Eye See U

It’s been a while since I updated. Had lots and lots going on and non-digital life has taken over. Though if you are wanting a daily dose of The Art Classroom, you’re probably best following my Instagram account which you can find a link to on the right. This week’s ‘AOTW’ comes from Niamh S (S1). She has been looking at portraiture and completed this lovely eye drawing as a homework. When she brought it in, it impressed her class and I thought it was worth showing you lot. Why does it work as a great study? Well… Niamh has closely looked at how an eye looks. She has included the tear duct, the pupil is nice and circular, the iris sits high in the eye and the eyebrow is contoured away from the nose. Add these into your drawings of eyes to make them more realistic.

Just Like Shannon!

I just love this pencil portrait from Shannon H (S3/OLSP). She was asked to draw an expressive and detailed self-portrait. Usually when female pupils are asked to draw a portrait they end up drawing few features and think it’s for the cover of Vogue Magazine. So it’s a real treat when you see a drawing like this, showing emotion, expressive lines, warts and all. I absolutely love Shannon’s style, it’s very tangled and sketchy, like threads loosely wrapped around an object. You could easily compare it to the likes of Peter Howson or Edvard Munch. It’s now one of my most favourite pupil pencil drawings of all time.

Rian’s Skill

This week’s work from home comes from Rian M (S2, OLSP). Rian has amazing observational skills, drawing, sizing and detail comes to him naturally. He does not need to pre-plan drawings or add layout lines/guide lines to get a successful result, this is a talent that only comes with practice and refining your skills. Above and below you’ll see a few examples from his ever increasing sketchbook. How great is that hand drawing? Seriously?! Great stuff Rian, thanks for letting us have a glimpse into your sketchbook.

Killing Time

I haven’t really updated the work from home section in a long time and have a huge backlog of doodles and drawings to get through, so to try and keep everyone happy, I will try and feature one piece of work from each pupil. If you’d like to see more from any single individual, let me know and I will sort something out, otherwise, enjoy the variety.

Above, Nicole H (S2, OLSP) gives us a weird, surreal, but very entertaining poster image. The bun character looks insane, though it is mildly discerning that it is labelled ‘Mum’. I have a hundred questions about it, but don’t want to ask them as any answer that was given would not be as rewarding as looking at that image. Below, Lauren C (S2, OLSP) has drawn a beautifully simple bird drawing on ripped paper. there is something very sad and lonely about this image, I love it.

Above; Hana K (S2, OLSP), who has been previously featured (1/2) provides us with this very graphic and stylised face drawing. I really like the nearly non-existent nose, I would’ve liked it to have been completely removed. The pen work to fill in the shapes must have taken ages to do.

Face Paint

I haven’t taught Paula H for nearly a year now, so when I saw the higher work she had been creating with my friend and colleague, Miss McInnes, my mouth dropped open. Last year, she fought so hard to achieve a good result in her Standard Grade exam, getting a ‘1’ for her oil pastel self-portrait. The work she is creating now, makes her older work look like a monkey drew it. Below are just some highlights of her new painting skills and her highly analytical pencil drawings. Truly amazing.

UPDATE: She’s also just finished the painting below, I had to take another photo and show it off. Great work.

It Figures…

My friend and colleague, Miss McInnes (OLSP) has sketched this little masterpiece below. We are putting together examples of units for the new National 4 and 5 qualifications. Miss McInnes is working on a figurative unit to show pupils how they would tackle the two sheets and ‘added value’ final piece on that theme. This is a great piece of observation pencil work, it has taken her a few hours to get this far, though it’s definitely worth it.

Two Sided

Hana K (OLSP, S2) provides this great self portrait of herself in different clothes. It reminds me of Two Face from Batman. I really like the pencil work on the face.

Shoe Gazing

Hana K (S2, OLSP) has drawn this beautiful little pencil sketch of a shoe for her teacher Mrs Nicolson.

A Beautiful Study

This work from home isn’t from one of my pupils, but I saw it and thought it was so good that I had to feature it. The portrait, by Holly McP (S5), appears to be a quick sketch of a young woman or girl, though upon closer inspection you can see how thoughtful Holly has been in selecting where she was going to place each of her lines and how her tonal scribbles would add form to the subject’s body and hair. The secret to Holly’s drawing is that it looks as if she has created it very quickly, it also looks as if every carefree line that she has placed is in a nearly perfect position. I’m sure this is not the case, I believe that Holly had spent a good length of time on this image and that it was very carefully considered, but if she did just sketch it out in a few minutes she’s an utter genius. If she didn’t, she’s still an utter genius for making us think that she did…

Emma D’s Machinature CD

Emma D (S3, OLSP) has been working hard to finish off her CD Booklet Design that she has created along with the rest of her classmates.

Each pupil had to draw, colour, scribble and paint four separate studies, as well as create two separate transparent prints and write a set of lyrics for a song.

The studies, based on the conflict between nature and machines focused on plants, cogs, circuitry and animal patterns.

Emma’s patterns are extremely neat and vivid, her pen work is interesting and dramatic and along with her fun and dynamic robot painting, she has created a wonderful CD booklet.

The process wasn’t just visual images, Emma and her class were asked to produce or customise a song/lyrics to feature in the booklet. Emma’s lyrics below are based around a song by Adele, though read as if they should be in a Radiohead album.

A beautiful booklet and a great object to keep and look back on in years to come, great work Emma.