In my Drawing 1 class, we are focusing on the principles of design. For the first project, I set up a still life. The focus on the still life was emphasis. We used view finders, and the student had to find a view that the still life touched 3 sides of the view finder. They were to focus on correct perspective and "Draw what they see" (Betty Edwards reference). To finish the composition, they wanted the emphasis to be on the fruit. So using pastel pencils, they created value with color on the fruit. The rest of the project was done in fine tipped Sharpie. It was a really nice beginning project, and help me to see the skill level of some of the students that I had not had in class before.
