FOUN 220: Drawing: Light and Shadow

The purpose of this project is for students to imitate a master's work to learn their techniques. Students need to incorporate a master's work into their drawing, add their own original elements, and keep the composition as harmonious as possible.

This artwork participated in the SCAD Foundation Studies Honors Exhibition 2026 and was selected as a finalist in the awards. This drawing incorporates Albrecht Dürer's "Praying Hands" and features a goat head drawn in an imitation of his style. I drafted it on grey paper using black and white charcoal. Meanwhile, the clothing patterns of the figure are inspired by traditional Tibetan attire; I attempted to use its rich decorative details and intricate patterns to add an exotic atmosphere to the composition.

During the conceptualization process, I strove to create an atmosphere where tranquility and unfamiliarity coexist, which is why I chose the elements in the composition: prayer, a goat, and ethnic minority clothing. The praying hands possess a sense of the sacred, while the goat is a symbol of the devil in Western culture, and the Tibetan clothing also carries an exotic vibe and a sense of the unfamiliar.

Secondly, in terms of composition, the goat head, the hands, and the clothing serve as focal points, forming a stable triangular structure. The goat's leftward gaze also guides the flow of the image, preventing the top-left corner from feeling empty. Drawing on grey paper better mimics Dürer's original work and effectively enriches the image.

Drawing Process:

At the same time, I also used color grading tools to create a color-graded version.

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In this project, students are required to take a photograph with distinct light and shadow and a dramatic perspective angle, and then create a derivative work based on it, focusing on practicing perspective and the sense of lighting.

This drawing primarily conveys an oppressive atmosphere. It uses a blue tone as the base and mainly relies on white for highlights. A major difficulty with this drawing is that the paper has high saturation and is inherently a mid-tone, while mixing white and black charcoal can make the image look muddy, leaving very little room for error when making corrections. My composition referenced a cinematic shot from "Requiem for a Dream." RequiemforaDream.webp The upper half of this cinematic shot is enveloped in a black gradient, presenting an oppressive atmosphere. This method not only aligns with the theme of my drawing but also intensifies the "infinite" feel of the buildings in the frame.

I first edited my photo, then drew based on the edited photo.

At the same time, there was an additional output during my shooting process: a night view of a church in Savannah. This photo also has a great atmosphere, but because it was too complex and charcoal struggles to render subtle details, I ultimately abandoned it. However, I still consider it a meaningful piece of photography.

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The theme of this project is "Surrealism." In this project, students need to select elements to express a specific word and draw it in color. For this theme, the keyword I chose was "Sense of Smell."

This drawing is my first attempt at pastel painting. To me, lavender and lemons seem to be completely unrelated items, but they hold unique properties in my mind—neither lavender nor lemons are suitable for direct consumption, yet they both possess very distinct, unique scents and colors. Furthermore, lemon yellow and lavender purple are complementary colors, and this intense collision of colors will inevitably create a striking contrast.

In this artwork, I attempted to draw juicy lemons and lush, overlapping layers of lavender. Right in the center of the composition, I drew a woman with curly orange-yellow hair.

The human figure is the element that can most evoke emotion; at the same time, I am also using the curls of the hair to convey a sense of flow. The overlapping relationships among the lavender, the lemons, and the hair, along with the foreground/background detail contrast of the lavender, also make the image more three-dimensional and diverse.

In post-production, I added a vignette to the edges of the image, making the exact center the focal point of the composition, which also enhances the sense of spatial depth.