Problem:
Using cubism as a jump-off point, students will develop a large, single-subject drawing as a way to develop their understanding of value study. They will increase their knowledge about shades of gray while learning how Cubism can influence their personal expression.

Materials:
18" x 24" white drawing paper (80 lb.) drawing pencils (4H to 6B)

Start Up Activity:
Have students select a subject and produce a large contour line drawing of that subject. Encourage students to focus on a single item such as a car, insect, person, or fish.

Students should place their subject so as to create a compositionally strong image. At this point students have not yet begun their value study. Gather visual examples of Cubism from books or slides.

Process:
After students complete their contour drawing, have them consider creative ways to develop value study.

Share with students images of Georges Braque's and Pablo Picasso's paintings. Discuss Cubism in terms of the kinds of images produced, the time line in which Cubism had its beginning, and other artists who worked in the style. The aim is not to focus on Cubism, but to use students' understanding of Cubism as a jump-off point for them to alter their subject matter.

After you have given students this information, ask them to figure out a way to break up their image in a linear way before value is added. Encourage them to think of what shattered glass would look like, or wavy lines of water, the spiral line as seen in a nautilus shell, or geometric division of shapes such as seen in squares and triangles. These new lines would overlap the line drawing of their subject. This will alter their initial line drawing by making the shapes more visually complicated. The effect is to create many more shapes, like a giant puzzle.

Then ask students to experiment with gradations of value from rich black, using a 6B pencil to the lightest pencil line using a 4H pencil. With careful attention to each new shape created in the divided image, the element of value is studied.

An extension of this problem is to have students apply the entire range of gray to each individual shape. Have students proceed from shape to shape and for each shape decide which part will be the richest black and which part the lightest gray. Some will start in one corner of the shape and work to the opposite side and then alternate the black to gray at the next shape. Have students fill the entire paper with values including both the positive shapes and the negative background shapes.

Choices:
subject dynamics of the altered composition

Evaluation:
Have students respond to a verbal critique. Ask:

How is your selected image enhanced by the way in which you fragmented it? Do you see the influence of Cubism in your work and in other students' work? Was your experimentation and knowledge of value study enhanced in the process? Can the viewer still see the main subject after it was developed using this technique? Results / Observations: Perhaps the most difficult aspect of the problem was breaking up the subject and developing a value study without losing the visual image of the subject. Since every shape needed to be developed, the shading technique created a unified design quality in the finished image. Working large (18" x 24") made this project extremely impressive when exhibited.

Conclusion:
In this project students made decisions about subject matter, composition, and the way in which value was expressed. Because part of the requirement was that every shape (both positive and negative) be developed in value, students gained an understanding about how to use value, and of the influence of value on the overall design. Depending in the degree of individual decision making, students produced works with more or less self-expression.