Drawing

How will you make your mark?

Drawing is an integral process that all SA/VS students practice and learn. It anchors their practice as they become image-makers in an ever-evolving visual world. Whether you are looking forward to pursuing illustration, painting, printmaking, photography, graphic design, animation, sculpture, installation, or immersive reality as a career path, the observational and technical skills that you build through drawing will lay a groundwork for a transformative creative practice.

What You'll Study

SA/VS majors in Digital Media Design, Art Studio, and Art Education will start off their creative practices by learning essential observational and technical skills in traditional drawing processes and mediums through our introductory drawing course (A-S 130 Drawing) as part of our holistic first-year experience in the Foundations program.

As students progress to intermediate and advanced-level drawing courses, they will develop self-directed projects and explore experimental and contemporary approaches. These include the integration of personal context, an exploration of the possibilities of visual imagery through the use of analog and digital mediums, as well as the use of an expanded vocabulary of formats. Material experimentation can range from pastel, colored pencil, watercolor, pens and markers, to collage and digital drawing software. Student also concentrate in topics including the exploration of the human form/figure, sketchbook practices, sequential narrative/comics, and book-making.

School of Art and Visual Studies Building
The drawing and Foundations facilities are centered in the SA/VS building which includes the visual arts facilities, Bolivar Art Gallery, and B.F.A., M.F.A., and faculty studios.

Drawing Studios
We have two drawing studios. Room 250 is designated for A-S 130 Drawing and Room 225 is for intermediate/advanced-level drawing/painting courses. Both Room 250 and 225 are equipped with drawing horses, easels, drawing boards, flat file storage, and basic drawing supplies. Room 250 additionally houses a prop cabinet full of still life objects and materials which are shared among faculty and various courses.

Exhibit and Presentation Spaces
Students have numerous opportunities to showcase their work with the SA/VS community. The centrally located spacious atrium (first floor) includes a highly visible exhibition space for student work. The building includes many other dedicated presentation, exhibition, and critique spaces. We also encourage the use of hallway walls.

A-S 130 Drawing
A-S 130 Drawing is an introductory studio course focused on drawing through observation. Students learn the mechanisms of visual perception, how individual components of a drawing relate to the organization of the composition as a whole. Each student develops not only observational skills rooted in traditional drawing media for realistic renderings, but also gradually builds strategies, concepts, and ideas for abstraction. Students will advance their knowledge of light, tones, composition and increase their ability to see and perceive the world around them. This studio course is essential for any student who wants to visually communicate in art studio, design, digital media and art education.

A-S 200 Digital Art
A-S 200 Digital Art provides fundamental instruction in software as a creative tool for image making. Students will learn the basics of digital collage and drawing through use of software and formal qualities of composition. Lectures about the varied digital art practices will provide an overview of historical and contemporary digital art practice. This studio course is essential for any student who wants to visually communicate in art studio, design, digital media and art education. (Four studio hours, and one 50-minute lecture per week.).

A-S 330 Intermediate Drawing
An intermediate level course designed for students to integrate personal research into image-making through a variety of drawing materials and processes. Students will build upon fundamental concepts and strategies of drawing and progress to experiment with a broad range of both traditional and innovative processes and subjects that will challenge and encourage the exploration of drawing in its multiple forms. May be repeated to a maximum of six credits. Nine studio hours per week.

A-S 331 Exploration Human Form
Students strengthen drawing skills through observation and in experimentation with process and strategy. Students gain a better understanding of design and composition in relationship to overall outcome of drawing and explore a range of drawing materials.

A-S 530 Advanced Drawing
A-S 530 is an advanced drawing course designed for students to begin building a body of work/portfolio that integrates personal research with an emphasis on drawing as the primary medium.