Landscape Plans
In the previous module, you looked at some samples of hand drawn landscape plans drawn by professional practicioners. You will want to create your own plans as soon as possible. However, before you try to do this, you need to acquire some basic hand drawing skills. We are going to help you develop these skills by directing you to some web sites.
Preliminary reading - study some Internet references
As you know, the University of Minnesota landscape team have provided a veritable treasure trove of information for us about most aspects of preparing landscape drawings. The following links are relevant to the first project - drawing hand symbols. Please click on a link and when you have finished digesting the material, use the back button on your browser to return here when you have finished digesting the materials.
[www.sustland.umn.edu/design/drawings.html]
[www.sustland.umn.edu/design/colortechniques.html]
Some advice on saving money
We find that most of our students prefer to work with an enhanced water based colour system called a Gouche wash. If you outline in light pencil the shape that you are trying to create and then colour with a Gouache wash the symbol takes shape nicely.
To find out more about Gouche wash, please Google the term. Wikepedia has a good deal of information.
Rather than purchase a complete set of colours, why not economise? If you purchase a tube of Bengal Rose, a tube of Peacock Blue and one of Brilliant Yellow, you can mix these in different proportions on a glazed tile to obtain any desired colour.
Bengal Rose
Peacock Blue
Brilliant Yellow
This is similar to the way that the CMYK colour system in your injet printer mixes colours to get any desired shade. It mixes different proportions of Cyan (similar to Peacock Blue), Magenta (similar to Bengal Rose) and Yellow (similar to Brilliant Yellow) [and a touch of black] to make every colour in the spectrum of light.
Once you have digested the material above, you are ready to start this particular project.
Assignment: Please use the word processor in your Google Docs area to write several paragraphs about what you have learned about landscape lans in studying these resources.
This project - you will need Internet access to take this module
Although your text book contains some wonderful instructional material, the links below provide some great resources which will help build your drawing skills. Take the modules below:
Beginner class - how to hold a
pencil, exploring mark making, wire drawing lessons, blind contour drawing, pure contour drawing, cross contour drawing.
Keeping a sketchbook is a great way of keeping track of creative ideas and getting in the habit of regular drawing, as well as being a useful resource for large works when you are feeling short on ideas.
Remember that not every drawing you do needs to be a finished work of art. You can use a sketchbook for rough notes, thumbnails and ideas, too. When you open your sketchbook, think about what your intention is for your drawing session. While trying something challenging is always worthwhile, simple subjects can often be rewarding. Don't feel constrained by what others think art should be about - make your drawings about whatever you find interesting, be it an unusual object, an interesting face, a beautiful landscape or an invented fantasy. Check the related resources box for more great sketchbook ideas.
** It is important that you take these courses before attempting to produce landscape plans. **
Project:
Please upload several images of the drawings you created in this module into your Google Docs space. Once you have done that, yow you are ready to take the next module and progress to creating hand drawn landscape plans.
