THE UNIVERSITY of EDINBURGH

DEGREE REGULATIONS & PROGRAMMES OF STUDY 2024/2025

Timetable information in the Course Catalogue may be subject to change.

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DRPS : Course Catalogue : Edinburgh College of Art : Design

Undergraduate Course: Performance Costume: Drawing for Character (DESI08113)

Course Outline
SchoolEdinburgh College of Art CollegeCollege of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences
Credit level (Normal year taken)SCQF Level 8 (Year 1 Undergraduate) AvailabilityAvailable to all students
SCQF Credits20 ECTS Credits10
SummaryThis is a course focused on the visual communication of costume through the implementation of costume research, life drawing classes and the experimentation and exploration of drawing and illustrative styles. It is designed to help students express character and dress through appropriate styling and use of media within informed illustrative work. Students will begin by undertaking research on British youth subcultures of the 20th century, exploring character, expression and behavior and continue this investigation by examining youth culture and fashion from the 1950s to the present. Life drawing classes will build and develop students skills in all aspects of observing and recording the human form and expressing emotion and delineating clothing through drawing. The life drawing session will allow students to style the model in appropriate clothing sourced from their research and is designed to develop awareness of changing youth cultures and their manifestation and expression through clothing and fashion over the past 60 years. It will also build on their knowledge of different drawing techniques and develop confidence in personal drawing skills. Students will be encouraged to develop expression in their drawing through the exploration of materials for image making. This course consists of practical life drawing sessions, tutorials, and self-directed study. A portfolio of work will be required at the end of the course to demonstrate the students ability to combine informed research, life drawing and experimentation of style within more resolved visual outcomes.
Course description Students will build up a research portfolio of the clothing from youth cultures of the past 60 years and also research artists figurative work, learning from it about the depiction of character and form. Students will then apply their research, exploring a range of image making materials and applying a range of drawing techniques to the creation of a set of illustrations that depict the clothing and personality of characters drawn from their youth subculture research.

Students will have weekly illustration and life drawing sessions with a practicing artist. Over the duration of the course students will work from costumed and life models in a variety of staged compositions. The students will build on the knowledge they have of line, tone, colour, proportion, composition and texture, and focus will be placed on helping craft these techniques into a highly personal drawing style.

The course will explore a variety of drawing techniques which can be used to depict detailed textures and silhouettes; students will learn to use tonal contrasts to give drawings depth, learn to understand colour relationships and effects through painting, and learn to use collage techniques to explore shape and tone. They will also study a range of artists and their associated painting and drawing techniques, learning to incorporate their methods in their personal drawing practice. Time will be spent ensuring these skills feed into the set of illustrations inspired by their youth subculture research work.

Student will develop a personal research and portfolio of drawing, creating a set of illustrations depicting character and clothing. Students will also develop a life drawing portfolio, collecting together the drawings made at life drawing sessions. At the end of this course students will submit their subculture research, character and clothing illustrations inspired by this research and a life drawing portfolio.
Entry Requirements (not applicable to Visiting Students)
Pre-requisites Co-requisites
Prohibited Combinations Other requirements If this course is Core to your programme, you will automatically be enrolled. For all other students, including Design students, the course is open on a first come, first served basis until the course is full. This course may have limited availability for non-Design students. Please contact the Course Organiser if you wish to enrol.
Additional Costs Drawing and research materials approx. £30
Information for Visiting Students
Pre-requisitesNone
High Demand Course? Yes
Course Delivery Information
Academic year 2024/25, Available to all students (SV1) Quota:  25
Course Start Semester 1
Timetable Timetable
Learning and Teaching activities (Further Info) Total Hours: 200 ( Lecture Hours 1, Seminar/Tutorial Hours 4, Supervised Practical/Workshop/Studio Hours 28, Feedback/Feedforward Hours 1, Formative Assessment Hours 1, Summative Assessment Hours 1, Programme Level Learning and Teaching Hours 4, Directed Learning and Independent Learning Hours 160 )
Assessment (Further Info) Written Exam 0 %, Coursework 100 %, Practical Exam 0 %
Additional Information (Assessment) 100% Course work.

Students will submit the following:
1. Research portfolio consisting of: statement about research into youth subcultures from 1960 to the present, research files on youth subcultures, sketchbook of drawing/ideas development for character illustrations.
2. Life Drawing Portfolio
3. 10 resolved costume illustrations, depicting characters inspired by youth subculture research.

All learning outcomes are equally weighted and are assessed as follows:
Assessment 1 is assessed against LO1 only
Assessment 2 is assessed against LO2 only
Assessment 3 is assessed against LO3 only
Feedback Formative and summative assessment is 100% coursework, no written or practical exam work is involved.

There will be formative verbal feedback and one-to-one tutorials from staff for the duration of the course.

Submission 1: Formative feedback. Week 5 or 6 mid-semester. Students will submit their research and drawing portfolio for mid semester review. Formative written feedback will be provided by their tutor via LEARN VLE

Submission 2: Summative feedback. End of semester.
Summative feedback will be provided at the end of the semester, this assessment consists of the total submission of the work completed throughout the course. The components will consist of Research portfolio consisting of: statement about research into youth subcultures from 1960 to the present, research files on youth subcultures, sketchbook of drawing/ideas development for character illustrations, life Drawing Portfolio, 10 resolved costume illustrations, depicting characters inspired by youth subculture research.
The written feedback and grading from the tutor will be provided via LEARN VLE

Formative Feedback: Formative feedback is a formal written or verbal overview, from the course tutor, on how the students work is progressing at that time ensuring they receive clear and precise advice and guidance on their work. It will give suggestions for development and assist them in the formulation and presentation of ideas for the summative assessment.

Summative Feedback:
Documentation of individual summative feedback is available via the VLE. Summative feedback is the final feedback for any given project reviewed by the course tutor. During this process work will be graded in accordance to the learning outcomes which are set out in this document (section 4.1) The grading will be supported by a written overview of the submission. The summative feedback includes positive aspects to the work and developmental suggestions to take forward as part of your professional development. Summative grades are final and unlike formative feedback you are not allowed to revisit the project to improve it.
No Exam Information
Learning Outcomes
On completion of this course, the student will be able to:
  1. Respond to the project brief through the application of a variety of practical and theoretical research methods within an explorative investigation of drawing methods and techniques.
  2. Evidence the development of a personal illustrative style, through a portfolio of exploratory character drawing, life drawing and investigative mark making.
  3. Demonstrate the application of drawing skills to communicate resolved ideas for character, expression, silhouette, texture, form, colour and costume.
Reading List
1. Malbert, R. Drawing People: The Human Figure in Contemporary Art. Thames & Hudson (2015)
2. Huaixiang, T. Character Costume Figure Drawing: Step-by-Step Drawing methods for Theatre Costume Designers. Focal Press (2010)
3. Manandhar, N. What We Wore: A Peoples History of British Style. Prestel (2014)
4. Polhemus, T. Street Style. PYMCA (2010)
5. Muggleton, D. Inside Subculture: the Postmodern Meaning of Style (Dress, Body, Culture). Berg 3PL (2002)
Additional Information
Graduate Attributes and Skills Enquiry - ability to access information from a range of relevant sources.
Personal effectiveness ability to use a range of approaches to apply to a particular context.
Communication - convey ideas in a structured and coherent form.
KeywordsLife drawing,figurative artists,character,drawing,composition,line,costume illustration
Contacts
Course organiserMs Alana Conlon
Tel:
Email: aconlon@ed.ac.uk
Course secretaryMiss Linsey McEwan
Tel: (01316) 515448
Email: lmcewan2@ed.ac.uk
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