ART 110.

001 Drawing I
(Web-enhanced)
COURSE SYLLABUS: Spring 2014
MW 11:00am-1:50 pm, room 201

Instructor: Marilyn R. Thompson, MFA

Office Location: Art Building- room 210
Office Hours: Will be posted on office door
Office Phone: 903 886-5208
Office Fax: 903 886-5987
University Email Address: [email protected]

COURSE INFORMATION

Materials – Textbooks, Readings, Supplementary Readings:

Textbook(s) Required: Drawing Essentials, 2nd Edition, Deborah Rockman,

Oxford University Press, ISBN 978-0-19-975894-4

Course Description:
The development of perceptual and descriptive skills through an
introduction to a variety of drawing media, techniques and subject matter.

Student Learning Outcomes:

1. To acquire a thorough understanding of the elements of art and the
principles of organization as related to drawing.
2. To demonstrate an understanding of contour line, positive & negative
space, perspective, sighting of angles and measurements of relationships in
drawing.
3. To expand the student’s visual arts vocabulary.
4. To master basic skills and to encourage experimentation with
techniques and materials, both traditional and non-traditional.
5. To explore creative expression beyond preconceived boundaries.
6. To understand the criteria for aesthetic standards.
7. Professionalism in both work ethic and quality of projects.
 COURSE REQUIREMENTS

Instructional / Methods / Activities Assessments

1. Involvement and contributions to critiques, oral and written.
2. Dedication to class studio work and homework.
3. Dedication to self-directed work.
4. Improvement, experimentation and demonstrated understanding of
visual concepts.
5. Presentation and quality of work.

Grading
1. studio projects
2. class participation, studio time (A grade is given for studio time-
10 points each meeting and only 5 points if late or leave early, so it is very
important to attend all class sessions),
3. sketchbook
4. exams
5. critiques

Grading Points: 1,000 points possible

1. 280 points = studio participation & attendance

2. 520 points = portfolio & projects
3. 100 points = 2 exams (50 points each) to be taken online in eCollege
4. 100 points = sketchbook, research, CD, statement

I  utilize  the  Grade  book  feature  in  eCollege,  so  students  will  be  able  to  view  grades  for  each  
assignment  as  soon  as  I  post  them.  However,  be  mindful  that  the  grading  scale  in  the  course  
(see  above)  DOES  NOT  correspond  to  the  percentages  of  points  displayed  in  eCollege.  If  you  
strive  for  a  specific  grade  in  the  course,  be  sure  to  notice  how  many  points  you  need  to  
accumulate  to  achieve  that  grade  rather  than  focusing  on  the  percentage  of  points  you  have  
earned  in  eCollege.

COMMUNICATION AND SUPPORT

Interaction with Instructor Statement:

Please feel free to contact me through email or stop by during my office
hours.
Email: [email protected]
Office Hours: Will be posted on office door
 COURSE AND UNIVERSITY PROCEDURES/POLICIES

Course Specific Procedures:

Late assignments: Late assignments will not be accepted unless you make
prior arrangements with the instructor before the due date. Your grade will
be lowered 10 points for late work. If you know you are going to be absent when
work is due you may turn work in early and not receive a penalty.
Class participation: Participation is required. It is important to come to class
prepared so you can take part in the group discussions and critiques. You are
expected to arrive to class on time and stay the entire period. Leaving early is
the same as a tardy. 5 points will be deducted from your daily studio time for
late arrival or leaving early. Come prepared for the group discussions and
critiques.

Department of Art Attendance Policy for 100 & 200 Level Classes

All students are required to regularly attend class. Art is a practice-based

discipline and the learning process requires active participation. Students
will receive a failing grade upon their fourth absence. Being tardy for class
equals ½ of an absence. Being unprepared for class by not having an
assignment on critique day or not having the appropriate materials to
perform in class assignments will count as an absence. Upon the first
absence the faculty member will remind the student of the attendance
policy. Upon the second absence, the student’s name and attendance
record will be forwarded to the Head of the Department of Art and a letter
will be mailed to the student’s permanent address. Upon the third absence,
the student will be referred to the Head of the Department of Art for
consultation. Students participating in sports or other University activities
can be excused from the Departmental policy if they have made
arrangements with the instructor to address missed class-work BEFORE the
scheduled event. A schedule of the days they are planning to perform or
play must be provided at the beginning of the semester or at least a month
before their first planned absence.

Plagiarism: Do not take credit for someone else’s work. According to Texas A
& M University-Commerce,” the university does not tolerate plagiarism and
other forms of academic dishonesty. “Academic dishonesty” includes, but
is not limited to, plagiarism (the appropriation or stealing of the ideas or
words of another and passing them off as one’s own), cheating on exams
or other course assignments, collusion (the unauthorized collaboration
with others in preparing course assignments), and abuse (destruction,
defacing, or removal) of resource materials. Plagiarism will result in a
failing grade for the course.”
Drop a Course: “A student may drop a course by logging into their myLeo
account and clicking on the hyperlink labeled ‘Drop a class’ from among the
choices found under the myLeo section of the Web page.”

University Specific Procedures:

ADA  Statement  :  The  Americans  with  Disabilities  Act  (ADA)  is  a  federal  anti-­‐
discrimination  statute  that  provides  comprehensive  civil  rights  protection  for  persons  
with  disabilities.    Among  other  things,  this  legislation  requires  that  all  students  with  
disabilities  be  guaranteed  a  learning  environment  that  provides  for  reasonable  
accommodation  of  their  disabilities.    If  you  have  a  disability  requiring  an  
accommodation,  please  contact:  

   
Office  of  Student  Disability  Resources  and  Services  
Texas  A&M  University-­‐Commerce  
Gee  Library  132  
Phone  (903)  886-­‐5150  or  (903)  886-­‐5835  
Fax  (903)  468-­‐8148  
[email protected]  
 
Student  Conduct  
 
All  students  enrolled  at  the  University  shall  follow  the  tenets  of  common  decency  and  
acceptable  behavior  conducive  to  a  positive  learning  environment.    (See  Code  of  
Student  Conduct  from  Student  Guide  Handbook).  

COURSE OUTLINE / CALENDAR

Schedule  and  assignments:  

Essential Skills and Information
Week 1:
Monday: Introduction to Art 110: Drawing I
Supplies required
Viewfinder
Discussion: Sighting techniques
Sketchbook: Thumbnail sketches
Reading assignment: pages 283-316

Wednesday: Contour drawing using sighting techniques for Relative Proportions

Materials: Black marking pens of various sizes
Sketchbook: Do a contour drawing of your bedroom or closet. This drawing should show the
complexity of many shapes, example a pile of shoes and hanging clothes in your closet. Notice
the many different shapes within each object. (Suggested time is two to three hours)
Materials: Black marking pens of various sizes
Week 2:
Monday: Contour drawing using sighting techniques for Angles and Axis Lines in Relation to
Verticals and Horizontals
Materials: Graphite pencils
Sketchbook: Do a still life contour drawing. Practice what we covered in class.
Materials: Graphite pencils
Reading assignment: pages 4-101

Wednesday: Principles of Composition

Draw four different compositions of the still life by shifting the tonal focal point in each
individual study.
Materials: Graphite pencils
Sketchbook: Do a contour line drawing of the same object 4 times. Each time you draw the
object shift it within the picture plane (Reference page 34).
Materials: Black marking pens of various sizes

Week 3: Sketchbook check

Monday: Continue Principles of Composition
Draw four different compositions of the still life by shifting the tonal focal point in each
individual study. Principles of Composition critique at end of class.
Sketchbook: Continue working on contour line drawing of the same object 4 times. Each time
you draw the object shift it within the picture plane (Reference page 34).
Materials: Black marking pens of various sizes

Wednesday: Subtractive value drawing of draped fabric

Cover a sheet of drawing paper with charcoal.
Materials: Charcoal, white conte, & kneaded eraser
Sketchbook: Do a drawing of a complex natural object (plant, flower, pine cone, etc.). Do the
inner and outer contour shapes of the object. Do not use value but work with various sizes of
lines, using the different size marking pens.

Week 4:
Monday: Subtractive value drawing of draped fabric
Cover a sheet of drawing paper with charcoal.
Materials: Charcoal, white conte, & kneaded eraser
Sketchbook: Draw the value scale.

Wednesday: Subtractive value drawing of collage

Cover a sheet of drawing paper with charcoal.
Materials: Charcoal, white conte, & kneaded eraser
Sketchbook: Do a detailed contour line drawing of your hand.
Materials: Graphite
Week 5:
Monday: Continue subtractive value drawing of collage
Cover a sheet of drawing paper with charcoal.
Materials: Charcoal, white conte, & kneaded eraser
Sketchbook: Now add value to the detailed contour line drawing you did of your hand.
Materials: Graphite
Wednesday: Continue subtractive value drawing of collage
Critique at end of class.
 Materials: Charcoal, white conte, & kneaded eraser
Sketchbook: Do 4 negative space drawing of a plant or chair.
Materials: Graphite
Reading: pages 102-158

Spatial Thinking and Visualization

Week 6: Sketchbook check
Monday: Introduction to perspective
Basic principles of linear perspective
1-point perspective: boxes
2-point perspective: boxes
A gridded ground plane in 1-point and 2-point perspective
Sketchbook: Draw a two-point perspective view of your living environment using only sighting
to discover angles, rates of convergence, and proportional relationships
Materials: Graphite

Wednesday: A Fantasy Architectural Perspective Drawing

Do a perspective drawing that combines 2 or more point perspective with fantasy images.
Materials: Graphite
Sketchbook: Continue to draw a two-point perspective view of your living environment using
only sighting to discover angles, rates of convergence, and proportional relationships
Materials: Graphite

Week 7:
Monday: A Fantasy Architectural Perspective Drawing
Do a perspective drawing that combines 2 or more point perspective with fantasy images.
Materials: Graphite
Sketchbook: Continue to draw a two-point perspective view of your living environment using
only sighting to discover angles, rates of convergence, and proportional relationships

Wednesday: A Fantasy Architectural Perspective Drawing

Do a perspective drawing that combines 2-or more point perspective with fantasy images.
Materials: Graphite
Sketchbook: Draw a chair using 2-point perspective.
Materials: Graphite

Week 8:
Monday: A Fantasy Architectural Perspective Drawing
Do a perspective drawing that combines 2 or more point perspective with fantasy images.
Fantasy Architectural Perspective critique at end of class.
Materials: Graphite
Sketchbook: Do a drawing of a building using 3-point perspective.
Reading assignment: pages 159-218

Essential Drawing Principles in Relation to the Human Figure

Wednesday: Discussion Self-Portrait (pages 179-193)
Slides of Artist’s Self-Portraits
Outside Assignment: Self-Portrait
Due for class critique on Monday, Week 14
Portrait must be done from life; may not copy a photograph.
Portrait must position the figure in a definite three-dimensional space.
Sketchbook: Gesture drawings of the figure
Materials: Black marking pens of various sizes

Color Theory and Application (reading assignment pages 218-282)

Week 9:
Spring Break

Week 10: Sketchbook check

Monday: Working in color with colored pencils and the still life.
Sketchbook: Draw an object using complementary colors (Red & Green).
Material: Colored pencils

Wednesday: Working in color with colored pencils and the still life.
Sketchbook: Draw an object using complementary colors (Violet & Yellow).
Material: Colored pencils

Developing Ideas, Resolving Problems, and Evaluating Results (pages 268-387)

Week 11:
Monday: Final Exam Drawing
Material: Free choice
Sketchbook: Draw an object using complementary colors (Blue & Orange).
Material: Colored pencils

Wednesday: Final Exam Drawing

Week 12: Sketchbook check

Monday: Final Exam Drawing
Sketchbook: Research drawings for your final exam.
Wednesday: Final Exam Drawing

Week 13:
Monday: Final Exam Drawing

Wednesday: Final Exam Drawing

Week 14:
Monday: Self-Portrait class critique
Final Exam Drawing

Wednesday: Final Exam Drawing

Week 15:
Monday: Final Exam Drawing Critique

Wednesday: Portfolio and Sketchbook Due

Week 16:
Pick up graded portfolio between Wednesday and Friday. If your portfolio is not picked up
by Friday it will be thrown away. The Drawing room is not a storage facility for abandoned
portfolios.
 Supply  List  
Sketchbook  (9”x12”)  
White  drawing  paper  pad,  18”x24”,  Strathmore  or  Alexis  
1-­‐can  of  workable  spray  fixative  
2-­‐  Bulldog  clamps  
Pencils  -­‐2b,  4b,  6b  
1  graphite  stick  
Prismacolor  colored  pencils-­‐  12  count    
Black  Charcoal-­‐compressed  and  vine  
Conte-­‐  Black  and  white-­‐  medium  hard  (B)  or  hard  (HB)  
Artist  Chamois  
A  variety  of  stomps-­‐#2  and  #8  
1-­‐Sandpaper  block  
2-­‐Overhead  projector  frames  and  acetate  
“Sharpies”-­‐  Fine  &  Extra  Fine  Point  black,  Permanent  Markers  
Black  felt-­‐tip  markers,  Extra  Fine  Point,  Non-­‐permanent  
1-­‐Metal  pencil  sharpener  
2-­‐  Kneaded  erasers  
1-­‐Pink  pearl  eraser  or  white  vinyl  eraser  
Hobby  Knife  (x-­‐acto)  
Metal  ruler  (at  least  18  in.)  
Toolbox  (or  something  to  organize  supplies  in)  
Large  portfolio  (24”x30”  or  larger)  
1-­‐Sheet  of  acetate,  18”x24”  
Mat  board,  30”x40”,  White  only  
1-­‐Roll  of  brown  paper  tape  (postal  tape)