LESSON PLANS FROM 9-12 / DRAWING

“BARGUE PL ATE”
Written by Mandy Hallenius www.mandyhallenius.com

OBJECTIVES

• Students will identify and apply a drawing

process
• Students will practice observation skills
• Students will discover and apply drawing
theory
• Students will increase their visual literacy
through identifying errors in their drawings
and correcting them

STANDARDS

his lesson meets National Arts Standards

1a, 1b, 1c, 1d, 2b, 2c, 4a, 4b, 4d, 5b
his lesson meets Common Core Standards
CCSS.MATH.CONTENT.HSG.MG.A.1
CCSS.MATH.CONTENT.HSG.MG.A.3
CCSS.MATH.CONTENT.HSG.GMD.B.4

Bargue Plate from the Charles Bargue Drawing Course

MATERIALS
SUMMARY
• Barge Plates (attached)
• Drawing Paper ~9”x12”””””””
In this lesson, students will increase their • Pencils - 2B preferred
visual literacy by applying a drawing process, • Kneaded Erasers
learning new techniques for identifying and • Masking Tape
correcting drawing errors, and practicing their • Skewers/thin dowels, or other thing, long
hand-eye coordination. straight tool
• Drawing Boards or Foam Core Boards

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“BARGU E PL AT E”
BACKGROUND INFORMATION
What Is a Bargue Plate?
Bargue Plates are part of a French 19th cen-
tury drawing course created by Jean-Léon
Gérôme and Charles Bargue.
he course was one of the irst drawing cur-
ricula ever created for the equivalent of high
school students to improve their dratsman-
ship and visual literacy.
Bargue Plates teach students proportion, val-
ues, and other essential drawing skills, and are
used by contemporary artists to increase their
visual literacy. Many of the lessons found in
these plates are used by contemporary artists
in their artwork.
In fact, even abstract artists such as Pablo
Picasso studied Bargue Plates.
Pablo Picasso – Copy after a Bargue plate,
1894
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9-12 / DRAWING
How Does It Work?
Students learn drawing skills by re-creating the
plates as carefully as possible, using methods
similar to that of the original artist. Difer-
ent plates are intended to focus on teaching
diferent concepts, and some plates are more
diicult than others to re-create accurately.
For example, the plates exaggerate divisions
between light and dark so that students can
start identifying this important division when
their eyes encounter it in 3D objects that they
may wish to draw. he plates also show how to
organize a lot of complex information into a
few big shapes and lines. his teaches students
how to capture and organize visual informa-
tion that they absorb from their every day
surroundings.
Vocabulary
Notional Space Box - the total amount of
space a drawing takes up when surrounded by
vertical and horizontal lines
Envelope - a big shape that uses a few lines to
surround the subject to be drawn.
Follow-hrough Line - a line that goes all the
way through the subject that connects multiple
objects or parts of objects.
Teaching Notes
It is important to emphasize with your stu-
dents that they aren’t simply copying a draw-
ing - they are identifying and applying a new
drawing process that can be applied to any-
thing they wish to draw in a realistic manner.
In order to prevent students from rushing
through the drawing, introduce one step at a
time.
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“BARGU E PL AT E” 9-12 / DRAWING

Please see accompanying PPT for detailed STEP 3

information about each step. You can down-
load the PPT at www.davinciinitiative.org
STEP 1
Find the plumb line on the Bargue plate. Use
your skewer to measure where the plumb
line goes on your drawing paper and place it
appropriately.

Tape the irst stage of the Bargue Plate next

to a clean piece of drawing paper on a draw-
ing board.

STEP 2 STEP 4

Draw and envelope around the image on

Make a notional space box on your original
Bargue Plate, and then one the exact same
size on your drawing paper. Use your skewer
to measure the distances between sides to
make sure they are the same.
your original Bargue plate, and then one of
the exact same size and shape on your draw-
ing paper.

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“BARGU E PL AT E”
STEP 5
Extend lines on the original Bargue Plate so
that they become follow-through lines.
Above: Identify the shorter line
Below: Extend the line until it reaches the
notional space box. Transfer this follow-
through line to your drawing paper.
STEP 6
Make more follow-through lines. It is
important to extend the smaller lines every
time. his way you can discover patterns
and repetitions in the way line is used by the
original artist.
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9-12 / DRAWING
Ask students if they notice anything about
the way the original artist uses line. Most
artists that work from observation will use
just a handful of line angles when describ-
ing an object. Using a small number of line
angles helps artists to organize a lot of very
complex visual information into something
easier to comprehend.
STEP 7
Once you have extended several lines and
found their pattern, it is ok to erase back the
part of the line that you do not need. Con-
tinue placing lines until all of the lines from
the original plate are placed on your draw-
ing paper.
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“BARGU E PL AT E” 9-12 / DRAWING

STEP 8 STEP 10

Tape the next stage of the Bargue Plate over Ater completing the second stage of the
top of the irst stage on your drawing board. Bargue plate, tape the inal stage onto your
his stage looks similar to the irst stage, but drawing board.
has more information on it.

STEP 9

Use the same process of creating follow-

through lines on the second stage of the Bar-
gue Plate. Be aware that there are some shits
that happen when placing the second plate
because the original plates were lithographs
and each plate is a new drawing.

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“BARGU E PL AT E”
STEP 11
Fill in the shadow shape with one even dark
value. Do not press so hard that you “kill”
the paper. Build up the value gradually. Pull
out light spots with your kneaded eraser,
and ill in light areas with the point of your
pencil.
STEP 12
Find additional details by inding the big
shapes irst. For example, on the hair, see if
you can ind the big triangle shape before
breaking it into smaller pieces.
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9-12 / DRAWING
STEP 13
Working from the shadow towards the light,
lay down value with your pencil to match
the values that you see in the plate. Remem-
ber that the shadow areas are much lighter
than the darker areas in the light. he small
amount of light in the beard, known as the
relected light, is actually quite dark, even
though it seems light. Work slowly and care-
fully until your drawing looks the most like
the original as possible. Careful observation
will increase your visual literacy, and help
your eye to see more nuanced diferences in
other subjects that you observe.
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“BARGU E PL AT E” 9-12 / DRAWING

VERBAL ASSESSMENT OBSERVATIONAL ASSESSMENT

1. How did your drawing change from the
beginning to the end of this drawing process?
2. If you could do your Bargue Plate drawing
again, what would you do diferently?
3. What do you see other students doing that
you like?
1. Does the student correctly utilize a notional
space box, an envelope, and follow-through
lines?
2. Does the student ill in the shadow shape
with one lat value?
3. Does the student work from the dark areas
to the light areas in the drawing?

4. Does the student apply any of the skills

learned in this lesson to other projects?

RUBRIC

3 pts 4 pts 5 pts

Notional Space Box he notional space box
does not accurately relect
the proportion of the origi-
nal image.
Envelope he envelope is a complex
instead of a simple shape,
and/or student did not
use straight lines for the
envelope.
Follow-hrough Lines Some line angles are care-
fully observed. Most lines
are straight and go through
the entire image.
Values here are many values that
are too light in a dark area
or too dark in a light area.
he notional space box al-
most accurately relects the
proportions of the original
image.
Student mostly uses one
big shape to encompass the
image on the Bargue Plate,
and most lines are straight.
Most line angles are care-
fully observed. Most lines
are straight and go through
the entire image.
here are some values that
are too light in a dark area
or too dark in a light area.
he notional space box
accurately relects the
proportions of the original
image.
Student uses one big shape
to encompass the image on
the Bargue Plate. Envelope
lines are straight.
Line angles are carefully
observed. Lines are straight
and go through the entire
image.
Values are organized so
that all the lights group
together and all the darks
group together.

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“BARGU E PL AT E” 9-12 / DRAWING

ADDITIONAL RESOURCES

Art Renewal Center

Online Image Museum
www.artrenewal.org

Charles Bargue Drawing Course

Charles Bargue drawing course: with the col-

laboration of Jean-Léon Gérôme
Charles Bargue - Jean LéonGérôme - Ger-
ald M.Ackerman - Graydon Parrish - ARC
Edition - 2003

Classical Drawing Atelier: A Contemporary

Guide to Traditional Studio Practice

Juliette Aristides - Watson-Guptill Publica-

tions - 2006

Lessons in Classical Drawing: Essential

Techniques from Inside the Atelier

Juliette Aristides - Watson-Guptill Publica-

tions - 2011

Measuring Methods for Artists

by Larry Withers Format
DVD

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