COMD Class 3 | More Figure Ground

September 9th, 2015

Groupwork Review (15 min)

Students break into groups and review project Principles:

  1. Figure-Ground (Obvious and Ambiguous) Group
  2. Unity and Economy Group

Research and discuss your group’s concepts. Use the following guidelines and outcomes.

  • Designate 1 speaker and 1 idea recorder
  • Make a free-flowing list of ideas related to your concept.
  • Refine principle definitions in your group’s own words and find examples of your concept (student work, drawing on chalkboard, book, magazine, or online images)
  • Present the definition and at least 2 examples of the principle discussed.

Critique (30 min)

Project #1 | Urban Artifacts Compositions & Humument Book

  • Present all 12 sketches. 4 of these should be refined sketches (2 obvious, 2 ambiguous).
  • Discuss what works and what doesn’t work using the vocabulary above.
  • Present your Humument book and explain how/where/why you chose the book.

Demo (15 min)

Inked Sketches

  • The goal with this work is to refine your compositions to create (2) obvious figure / ground relationships and (2) ambiguous figure/ground relationships using an economy of organic and/or geometric shapes. The final compositions should be unified.
  • On 4 sheets of 9×12″ Bristol Board, measure a 9″x6″ rectangle with your ruler and t-square . There should be a 1.5″ margin on each side. Do this very lightly in a hard pencil. It should be barely visible.
    NOTE: Adjust the orientation of the page (portrait or landscape), as needed, but consider the series as a whole.
  • Based on the critique, take your 2 refined obvious and 2 refined ambiguous figure-ground compositions and transfer them to the Bristol Board using very light pencil. Feel free to use tracing paper and light table or retrace your original objects.
  • Be sure to compare with your original refined sketches. Do the compositions still feel unified?
  • Use a brush pen to fill in the black areas and erase all extraneous pencil lines and measurements.
  • The final work should be neat, clean and well-presented.
  • REFERENCES: In these two examples notice the consideration of the figure-ground relationship and how it helps to unify the overall composition.
    John Currin | Rousseau

Documentation and Feedback

  • Create a new blog post called Urban Artifacts: Phase 2.
  • Write a short description of the work you are presenting.
  • Take photos of your finished Inked Sketches and add them to the post (make sure they are well-lit and in focus.)
  • Include the hours that you worked on this part of the project.
  • Don’t forget to comment on at least 3 other student’s posts.

Lab (1 hr 30 min)

  1. Based on the critique, work on your Inked Sketches, refine your original sketches, or post/comment on Ways of Seeing blog.
  2. Individual meetings with Professor.

Homework

  1. Continue work on your Inked Sketches. Come prepared to present your work.
  2. If you finish your Inked Sketches, bring in materials to create Cut Paper Compositions in class.
  3. If you haven’t kept up with COMD posting and commenting on the Ways of Seeing blog… ASK FOR HELP! You will have until next class to do so and then points will be deducted from your grade.
  4. Materials needed next class (see Supply List for specifics):
    • 14×17″ Bristol
    • black drawing paper
    • scissors
    • exacto knife
    • glue
    • ruler/t-square
    • pencils
    • tape
    • sketchbook (always)
    • Inked Sketches (In Progress)

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