Week 14 - Last days

This final week of class we did a two hour pose of the full figure as our final drawing. I felt this turned out moderately well. I think the biggest thing I struggled with was the face, hands, and arms (which we did not cover but I felt pretty confident about) I think my ongoing struggle even after this class is over is my fight with proportion. If you look at the figure's hand you can see quite clearly that it is COMPLETELY over-sized. I do want to keep practicing the face and full body figures so that I don't lose all of the skill at drawing that I've acquired over the past
semester.

For our final homework piece we had to do another large scale drawing this time using ink washes for shading. I was very disgruntled considering my aversion to our last large-scale drawing. But I was pleasantly surprised with the outcome of this drawing. I was finally able to capture the spiral in the shell. And even though I didn't push the ink work as dark as I could have I think that the low contrast shadows go well and doesn't detract from the shape of the shell.

Overall I think this class was absolutely worth it. I was just as excited at the end of the semester as I was before I started. I didn't question the knowledge I was gaining and I do find myself looking at the world and drawing differently because of it. My biggest complication is still bringing everything together but I think that will come with practice and time. I look forward to pursuing more life drawing classes in coming semesters and I know that this information will stick with me the rest of my college career, and even longer.

Thanks for an AMAZING semester Amy!

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

Week 12/13

Week 12, we had no class due to the fact that Amy was under the weather.

Week 13 we started working on hands and faces. We started learning about eyes, noses, mouths, and ears and how they work as a whole in order to compose the face. We also learned about how the muscles of these features work with the skull. I loved drawing the face because I think that it has to be one of the most interesting parts of the human body. The biggest problem that I faced was the size and placement of the eyes. They are like the cornerstone of the face so if they are not correct then the rest of your face will be off as well.

The hands were another aspect of the body that I was super excited to learn. I think they are also the one aspect of figures in my personal drawing that I struggle with immensely. It wasn't hard to figure out the structure of the hands thanks to our knowledge of feet and the way tarsals and phalanges. The biggest struggle I had was with the thumb. I had a very hard time getting the square nature of it and because it doesn't connect to the hand like the rest of the fingers , it was a little more difficult to figure out.

Week 11

Large Scale Shell Drawing 1

This week we attempted a large scale shell drawing on a wall sized sheet of paper. I was extremely thrown off by the sheer size of the workspace. I'm not used to drawing large and it felt very awkward trying to draw. Frankly I wasn't a fan. But I think that this version did end up a little better than some of my previous shell drawings. The spiral shapes in the shell are starting to come together, but during our critiques I was told that some of my lines work against the drawing and make the picture look flat, which I completely agree with. I also need to work on my line quality as I'm still drawing too dark and my cross contour drawings seem way too heavy for the image. I am also have some issues with the definition and detail in the tip of the shell.

Week 10 - FIELDTRIP!!!

This week we took a tip to Minneapolis to see the "Bodies" exhibit in the Mall of America, and to go to the Minneapolis Institute of Art. The Bodies exhibit was nothing like I expected. It was so interesting to see all of the open muscles and parts of the systems. I think the most surprising thing I discovered was that when I draw a pelvis, I completely rob it of depth. I was so interested in how deep the bone space actually was. It was also really neat to see all of the nerves and what happens to the different organs under certain circumstances. (ex: cancer). You couldn't think about what you were looking at for too long though... it gets a little unnerving to think about the fact that you were staring at flayed, preserved people.

The institute of art was interesting too. Being about the 3 or 4th time I've been there I was more curious about the limited edition exhibits. The one room that I thought was amazing was full of large scale (10 to 15 foot) wall scrolls and some calendar paintings of flowers. I couldn't imagine painting anything that large.

This week in class, we learned on how to draw skulls. I thought it was amazing to actually see the structure of a scull unfold on a piece of paper. I learned how to draw faces in high school, but this just brought it to an entirely different level. it was hard to figure out how to make the structure of the scull cohesive. Cross-contour drawing seemed difficult because of all of the different angles and spaces in the skull. The size of the cranium was also a challenge because it was difficult to try and proportion even when you are trying to draw what you see. I have a tendency to make the back too large and narrow, or make it short and tall. I also have a hard time seeing where the skull would connect to the neck and how to place it on the body. The head is the one thing I tend to avoid when doing things like gesture drawings.

(the second picture was drawn 4 weeks later)

Week 8/9

Due to being sick with the flu, I missed the 8th week of class. However, this week we learned about drawing the feet. We focused on the two different sections of the feet and how all of the different bones connect giving the foot range of motion and it's shape. I enjoyed drawing the feet because it was a more centralized subject and I was able to focus on it and get the shape more readily than if I was drawing the whole figure. I also know that in my personal drawing endeavors I have trouble drawing extremities such as hands and feet so this was information I was more than eager to learn.

As for the week that I missed we were working more on the legs and being able to integrate the calves into what we have already learned in terms of figure shape. I added the knowledge of what we had learned this week in terms of adding the foot, which I will have to say that I need work on the proportions. But this is no surprise to me as that is one of my greatest struggles with figure drawing.

Our homework for this week was a another shell drawing, this time from the larger shells. I will admit they are exponentially easier to see and be able to capture the detail. I do need some work with my cross-contours and spirals. I am drawing what I see rather than drawing what is there and making some artistic edits to make it an overall better drawing. To make a long story short they are coming out rather.....flat. I need to work on that.

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]