MAKE YOUR MARK

Cover Image: Washington Monument, D.C. by 9th Grade Student

We all have a bucket list of things we would like to do one day, places we'd like to go, and landmarks we want to see. Some natural wonders that have been crossed off my own list are jaw-dropping beauties like the Grand Canyon, Niagara Falls, and the Blue Ridge Mountains. Some may argue that there are architectural landmarks that stand on their own as landmarks of human ingenuity, imagination, and sheer hard work known as the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World. However, as soon as a list was compiled of "seven wonders" it became debate over which achievements deserved this recognition. Ultimately, there are landmarks all over the world that evoke wonder in our eyes.

The Art I students each wrote a bucket list of places they would like to travel one day. We discussed what defines a landmark from the Hollywood sign or Statue of Liberty to the Taj Mahal and brainstormed a list of architectural wonders. They were tasked with "making their mark" on one of the world's landmarks by drawing from a source image in perspective and mark-making to show its value in pen.

They learned 1 and 2 point perspective and practiced hatching techniques by making marks with lines to portray the highlights and shadows that would create the depth rendered in their landmarks.

To refine these techniques, my students practiced mark-making with creative drawing prompts for the first 10 minutes of class for one week from the 2022 Inktober List. Inktober is an annual drawing challenge that begins in October each year as a motivation for people to improve inking skills and develop positive drawing habits. It has grown into a worldwide endeavor with thousands of artists taking on the challenge every year.

We also looked at the August 2022 issue of Artist's Magazine featuring Pen & Ink Artist, Alphonso Dunn, who has written books on creating realism with mark-making along with his drawing tutorials on YouTube.

My students progressed beautifully with their drawing and hatching skills to make their own marks on these famous landmarks:

Big Ben, 9th Grade Student

The landmark I chose is the Big Ben in London. I chose it because there are a lot of different shades of light and dark in the building and I thought it would be interesting to draw. I think I did really well separating the values because you can clearly see the light and dark areas. Next time, I might use a ruler with the pen too just to make sure that all of my lines are straight.

Sydney Opera House, 9th Grade Student

I chose the Sydney Opera House for my "Making your Mark" project because I liked how the shape of the buildings have this spherical triangular shape, and I also have always wanted to go to there! One thing that I believe I did well on my artwork was creating depth on the triangular buildings and separating the light from the dark using contour lines. I wouldn't do anything differently next time because I feel that I did the preparation stage really well so the execution with pen & ink was pretty good!

Seven Magic Mountains, 10th Grade Student

I chose the Seven Magic Mountains from Las Vegas because my dad lives there and it is a really cool place. It is just so out of the ordinary because there are a bunch of brightly colored rocks stacked on each other in the middle of a desert. I could improve the hatching and shading but overall I like the way it turned out.

The Louvre, 10th Grade Student

I choose the Louvre, in Paris because I found its pyramidal shape to be interesting in the way the light and dark reflects the glass building. I like the way that I drew the Louvre and the building in the background with value.

The Great Sphinx of Giza, 9th Grade Student

I chose the Great Sphinx for my landmark because it had an interesting shape, and because it seemed like a cool statue. I showed the hatching scale of 0-5 pretty well with a definite complete value scale in my artwork. I would have liked to show more contour in some areas of the Sphinx because it looks a little flat and 2 dimensional.

The Golden Gate Bridge, 9th Grade Student

I chose the Golden Gate Bridge because I liked the value in the sky and water. I also thought that the bridge would be fun to draw over other landmarks. I think I used value in the sky very well and I think I drew the bridge pretty well. I could have spent more time on the landscape in the background so they look a little more like hills but I think they are alright.

Casa Milà, 11th Grade Student

The name of the landmark that I chose for this project is "Casa Milà". It was designed by Antoni Gaudí and is an eight-floor private residence. I chose this landmark because I really liked how different it was. It didn't have a traditional floor structure and the constructions were much more organic and abstract than industrial. One thing that I did well on this artwork was scale. I was at first concerned because I've always struggled with scale, and there are a lot of places for the proportion to go wrong on an assignment that is reducing a large, organic surface area to a small square, but for the most part I think that I used a reference well and kept the overall proportion of each component correct. Something that I would do differently next time is to be more organic with my style. I think that I had an opportunity to just sort of freehand a lot of the pieces of this artwork and have fun with scumbling and different techniques, but I unfortunately chose the very long process of doing linework for each window and trellis and detail. Ink isn't a forgiving media, so I can understand why I wouldn't want to take a risk with freehand, but it would have made the process a lot faster and less tedious.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I am proud of my students for choosing challenging architectural subjects and developing their drawing technique each day with perseverance. It was exciting for me to see the places they chose and why they were interested in these landmarks. Oh, the places they'll go one day!