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OTIS College of Art and Design, Los Angeles, CA, USA

From January 2005 - May 2013

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  • Course - 180 Drawing and Composition I

  • Course - 181  Drawing and Composition II

OBSERVATION & PERCEPTION

Drawing follows one’s observation and perception. Students are guided to enhance their perception and to be keen to observe their surroundings. 

 

FUNDAMENTAL DRAWING SKILLS

Representational drawing skills and visual relationships using line, plane, volume, linear and atmospheric perspective, light logic/value, and color as a basis for “structural/volumetric” drawing.

 

COMPOSITION

Applying principles of traditional drawing - linear perspective, relational measurement, angle sighting, use of central axis, use of viewfinder - to visualize and to establish a successful composition. The inventive use of pictorial elements to promote aesthetic resolution and clarity of intention.

 

VISUAL RELATIONSHIPS

The interplay of line, plane, and volume to create and/or enhance the forms in a given space, achieving equilibrium in the overall composition. 

 

CREATIVE PROBLEM SOLVING 

Students will be challenged to find their own mistakes/problems and will be able to re-work and to resolve through one-on-one discussion as well as group critique. 

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  • Course - 190 Life Drawing I

  • Course - 191  Life Drawing II

HUMAN ANATOMY

Students learn to analyze human skeletal and muscular systems. With the knowledge in human anatomy and drawing from a live model, students learn to analyze human form and to construct it in drawing. 

 

GESTURE

Analyzing the rhythm, balance, and movement of a figure. Observe the tension and weight that flow in the body. Observe how the skeletal structure forces the action. 

 

PROPORTION & MEASUREMENT

Various methods to measure are introduced in the process of establishing the proportional relationship of “body part to the whole body, and the whole to the parts.” The methods of reinforcing proportion are the major axis of body, angel sighting, head-counting, plumb lines, triangle measuring, etc.

 

SENSITIVITY OF MARK MAKING & PERSONAL VISION

After completion of the principals and elements of figure drawing, students are challenged to explore their cultural influence and personal visions.

Photos by Helena J. Min  ©Helena J. Min 1993

Mount St. Mary's University, Brentwood, CA, USA

January 2000 - May 2003 

  • ART       Drawing

  • ART 22  Watercolor

Cerritos Community College, Norwalk, CA, USA

January 1998 - December 2004

  • ART 30.2 Fundamentals of Painting

  • ART 31    Intermediate Painting

  • ART 36    Beginning Painting for Art Majors

  • ART 110  Freehand Drawing I

Photos by Helena J. Min  ©Helena J. Min 1993

VAS-Visual Art Studio, Los Angeles, CA, USA

I founded VAS - Visual Art Studio in 1993. Until 2023, VAS specialized in Portfolio Prep Courses for students pursuing higher art education in college and careers in art and design fields.

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Over the years, my teaching at VAS has transformed and enriched as I matured as an artist through my daily practice, discoveries, and learnings in my studio with my own artwork. VAS has been an exciting place to share with the younger generation what I've learned from my teachers and my own studio practice, and to develop the curriculum with my new discoveries and experiments, aligned with the fast-paced changing world. VAS has offered a mutual learning experience for students and myself, demonstrating the limitless creativity of the human mind, the value of our diverse perspectives, and a sacred form of human expression of our inner condition.