Uniformity

Scale:  Scale is when something is converted from its original size to a smaller or bigger size.  We have been practicing drawing scale figures.  Stoel said this week, “If you don’t have scale figures in your drawings, then it looks bad…” Having scale figures makes the composition/drawing look complete and it lets you compare how big your objects are in relation to about a six-foot person. 

In Egypt, the Great Pyramid at Giza has several pyramids in a bunch.  The taller ones represent the males and the shorter ones are “mastabas for members of the royal family.” (Roth, 199)  They are shorter because the men had hierarchy over the women.  The taller pyramids are a bigger scale of the shorter ones.

Unity:  Unity is connecting different parts of something to make a whole.  In Greece, columns are well known on buildings, temples, and other significant places such as the Parthenon.  These columns have different parts to them that make up the whole.  Each column in Hypostyle Hall in Egypt was inspired by plant materials and follows the post and lintel system.  In Greek architecture, there are several parts that make up a unified column.  Some of these parts are:  pedestal, base, fluted shaft, capital, architrave, frieze, and cornice.  The two curling parts at the top of my column drawing are called “volutes, which were deeply furrowed and ribbed.” (Blakemore, 29)

Boundaries:  Boundaries are the perimeters of a specific area that is being focused on.  Water is very important to the Greek cities because water surrounds Greece and   Greeks borrow freely between those two city-states.  The two city-states are the boundaries that they go back and forth to borrowing with.  “This unique circumstance of the two great parallel rivers led the Greeks to call this region mesopotamia, “land between the rivers.”” (Roth, 181)  This week we built a wall for studio with our artifact somewhere on the wall.  My artifact is within the boundary of the wall.

Section:  When talking about section for drafting, it means that you are taking a drawing and cutting it in any way that you want to and then taking a part from that cut and drawing it with the other parts taken away.  You are drawing it looking into the object.  For Stoel this week, we made a cut on our plan view for Pat’s chair and then took one side away and drew what was left looking into the chair.  The Flavian Amphitheater in Rome was “designed for popular amusements and sports events.”  (Roth, 268)  There is a section view of the colosseum in the Roth book that gives you a better understanding of how people can manuevur throughout the colosseum.

Vignette:  A vignette is a making a drawing appear as if it is fading away towards the edges of the drawing.  Merriam-Webster dictionary says it is "a short descriptive literary sketch." (http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/vignette)  You might not draw all of what you see, but parts of what you see and make it fade out.  For the past few weeks we have been making vignettes and then adding color to them to make them stand out and to learn how to use different techniques with the paint brush to make different effects.

Summary:  To draw anything you must have boundaries from which you are drawing from and in that drawing it will be drawn to scale and in proportion.  There can be uniformity where everything fits into a place.  You can make a drawing a vignette if lines or color is fading on the edges.  You can also make a drawing a section by drawing from viewing into the scene or object/structure.  All of our words this week relate to drawing and how you draw something.