Two Dimensional Design Week 1-2: Mark making These exercises will focus on:

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Spring 2011

Instructor: Mark Creegan

Understanding the qualities and limitations of a medium and how to use that as a way into a design Learning to control a medium/ material to get it to do what you want Practice the design strategies we covered last week (chaos, proximity, unified direction, continuance, and relating elements to the edge of the frame) Introduce the concept of the PICTURE PLANE and why it s distinct from the frame Understand the uses of HEIRARCHY in design and how to designate elements that have DOMINANCE and others that are SUBORDINATE and others that are ACCENTS

Procedure: Step 1: On 2-3 sheets of sketchbook paper, make as many different kinds of marks you can with the bamboo brush and ink. Use the brush like a stamp, just pressing the brush against the paper. Try to make the smallest mark you can make and the largest. Hold the brush at different angles and alternate how much pressure to exert. You can make subtle twists with your wrist but make sure to make sweeping lines or shapes. Remember marks are distinct from lines . Consider this step and exploratory exercise. Step 2: Using an xacto knife and ruler or scissors cut sheets of sketchbook paper into eleven 5 inch squares. Within each create different designs using some of the marks you made in step 1. Use the following list of design strategies to create each of your eleven designs (my lecture today should help you define each): 1) 2) 3) 4) 5) 6) 7) 8) 9) 10) 11) Chaos or randomness Proximity Unified Direction Continuity Relationship of elements to edge Only one picture plane Three picture planes Hierarchy (1 dominant element, 2 subordinate elements, 3 accents) Density Sparseness Use six of the above concepts in one design

Step 3: Make a frame border for each of the 11 designs by cutting out 6 in. squares out of black construction paper, glue tour designs on top of each black square leaving an even border around each design. On the bottom margin of the frame (not on the design itself), write in pencil the particular design concept used for each design.

Some tips: After you do step 1, take some time to organize your marks by choosing ones you may like. Think about how some marks seem to relate and resemble and others seem to be highly contrasting and different. Notice how some seem simple and others seem more complicated. Perhaps choose a few to further explore by making different sizes of the same mark. What happens when you combine marks to make shapes? How can use use the marks in patterning?

These will be due for critique next Tuesday the 17th.

To be considered for your grade: Technical: How well did you use the materials? Did you make the marks you intended to make? In other words is the quality of mark controlled. Are these marks and NOT lines? How well-crafted is the overall presentation of the end products. Conceptual: Did you understand each of the design concepts (all 10) and does each design exemplify each? Aesthetic: Are your solutions inventive? Did you explore interesting types of marks and create surprising compositions? Process: How well did you explore the material before you made your designs? Did you try to use the brush and ink in different ways?