Copying a Master

Here is the textbook –

Chapters 17-21 or Copying a Master – Choice of your artist you are researching, or another artist’s work in Chapters 17-21. You will be making a handmade copy of the artwork you are researching. Dependent on the type of art your chosen piece is, you will be creating a two-dimensional or three-dimensional copy of the artwork. The goal of this hands-on assignment is to explore the artwork you are researching in a more tactile way. Hopefully you will gain some more insight into how the piece was made and what decisions the artist had to make concerning composition.

The copy will consist of the following:

Note the original dimensions of your chosen artwork, so that you can scale the piece down in size, or make the piece its actual size. If you need help in figuring out the dimensions, or how to scale a work down, please contact the instructor.

Note the original materials used to create the artwork.

Print out or photocopy an 8.5” x 11” image of the artwork you are attempting to copy, to use to refer to for your hand-made copy.

If your artwork is 2-D, on a minimum of 8.5” x 11” paper, you will be creating your copy. If the original piece is not to scale of a piece of 8.5” x 11” paper, you might be creating a slightly smaller copy.

If your artwork is 3-D, create the piece to be at least its actual size or a scaled-down version to no less than 8.5” x 11”x1”. In re-creating a 3-D piece, you will need to try and get several views of the piece, so that you can create a 3-D copy of the piece.

Materials for both pieces are your choice. The minimum choice of materials for 2-D work is pencil and colored pencil on paper, and the minimum choice of materials for 3-D work is air-dry clay. Contact the instructor to consult on materials, if you are unsure what to purchase to create your sculpture out of.

For the 2-D work, there are two options to create a copy by hand. First, you can draw through observation and the second method is through using a grid to transfer an image. To learn more about how to use the grid to transfer or enlarge an image from the original, go to the following:

For 3-D work, you will use the multiple views of your piece to create the three-dimensionality of your piece.