from three students who recently completed a first semester drawing course at a local college. The drawing on the left in each case is the one that was drawn on the first day of instruction, and the ones on the right were done at the end of the semester. Even to the non-artist or art student the results are clear. In the first example you can see improvements in many categories as you study each of the drawings (Fig. 1). The proportion of the face and head in the drawing on the right is much more accurate. This student has truly grasped the actual shape of her head and where each of the facial features should be placed. In the first drawing the head shape is more round and out of proportion with the length of the head from the top to the chin, which is too short of a distance. In the after drawing it is easy to see how the student has fixed this problem. The head is more elongated, less round. The contour lines are drawn with much more confidence and subtlety. In the first example sensitive contour line is non-existent, the outlines are sketchy and unsure. The final and most convincing piece of evidence, is that the after drawing actually looks like the person who drew it; the first one bears a resemblance, but has a much more generic feel. One drawing element that is still missing is the development of value. There is a hint of rendering happening in the second drawing, but this drawing stands as primarily a contour line drawing in need of a good dose of shading to create a more realistic sense of light and presence in the subject.
This activity proved a great success for the instructor. It was gratifying to see so clearly the progress made by the students. Even the students that started with the least experience with art made dramatic improvements as she remembered to include eyelids in the after drawing, thus ridding herself of the bulging eyes that she found so disturbing (fig. 2).