Portfolio Midterm

So far in life drawing I've definitely noticed an increase in appreciation for the human form and how it not only works in individual parts; but as a whole. I personally have a bad habit of resorting to an animated, cartoon-ish style when it comes to something I get frustrated over or don't understand. This class is forcing me to focus in on real points in the body and not to exaggerate them to make it something I'm comfortable with.
Over this semester I definitely have seen an improvement in being able to see landmarks on the body and avoiding drawing what you think is there. I don't really know how to define what my strengths are but I know what I have seen an improvement on and what still lacks. My definite weaknesses in my drawings is that I notice is my sense of angle and proporstion on some things is severely askew. Also in terms of my mannequin, I have trouble understanding how muscles fit together. I struggle in trying to put muscles into groups.
Over the rest of the semester I would like to work on figuring out how to be able to see proportion instantly rather than having to struggle with angle and size of landmarks for the first chunk of a drawing. Other than that one of my other biggest interests in the face, but I'd have a feeling that it might not be covered within this class.

Flickr
http://www.flickr.com/photos/44120054@N06/sets/72157622564703375/

Week 5/6

Week 5/6

This week we studied the muscles of the thighs and glutes. With a whopping 17 muscles to build it did take quite a while to try and figure out how to model these parts. Once again the most frustrating thing about these muscles was the fact that the book does not show how the muscles layer or interact with each other, so it is almost a blind guess as to how they work with everything else. I have a feeling that I either created some muscles twice or have misplaced them because it seems like everything is trying to fight for the same piece of connective space.

[photos of mannequin coming soon]

We have been studying the pelvis and how it defines the figure. I think my biggest qualm about drawing the pelvis is that I'm a bit unsure of it's actual size in a figure. I have a tendency to shortchange the pelvis and ribcage in terms of size. also figuring how the muscles move around it depending on how the figure moves can be quite difficult at times. Sadly because of advisement day and having to miss a class period, I feel I will be rather rusty at trying to quickly re-learn how these two operate together.

[photos of sketches coming soon]

Week Four

This week in life drawing we covered the abs and ribs section of the body. We learned how to draw the rib cage as a structure point in terms of a form and how to incorporate the abs.

Our assignment for this week was to add our abs connecting the ribs and the pelvis on our skeletons. It was easier this time to figure out how the muscles connected to each other this time around. Possibly because there were less muscles to figure out. I think the hardest part of this assignment was to figure out how to make the tendons on the abs look like they "fit" on the muscles.

The drawings this week seemed easier as well. I think because I have a better understanding of why a figure stands the way it does, that now I'm starting to understand how all the muscles fit under the skin. I have a little bit of trouble always catching the planes of the ribs. But overall I think I am happy with my progress.

Week 2/3

This week in life drawing, we were assigned our first assignments. A contour drawing of a shell that we had been given the first week of class, and the spinal erector muscles on our little skeleton models.

The shell drawing was a little more difficult that I had expected. A larger shell would have been a better model, but that was the consensus of the whole class I think. In the critique that we had during class it was said that I needed to work with my lines to make them more cohesive. And I opted to pay attention to the small details, and draw all of the ridges in the shell which I was advised to possibly ignore in the future. I also need to work on being able to draw with lines WITHOUT drawing the outside edges first. I think if that was my one goal in drawing the shells this semester I would be happy.

The second assignment we were instructed to do was to model our spinal erector muscles out of clay. I found this assignment VERY frustrating. It was difficult to know where exactly to put things just from the pictures even with every view under the sun at your disposal. I wish the books build up the muscles like we had to in our assignment because it doesn't show you how the muscle you are trying to build interacts with the muscles around it. I have a feeling that I might have to reconstruct some things... but overall I am content with my current results.

As for drawing models this week, I don't have much to show. Tuesday I was chosen for the first group of critiques on the shell drawings, and that took up enough of the class time that there wasn't enough time for me to get a good batch of figure sketches. Thursday we had a lecture period, which I will admit, 3 hours of lecture is EXTREMELY hard to sit through... even with a break. But we'll see. Maybe I just need more coffee from the morning.