LESSON PLANS SUMMER TERM 2023 (1st half). Lesson 1: Landscape Drawing.

In this lesson I'm asking my students to look at a landscape image. It can come from a magazine or calendar, it might be good landscape photograph or it can be a photo of another person's painting. The notion of working from another person's painting sometimes causes pause for thought but throughout the generations artists have worked from other artists' work. My students will begin by analysing their image for its structures and main shapes before beginning the tones and textures of the image itself. Here you can see I have begun my drawing by analysing the main structures of one of my own paintings before beginning to look at the tones and textures (lower left corner of my drawing).

Summer Term 1st half 2023 – lesson 1: Landscape drawing, making a structured study in pencil.

· You’ll need soft (4B, 6B etc.) well sharpened pencils, good clean eraser (to clean: wash with washing up liquid) and cartridge paper.

· You can work from a photograph, a calendar or magazine photo, a photo of another person’s painting or drawing etc. As you work on your drawing it becomes your image. Like a Chinese whisper, it evolves and changes at each stage.

· Choose your landscape image. In your sketchbooks draw a box of the same proportions as the image you’ve chosen. It can be bigger than your chosen image but must have the same proportions.

· Extrapolate information from your image in the following way: Find the main horizontals and draw them across your box. Find the main verticals and draw them into your box.

· You’re not drawing the image yet, just finding the main structures. Draw any triangles, squares and rectangles into your box that you can find – be positive about these shapes, not tentative. Continue this way until all the main shapes and structures are in.

· Now look into each individual shape on your page. Taking each shape, one at a time, find the tones, textures and marks within each one. Don’t worry about the next shape until you’ve finished in the current one.

· Negotiate – rub out and re-do anything that seems to need correction.

· Finally make the drawing and marks across the shapes that ties them together into one cohesive drawing.

Next lesson: Finish this drawing until you’re happy with it. This is your working drawing. Think about the medium you’d like to work with for a more finished piece. It could be paint (acrylics, oils or watercolours), colour pencils, mixed media. Discuss with me if unsure.