Summer Assignments AP Studio Art
Sketchbook Focus
You are being asked to complete a number of sketchbook assignments over the summer. Because of
the number of works you will be required to submit to the College Board in May 2016, gaining ideas and
considering concepts for your concentration portion, while growing in your techniques, the sketchbook
serves a vital role. The sketchbook assignments are grouped in categories. Each week represents a new
category. The asterisked (*) assignments are highly recommended. Then you may select 1-2
additional assignments to explore and experiment with.
Some assignments have a written option, so you will have an opportunity to use text in your work.
The sketchbook(s) when complete will be a valuable tool. It will be a reflection of you as a person, your
special way of seeing the world and translating information. It is a place to raise questions, and promote
your skills.
Reference: Artists’ Journals and Sketchbooks by Lynne Perella. This Illustrated book gives tips and ideas
for creating very personal and richly decorated visual journals. Please note that some options also have
artist references.
The Assignments:
The media you use is your choice-but use different types and several combinations. This is a good place
to experiment and make new discoveries. The following are sources for you to work from. Try to work
from life as much as possible or images taken from life. Make each assignment its own complete work
of art. Also, try not to make each assignment an exercise to complete but think of interesting
approaches that will inspire your creativity.
Sketchbook recommendation: black, spiral journal/sketchbook – one that is flat when you open it.
Materials: acrylic paint, gesso, ink, markers, oil pastels, charcoal, pencil, collage, etc. Think about all
the materials we used this year and the variety of combinations. See me if you need supplies.
Week 1-Nature:
*Find a poem, or write your own, that talks about some kind of natural object (leaf, tree, cloud, etc.)
Incorporate part of your poem, not the whole thing, remember we don’t want to plagiarize. Include
a drawing of the object. You may also just incorporate words, messages, song lyrics instead of a poem
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Take a favorite natural object such as a shell, bug, leaf, flower, vegetable and do a close-up
drawing-record on the drawing a few notes about what you observed.
Depict the growth that happens on the edge of a sidewalk. You basically are creating a mini
landscape – reference Albrecht Durer’s The Great Piece of Turf 1503.
Observe clouds and draw on two different days
Do some sort of surface manipulation on the page. Transfer that manipulation into the object. It
can be real or fantastical-like a made up bug or animal.
Reference: Hieronymous Bosch.
Week 2-Landscape:
Use a digital camera-these are the places that define you as a person
*Focus on a door or a window that allows you to see from the space you are in to the external space,
therefore having an interior and exterior landscape to depict.
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Depict a suburban scene (grocery store, gas station, salon, strip mall-include text if you wish
Record an urban scene-include text if you wish.
Use a gas station or parking lot at night as your subject
Record a storm
Walk in a park, zoo, or garden and sketch subjects on locations
Look at the work of Edward Hooper and then record what you consider to be a lonely
environment.
Week 3-You
*List 20 things you like and 20 things you dislike –be specific and TELL WHY. Answer the question
“What is your passion?” or list 3 things you’d like the answer to - -include a fold-out image with this
assignment
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Self-portrait using dramatic lighting. Take a picture and then draw from the photo. Reference:
Rembrandt van Rijn.
Do a self-portrait with your hand included on your face.
Draw yourself in front of a full length mirror- Diagram yourself using text to explain.
Draw your face looking up and then looking down.
Do a drawing of yourself reflected in an object that has a connection to you.
Make a political, environmental, or social comment featuring a portrait of yourself.
Week 4- Your Environment
*Draw your favorite view of your room. Consider an unusual perspective – down on your stomach
looking up or on top of a dresser looking down. Artist reference: Vincent Van Gogh and the image of
his bedroom at Arles.
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Draw a personal space and emphasize lighting.
Depict a space in your home that you think only you notice.
Draw whatever is in a kitchen sink, bathroom sink, laundry room sink. Artist reference: Janet
Fish.
Open you dresser drawer-draw the contents.
Draw from a different perspective something in your home – pet perspective, child’s, insect, etc.
Week 5-Family
*Follow someone for an hour and do 5 gesture drawings of that person. Gesture is capturing the
MOVEMENT of the person so remember you will not be doing a likeness if that person. You work
quickly and take in the entire pose within several minutes.
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Record a family gathering from an unusual perspective.
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Record a family member in the act of doing a task such as washing dishes, reading the paper,
mowing the lawn, etc. but do it from behind them.
Draw the family pet.
Combine several parts of family photo albums in one composition.
Draw a person but only one part of their body that you feel represents them most fully.
Draw the exterior of your house but do so at an unusual time of day, so the lighting is dynamic.
Week 6- People-Strangers
*Place a collaged photograph (more than one pic) of a person. If you don’t have access to making a
photo, draw them several times and use that as the basis of your collage. Create the environment the
person is in.
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Do a close-up drawing of an elderly person. Artist reference: Chuck Close
Do a close-up drawing of a young person. Artist reference: Chuck Close
Do a drawing of a friend but incorporate multiple perspectives so that the drawing is a narrative
representing that person.
Do a drawing of people on a bus, on MAX, sitting on a park bench, at a sporting event, music
concert, etc.
Week 7-Objects
*Gradually simplify an object in a progression of three drawings. Overlap them as you progress.
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Draw a child’s toy using text that has a relationship to the object
Find a mechanical object and do a drawing using mark-making.
Chose three unrelated objects and include all three in a composition Artist refenrence:
Salvador Dali, Marcel Duchamp.
Collage envelopes, sacks, packaging on your sketchbook page and do a drawing that of an object
or objects that have a relationship to the collaged material. Example: if you used envelops you
could do a drawing of a series of stamps.
Collect 20 objects and create a composition – draw from an interesting perspective,.
Week 8- Your Journey
*Incorporate a found map of an area or place you enjoy. Do a drawing of that place.
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Show what art means to you.
Show how you imagine your life in 10 years.
Do a drawing of a dream or a series of dreams that relate to each other.
Journal for several days and do an illustration at the end of your writing that represents what
the writing explored.
Take your journal to a museum and sketch works by 3 of your favorite artists – select one and do
a drawing of something that represents that style,
DURING THE SUMMER:
Visit the AP website and look at portfolios and become familiar with the site
http://apcentral.collegeboard.com
END OF JULY ASSIGNMENT:
Email Ms. Joyce with 3 images of your work. Include a brief note as to what you have been
experiencing.
joycem@hsd.k12.or.us
BACK TO SCHOOL:
Bring your sketchbook the first day that class meets plus one full typed page of your summer
experience.
HAPPY MAKING – ENJOY, BE CREATIVE and HAVE FUN!