Portfolio Project
Due: Feb. 16 (may be moved to 23)
Total Value: 100 points
Objectives:
-The student will explore and examine a variety of art concepts, including
line, balance, linear perspective, value color, and abstraction.
-The student will demonstrate an accurate understanding of the concepts.
-The student will create a visually attractive, clear, and neat portfolio
containing the collected group of assigned exercises.
Grading criteria:
-Time, effort and craftsmanship, in both the exercises and their
presentation.
-Clear and accurate demonstration that the student understands the
concepts investigated in the exercises.
-Following the project directions and completing the requirements.
-Creativity and exploration within the bounds of the project.
For the following project, you will be doing several hands-on exercises, which
you will collect into a small, well presented portfolio. Your portfolio will consist of
8 ½ by 11 inch pages, securely collected in a report cover, folder, or large
envelope. The pages will be arranged the order specified. Neatness, accuracy,
and clarity count! Please place any pages that are likely to smear in clear page
protectors.
Supplies needed:
White 8 ½ X 11 paper, unlined (standard bond paper is fine)
Pencil
Eraser
Scissors
Markers
Glue
Ruler
A compass and a protractor would be helpful
Visual resources for cutting and pasting: old magazines, photographs, etc.
You can also print images using your computer, scanner and/or a copier.
Exercise 1: Objective vs. Nonobjective
(30 points)
This exercise will consist of 5 separate pages, the first 5 in your portfolio.
1. Read Chapter 2, Developing Visual Literacy, in your text. Pay special
attention to the section on Representational, Abstract, and
Nonrepresentational Art.
2. Find an image that is objective/representational and realistic. Neatly cut out or
print out the image, and if it is not already 8 ½ x 11 inches, mount it on a
piece of white paper. This will be page 1 of your portfolio.
3. Repeat step 2, but find an image that is nonobjective/ nonrepresentational.
This will be page 5 of your portfolio.
4. You will create pages 2, 3 and 4 yourself. Make 3 drawings, each on a
different sheet of paper, that “morph” from the realistic image to the
nonobjective one. The first drawing should slightly abstract the realistic
image toward the nonobjective one, the second should be an even blend
of the two, and the third should be still closer to the nonobjective image.
These drawings represent different stages of abstraction. You are aiming
for fairly even steps from one extreme to the other.
5. Your drawings can be in pencil, marker, crayon, and/or other materials.
6. Arrange these as the first 5 pages of your portfolio, progressing from the
realistic image, through your three images, to the nonobjective image.
Exercise 2: Balance (15 points)
1. Read Chapter or 8, The Principles of Design, in your text.
2. Create a viewfinder by cutting a 2 x 3 inch rectangular hole in a piece of plain
paper.
3. Using the viewfinder as a frame, run it over magazine pages (or other visual
sources) looking for 2 x 3 inch sections that are visually balanced. Don’t
worry about any subject matter in the images.
4. You need to find 6 rectangles, one that corresponds to each of the following
types of balance:
a. Formal symmetry
b. Relieved/approximate symmetry
c. Asymmetry
d. Extreme asymmetry
e. Overall balance
f. Radial balance
5. Carefully cut out each rectangle and mount all 6 on a single piece of white
paper, labeling each with the correct type of balance. This will be page
6 of your portfolio.
Exercise 3: Contour vs. Gesture (10 points)
1. Read Chapter 4, Line, in your text, and refer to
your class notes for the definition of gesture drawing.
2. Find an image of a realistic, full human figure (dressed or nude) to work with.
Images from paintings, sculptures, photographs, etc. will work.
3. If you can’t cut out or draw on the image, make a copy that you can draw on.
If the image is not already 8 ½ x 11, mount it neatly on a piece of white
paper.
4. Use a marker to draw around the contours of the figure.
5. Use a different color to draw cross-contours on a part of the figure (10-20%).
6. Use a third color to make a simple gesture drawing inside the figure by
delineating and connecting the axial lines of the figure (spine, limbs,
shoulder-to-shoulder, hip-to-hip, axis of head). Depending on the figure’s
pose, some of these axes may not be visible. This is page 7 of your
portfolio.
Exercise 4: Linear Perspective (15 points)
1. Read Chapter 5, Space, in your text. Examine figs 5-13, 5-16, 5-17, 5-18 and
5-19. Pay special attention to the section on Linear Perspective.
2. Find two different images, an interior and an exterior, in which you can
clearly identify the receding parallel lines of linear perspective and
the vanishing point (s). Try to find one example of 1-point perspective
and one example of 2-point perspective. The images should measure
approximately 4 x 6 inches (large enough to see clearly, smaller than
8 ½ x 11). Hint: 1 point perspective is likely to have a flat view of a wall or
façade while 2 point perspective is likely to focus on a corner.
3. Mount each on a separate piece of white paper. The images should be fairly
centered.
4. Using a ruler and a marker, draw over the converging parallel lines, tracing
them back to the vanishing point(s). Particularly for 2 (or 3) point
perspective, one or more vanishing points may be off of the page. Trace
them back as far as you have room to do so.
5. Using a different color marker, trace over the horizon line/eye level.
6. Correctly identify and label each image with the type of linear perspective it
illustrates (1 point, 2 point, and 3 point). These are pages 8 and 9 of your
portfolio.
Exercise 5: Value and Color (30 points)
1. Read Chapter 8, Light and Color, in your text.
2. On a piece of white paper, use a ruler to draw two rectangles that each
measure 1 x 5 inches. Divide each rectangle into five 1” squares. Each of
these rectangles will form a different 5-step grayscale. See p. 111, fig. 615 of your text for a 10-step grayscale.
3. Using pencil pressure, fill in the first scale in even steps from the lightest (the
white of the paper) to the darkest (as dark as your pencil will go).
4. For the second grayscale, you will need black and white images that you can
cut up. Newspapers, black and white photos or Xeroxes work well. I don’t
want flat areas printed out from the computer – the assignment is to locate
the values in the context of an image.
5. Cut out 1” squares from your visual resources, arranging them from the
lightest to the darkest values. Glue them down neatly on your second
grayscale. This completes page 10 of your portfolio.
6. Use a compass or trace a round object to make a circle measuring
approximately 7” in diameter on a piece of white paper. Divide it into 12
equal sections (30 degrees, if you have a protractor).
7. Refer to the color wheel on p. 115, Fig. 6-24 of your text. In color magazines
or photos, look for approximate representations of each of the 12 hues of
the color wheel. Cut out wedge-shaped pieces and glue them on the color
wheel you have drawn in the appropriate positions. You can do up to 3
hues in marker, paint, or flat paper, but as in the value scale, find as many
as you can within other images. As with the second gray scale, the
assignment is to locate them within the context of other images.
8. Label each color around the outside of the circle as in fig. 6-24.
9. This is the 11th and final page of your portfolio project.