SKETCHBOOK HWSURREAL HAND STUDY
Project Goal
• Create a drawing
composition of a realistic
hand rendered in
grayscale with drawing
pencils. There must be
a creative or surreal
component to the
artwork. Your
composition must
include as much of one
hand as possible.
What is Surrealism?
• It is a 20th-century
avant-garde movement
in art and literature that
features the element of
surprise, unexpected
juxtapositions, and non
sequitur (subject
matter defies logic).
• Artists create scenarios
that aren’t realistic, or
are exaggerated in
some way
Famous Surrealists
• Hieronymus Bosch
• 15th century Dutch painter
• Known as the “Pre-Surrealism Surrealist,” 400 years before the movement
started!
• Used fantastic imagery to illustrate moral and religious concepts and narratives
The Garden of
Earthly Delights,
c.1500
Famous Surrealists
• Hieronymus Bosch
• The vivid imagery and
bizarre creatures in this
paintings brought about
theories of heresy or
witchcraft. Current
evidence indicates that
he used abstract
symbolism to depict the
temptation of evils of man
rather than the occult.
Close-up Detail of The Garden
of Earthly Delights, c.1500
Famous Surrealists
• Salvador Dali
• 20th century Spanish
painter
• Dalí was a
skilled draftsman, best
known for the striking
and bizarre images in
his surrealist work.
His painterly skills are
often attributed to the
influence
of Renaissance masters.
Persistence of Memory, 1931
Famous Surrealists
• Salvador Dali
The Face of War, 1940-41
Sleep, 1937
Famous Surrealists
• Rene Magritte
• 20th century Belgian
painter
• He often switched his
foreground and
background, and
sometimes included
sentences under objects
he painted that say they
are something else
• Example: “This is not a
pipe” in the painting to the
right
The Treachery of Images
(Ceci n'est pas une pipe), 1929
Famous Surrealists
• Rene Magritte
The Cicerone, 1947
The Therapist, 1937
Famous Surrealists
• Rene Magritte
• Inspired a modern-day Volkswagon ad
Famous Surrealists
• Vladimir Kush
• Late 20th century
Russian painter and
sculptor
• Influenced by Salvador
Dalí and Hieronymus
Bosch
• Kush himself refers to
his surrealist style as
"metaphorical realism“
• Ex. “African Sonata”
symbolizes the trumpeting
of elephants
African Sonata
Famous Surrealists
• Vladimir Kush
Departure of the Winged Ship
Sunrise by the Ocean
Project Requirements
• Come up with a surreal or
creative concept
• Sketch the subject matter
• Render the subject matter
• Add detail / visual texture
• Clean up the background
Project Examples
Project Examples
Project Examples