Drawing Ancient Pottery

My grade 8 class were beginning to investigate the area of pottery and ceramics for the first time and as part of that process we collected quite a few photographs of works from ancient cultures. We were looking particular at the various forms and the use of pattern and decoration. This also gave them an opportunity to use this subject matter as a basis for a drawing and to look at rendering three-dimensional forms through the use of ellipses as well as light and shade toning. The students selected a coloured piece of paper and began there drawing by imagining that their piece of pottery was on the verge of being discovered; as if the wind had blown away the desert sands to reveal it. To achieve this impression they folded their paper in half diagonally to provide a centre axis for the pot, and then began by drawing one side then the other. We had previously undertaken some exercises in ellipse drawing, so the students were quite familiar in using this technique to achieve a three dimensional quality. Their drawing was further enhanced by the use of white pencil as a contrast to the graphite pencil to produce a strong result.