The Artists’ Toolbox: Composing with Chalks and Charcoals

Pre-requisites for enrolment

Some basic drawing skills and experience of art and design is required.

Special Information

Essential materials and equipment students must provide themselves

A range of

• Conte pencils
• Willow charcoal
• Compressed charcoal
• Chalk pastels (black, white, greys, browns and muted colours)
• Oil Pastels (black, white, greys, browns and muted colours)
• Putty rubber
• Masking tape
• Hair spray
• Sketchbook

Materials available to purchase during course

• Papers and card

Optional materials and equipment students may provide

• A camera

Content of Course

This course will focus on two main skills;

• A range of specific drawing skills and approaches using Conte, charcoals and pastels
• Pictorial compositional design derived from primary and secondary source material.

Students will learn specific drawing techniques and approaches through initial demonstration and practical exercises. Students will work from a studio set up, given and found secondary sources such as photographs and their own drawings and photographs. Through group discussion and presentation the notion of compositional design as a tool to develop a more inventive and imaginative approach to subject matter will be a major consideration. Suring the final sessions of the course, students will be challenged to create at least three more resolved and complex drawings using the techniques and approaches within the course.

• Introduction to Conte, charcoal and compressed charcoal techniques.
• What is pictorial composition and what makes it work?
• Using primary sources and studio set ups to trigger an imaginative and inventive responses through drawing and composition.
• How to record compositional ideas in a sketchbook

• Introduction to chalk pastel techniques with muted colour
• Developing compositions using chalk pastels from sketchbook thumbnails and given secondary sources.
• How to consider light sources, tone and introduce muted colour.
• How to collect and develop secondary sources as visual research

• Introduction to oil pastels techniques using muted colour and limited palette
• Use secondary source materials and sketchbook drawings to develop more imaginative and inventive compositions.
• Consider mood, subject and context of compositional drawings.

• Develop a series of relate and ambitious compositional drawings.

Teaching method(s)

This course will be based and delivered in specialist art and design studios. Students’ progress will be monitored and supported by the tutor with individual advice given to each student. Teaching will include practical demonstration of technique, one to one tuition, group discussions and critiques.

Learning outcomes

By the end of this course, students should be able to:

• Use Conte pencils, charcoal, chalks and pastels effectively and with confidence
• Use drawing to develop a range of complex compositions derived from primary and secondary source materials
• Resolve and present a series of intensive and coherent compositional drawings. 

Sources

Core Readings

Chernow. B., 1984. The drawings of Milton Avery Milton Avery 1885-1965. New York, N.Y.: Taplinger Pub. Co.

Avery, M,. 1970. Drawings by Milton Avery. 1st ed. New York, N.Y.: Grace Borgenicht Gallery.

Lowry, L.S. and Levy, M. 1973. Drawings of L.S. Lowry. 1st ed. London: Jupiter Books.

Rose, B., 1982. A century of modern drawing from the Museum of Modern Art, New York British Museum. Trustees.; Institute of Contemporary Art (Boston, Mass.); Cleveland Museum of Art.

Elliott, P., Tucker, M., 1948 Alan Davie 1920-2014; Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art. University of Brighton. Gallery.

Web Sources

Will be provided within a course wiki

Class Handouts

Will be provided within a course wiki

Queries

If you have questions regarding the course or enrolment, please contact COL Reception at Paterson's Land by email COL@ed.ac.uk or by phone 0131 650 4400.

Student support

If you have a disability, learning difficulty or health condition which may affect your studies, please let us know by ticking the 'specific support needs' box on your course application form. This will allow us to make appropriate adjustments in advance and in accordance with your rights under the Equality Act 2010. For more information please visit the Student Support section of our website.