Chiaroscuro Class

According to Wikipedia, chiaroscuro in art is characterized by strong contrasts between light and dark, usually bold contrasts affecting a whole composition. It is also a technical term used by artists and art historians for using contrasts of light to achieve a sense of volume in modeling three-dimensional objects such as the human body.

I haven't posted anything from this class yet, mainly because I've been less than proud of the work I've produced for this class. Well, in the spirit of humility, here is my second assignment from Chiaroscuro.

As you can see, I'm a little uncomfortable with charcoal and the shapes could use some work too. One technique is to dab a chamois in charcoal dust and rub it on the paper to apply a mid tone value. That wasn't working very well for me and I was kind of afraid of the whole medium anyway. I've sense learned to be bold, covering the entire sheet with a layer of vine charcoal, rubbing the edge over the background and object. I fell like I've come a long way in the few short weeks I've been in the class. Stay tuned for more from Chiaroscuro in the coming days.

See the full gallery on Posterous

Street Artist Launches Global Participatory Art Project

A global participatory art project is now underway, following the revelation of the TED Prize winner’s “wish to change the world,” which was announced Wednesday night in Long Beach, California. The winner is known simply as JR.

Using the website InsideOutProject.net, people are encouraged to submit black and white portraits, which are then turned into posters and sent back to them to be displayed in their communities. The idea is to extend what the prize winner — in this case, JR — has been doing in places ranging from Kenya to Palestine, to other parts of the world.

Beyond submitting portraits, the TED audience was encouraged to participate in other ways, such as by donating wall space or other resources. In one of the more memorable moments of the conference thus far, at the end of JR’s talk, nearly a dozen attendees immediately got up to make pledges, including a Googler who indicated an interest in making sure art from the project is integrated in Google Street View and Google Earth.

In addition to the support of TED’s influential audience, the TED Prize winner receives $100,000 to use toward his or her wish. JR is not accepting corporate sponsorships for the project, but is raising additional funds through the sale of lithographs on his website.

To learn more about JR’s work, check out the video below:

via mashable.com

I really resonate with this kind of public art or street art.

Module 3

Grad School Week 1

I started grad school last week. I'm taking a class called Drawing from Imagination as part of my MFA in the Graduate School of Illustration at Academy of Art University. This is the line drawing from my first assignment which was to create street scene in one-point perspective. I'll try to post more projects as I complete them.