Last week before mid-term

    This week was a productive one for me. It was a very strange day on Monday with the snow we were getting. It seemed all day that barely anyone was in class. As a result we worked on our clay manikins the entire class period. This was a nice break from drawing and gave me a chance to get the new assignment done. This was similar to Friday when we worked on manikens and had time to get it looked at. I really enjoyed Friday's class because I had time to get the new assignment done and didn't have to work on them over the weekend. We had enough time to get our manikens checked too. I was really happy because it was the first time mine was checked to see if I had the right idea with the placement of the muscles.

    On Wednesday we did some drawing all class period. I feel like I have progressed greatly during this class period. It may not show in all of my drawings because it happened toward the end of the class period, but my confidence and understanding took a leap. My proportion is starting to get a lot better and I find myself getting better at drawing more of the figure in the 30 second drawings. Our last drawing of the day, I think it was 20 minutes, was the turning point. I had time to really analyze what it was I saw and found it easy to pinpoint where the ribs ended. I got a little confused on the placement of the pelvis, and after Amy looked at it I felt relieved. I had it basically right, just needed a few tweaks on the pelvis. I really understood what I was doing wrong and wasn't as frustrated with it.

The 4th Week (I need to come up with better titles)

    This week in Life Drawing we learned about the pelvis and how it fits in relation to the body. We are now drawing the spinal column, an egg for the rib cage, and the pelvis. I think it is great that these 3 parts are all we have to worry about right now. However, it doesn't mean it is easy. In fact, trying to get the proportion and the shapes right are kind of challenging for me right now. I'm not sure if the facial hair I am currently growing on my face has something to do with it, but this week has been an off one for me.

    I have had a hard time focusing lately for some reason. I think it is because my mind is on all of my other classes, but lets get back on track. After drawing what I believed to be an acceptable pelvis, I soon realized to some disappointment that it was indeed incorrect. I was drawing it a little too small and either too low or too high. We were given pointers on how to get the proportion right, which was extremely helpful. Drawing within two cubes is a really easy way to get it right. However, it is not as easy when the pose is anything other than straight on. I find it difficult to get the placement right when the body is twisted in different positions, and when there is foreshortening. Our last drawing on Friday was a 45 minute one. The angle I was at was one with a lot of foreshortening in the chest and stomach. I initially had some trouble in the beginning, but then I was quite happy with how it was turning out. I thought it was looking great, until the last 5 minutes when I realized that it was a little long and there was not that much foreshortening in my drawing. Looking at the model and back at my drawing I found that the arm would have to be 2 feet wide to get the same placement. I was bummed out.

Third Week!

    In this 3rd week of Life Drawing we focused on the spinal column and rib cage. This was extremely helpful in getting the right proportion and looking for markers on the body while drawing. We learned how to draw an egg shape for the rib cage. Drawing a line for the spine, and egg for the ribs, and a smaller circle for the opening of the neck is very helpful in getting a good base structure. If we can get this important base of knowledge down, it will allow us to add to it while being anatomically correct.
    At first I realized I was making this egg shape very long and a little too skinny. This really threw off the proportion of the drawing. I really focused on all of the curves of the model to find the correct markers needed to know where the bottom of the egg would be. To be honest, I have been very frustrated with my drawings so far. I think it is a combination of the 30 second time limit and the drawings not looking like anything but a curved line with an egg shape on it. Lately however, I have been a little better at drawing quick and putting in some more reference points such as the shoulders. This greatly improves the look of the form, and I am much happier with how they look now. 

    Working on the clay model has been helpful as well. Learning about these muscles and how they fit in and overlap others will be helpful when giving the drawing a more 3-dimensional look. Actually creating these muscles and placing them on the mannequin in the correct way is a good learning exercise, much better than just learning about it in lecture.
    Overall, this week has been a good one in terms of further developing a knowledge of the human body and my drawing speed. I am slowly starting to break away from my old habits of taking my time. The 30 second time limit will be helpful in making sure we get the overall proportion and pose down the first time without having to rework a lot. This will help in how we draw anything in the future.

Digital Painting

Over winter break I had some time to work
on some personal projects. One of the projects I worked on is this digital painting of Avril Lavigne I did on photoshop. This was my first attempt at a photoshop digital painting, and I just finished it about a day ago.
I am quite happy with how it turned out. I have to remind myself that it was my first attempt and could always do better with more practice. What do you think?

1st-2nd Week of Life Drawing

     In this first week we jumped right into gesture drawing. It took a while to get adjusted to drawing the figure. I feel like it will still take some time to get into the mindset as I have not had a drawing course in 2 years. So when we were told we had to get the gesture down in 30 seconds it took me by surprise. I found out that I was slow. In the first few 30 second durations I only got half the figure in. I knew that I was going to have to learn how to change my habits and try some new techniques.

Clay Model

     Slowly it is getting easier and I can see a small progression already. We did our first long drawing for 30 minutes. Our instructions were to draw slowly. If we only had 3 lines by the end, but they were "good" lines, that was all we were shooting for. So about 15 minutes into the drawing I had the whole part of the figure done. So I had to start over and SLOW down. Now I was going too fast! I was still in the mindset of drawing quick from the 30 second gestures, that drawing slowly for 30 minutes was a quick change.
     I am actually really glad we are standing at easels as we draw. It helps with drawing technique and staying alert. It also gives us a better perspective angle to the model. Speaking of models, we also got our clay skeleton models this week. We had to dissect the clay from the other class off of the model and clean them up. All clean for a semester's worth of learning and adding it all back again. I believe this model is going to take some time, but will be worth it in the end. I know by the end of the semester I will know a great deal more about the human body than when I came in to this class.