Week Fourteen

Here we are, the final week! I feel like I’ve learned SO much this semester. I can’t believe it. I can really see an improvement in my drawings since the beginning. I think one of the most valuable things I’ve learned this semester is how to find planes on the body. Just because the body is organic and has many curves doesn’t mean you can’t find planes to help draw contour lines which then help give the body volume and depth. I really like that the class was broken down into body parts. I was glad we got to spend one week on the hands, and one week on the skull and so on. It would have been too overwhelming to attempt learning them all at once. I did struggle a little today to put all I had learned together when doing the whole body but all I need is a little more practice.

I’m also happy that we got to do the ink washes. Adding value to the shells was a learning experience. I had practiced value drawings so much in drawing 1 and 2 but it was so different this time. It was more organic and we had more freedom. I really like the effect and all the imperfections. It adds interest that more purposeful shading just can’t do. I feel like I got a lot out of this class. All the different tools were very helpful. I struggled the most with my manikin but even though it’s not great it was still a great learning tool. I feel like I learned more in this class than any science class I’ve ever taken! Probably because I’m a hands on learner and this class definitely incorporated that. I wish I was going to be here another semester to take life drawing 2 so I could continue my drawing skills!

To see more of my work see my final portfolio at http://www.flickr.com/photos/sbaskasblog/

Week Thirteen

This past week was a busy one! In life drawing we practiced drawing the hands and skull. We also handed in our shell drawings.

I’ve always thought of hands as the hardest thing to draw EVER. Amy’s lecture helped a lot though. Learning how to trick the eye or slightly add drama to what you see makes a world of difference. I have attached my attempt at drawing a hand. It came out better than I thought but I have a long ways to go if I want to draw a hand that looks believable.

I really enjoyed drawing the skull. I was quite pleased with my drawings. I wish I had taken a photo of these to post but I did not. Maybe in my next post I can include an image. I usually struggle most with proportion but for some reason it clicked when I drew the skull. I specifically asked Amy about my proportion and while it wasn’t perfect, it was closer than I’ve ever been before. I found the cranium to be most challenging. Simple outlining it made it look flat but there wasn’t a whole lot of detail to add that would give it some volume. I tried my best but was struggling with that. I really enjoyed drawing the face of the skull, it was so interesting and angular.

As for my shell drawing, my classmate critique gave me some good tips. There were certain areas they really enjoyed, particularly where I had little to no ink wash. They wanted to see more shadows under the shell to ground it which I completely agreed with. I’m hoping my next shell drawing can maintain the good qualities my current shell drawing had while improving its flaws.

Week Twelve

I’m home sick today so I figured I’d make my blog post. On Tuesday we did no drawing but we did go over the last sets of muscles and got work time in class to do them. There are so many to do! It was overwhelming but after working on some in class they seemed to be going by somewhat fast. It seems so tedious but it does look cool when they’re all done and together. I have included a picture of my arm and hand muscles so far.

We also found out that we will not be doing a self portrait for our final project in this class which I am ecstatic about! I was so very relieved to hear that. This way I’ll be able to put more time and effort into my shell drawings with the ink wash. The examples we were shown in class look so cool and I hope both of mine come out looking the same. Things are frustratingly busy right now that it’s hard to concentrate on classes but only a few weeks left and I cannot wait to be done! I am anxious for the final day when we get to see everyone’s shell drawings. I am mostly interested to see the different colors people chose for their ink washes and examine how they affect the drawings. Some might have a completely different mood just because of the ink color that was chosen. For now I’ll keep trucking along on the muscles and my shell drawings. I might try to go to open figure drawing one night to practice drawing the portions of the body I’m missing out on today.

Week Eleven

Happy Thanksgiving everyone! Being as we don’t have class today I will once again write about Tuesday’s class. We went on a field trip which was a nice break from the usual routine. We started off the day at the Walker Museum in Minneapolis. I drove by myself and arrived at the Walker only to find that the rest of the class was still waiting for the bus in Menomonie. I found a few other students who were also waiting for everyone else to arrive and we engaged in a nice chat till the others showed up. The thing that stood out the most at the Walker for me was the Yves Klein exhibit. I had heard of his work in other classes so I was excited to see what this blue color was all about. It was a very striking blue so I give him credit for that.

After the walker we went to the Bell Museum of Natural History on the U of M campus. I briefly walked around then found a moose to draw. Once I was burnt out on drawing I walked around a little more. I found it interesting that they preserve all these animals but at the same time it creeped me out. I never grew up around hunters or had to truly prepare my own meat so just thinking about how a taxidermist does their job everyday was weirding me out. I’m definitely a wuss when it comes to that stuff. It was also a different experience drawing an animal. I tried to start it the same way we would in class, I drew the spine and imagined what the rib cage might look like and the torso. My drawing was not very good though, I felt it looked like a cartoon. I’ll still to drawing people for now.

Week Ten

This past week was shortened to one day as Amy was gone on Tuesday. Thursday involved hardly any drawing which was nice to have a day off. Instead we started the day by doing a quick contour drawing of our shell which we would later try putting ink on. We spoke a long time about what these next two shell drawing would look like. The idea is that we will do a cross contour drawing of our shell, still putting in about 5 hours of just cross contours and observing closely. After that we will apply an ink wash to our shell. It will be a change from what we’ve been doing as far as atmospheric perspective goes. Up until now we have been drawing thicker, bolder lines where the shell is closes to us. However, when we apply ink wash we are to put the darkest areas when the shell has a depression or is farther away. It will be complete opposite but hopefully not too hard to pull off. The ink will inevitably wash away some of our lines but that is ok. We did a little practice with ink in class on Thursday and I’m glad we did. I started very light, adding only one drop of ink to my water and it did nothing but color the water. So I added a few more drop and still nothing was showing up on my paper. I started to layer the ink wash on my page and it started to faintly show up which was nice. I then added more and more ink to see how deep the color would go. I also tried my best to get a feel for how the water moves down the page which was tricky to keep it in the lines where I had intended but then again that is just part of the assignment. I am excited to give this a try and see how everyone’s comes out!

Week Nine

Class will only be held on Tuesday this week due to Midprogram review so what we did today was all there was to this week. We started off the class by putting up our shell drawings and getting into small groups to critique them. My group did not have  a whole lot to say although they did say that I had improved a lot since my last shell drawing which was nice to hear. They felt that my diagonal was especially better and I represented space better as well. This drawing did a better job of taking up the entire page and they also liked my line weights for the most part. After our critiques we learned about feet and then we practiced drawing them. I’ll get back to that in a moment but while we drew feet our professor went around and left notes of what she thought of our drawings. Amy really liked my use of space but she felt I could have added more cross contour lines which I agree with. She mentioned that the viewer should not have to guess what is going on in the drawing and I see exactly what she is talking about. The front of my shell gets a bit confusing as far as planes go.

Now back to drawing feet. I’ve always known drawing hands and feet are particularly difficult but once I got the hang of finding the planes I feel my drawings were more convincing. I still have a very long ways to go to make my feet look realistic rather than round cartoon drawings of feet. The human body always seems so soft and curvy but I find drawings to be more realistic when I purposely angle things or make them more blocky.

Here is my shell drawing:

Week Eight

For starters, I cannot believe it is already week eight. This semester is definitely picking up the pace. This past week we spent a lot of time doing gesture drawings and more long drawings. On Tuesday we were taught the structure of the knees and more of the leg. Therefore that is what we focused on drawing this week as well. On Thursday we spent a considerable amount of class time working on a long drawing where the model was at a level that allowed us to focus on the knees and legs. I have posted my drawing of that below. I have noticed a reoccurring problem with my proportions is that I tend to draw the torso too long. I managed to do that same thing once again today. That is why you can see where the legs were originally positioned until Amy came by and showed me where the tops of the thighs should rest on the page.

As homework this week we have been working on our next shell drawing. I have put in a few hours as of now and plan on doing a few more to put some finishing touches on it. I feel more confident in my shell drawing this time around in most ways although I am still struggling with a few things. One of the biggest things I have noticed is that I am better at taking my time when drawing. My lines are more delicate than they used to be because I am taking more time to observe the shell.

Week Seven Part Two

I guess our post for this week has a more specific topic so I’ll just post twice this week. We were asked to reflect on the semester so far. I feel like the semester is flowing along smoothly. After preparing my portfolio on flickr I noticed that I have improved quite a bit since the beginning. I feel like I’m getting a lot out of this class which is nice. Drawing people was always a hard task for me and it still is, but I’m much more confident in my abilities. I never would have imagined that doing 10 second gesture drawings would be such a good warm up and that it really does help my drawings. I took this class to learn how to not draw stick figures so it’s funny that we spend the first few minutes of each class drawing stick figures. I especially have enjoyed learning how contours are the key to getting your drawings to look three dimensional. We’ve all drawn something that just doesn’t look right so when I find I’m in that situation I like to draw a few contours to help me see the form of an object. I’ve also been enjoying practicing manipulating my drawings so that even if I see something a certain way, it shouldn’t always be drawn that way. I had always been told the opposite so it’s interesting to find the tricks that make the eye see something to be more realistic.

For the rest of the semester I hope we get more practice doing long drawings. It’s nice to be able to take our time to draw something and really observe it. I’ve learned so much through long drawings and I feel like each one gets better. I’m also looking forward to more critiques so I know exactly what I can work on.

Week Seven

It’s only midweek but today is advisement day so I figured I’d write being as I have a little free time. I went to campus this morning and spent a few hours on our 13 muscles that are due next week. It took me longer than some have because I was going to extra effort to make my leg muscles as thin as possible while still making sure they have enough structure to hold themselves up. I also wanted to try to make them look like cohesive groups, which is a skill I’m getting much better at.  Overall as we are adding more muscles to our manikin I am feeling more confident about it because proportions are starting to look more correct and it is easier to picture it as a person. I’m learning more about the human body in this class than I ever did in any of my science or health classes. I am definitely a hands on learner so practicing building the muscles ourselves and studying where they connect to certain bones has really solidified the lesson for me.

Anterior View

Mostly Posterior View

We were assigned our next shell drawing on Tuesday as well and I am pretty excited to have another attempt at this assignment. There are things I like about my first one but I know I have a lot of room for improvement so we’ll see if it is any easier the second time around. Eventually we’ll get to draw our shells but add an ink wash to them which looked really cool. I hope to be able to draw a good shell by then so my final drawings look as nice as possible.

Week Six

This past week we handed in our contour line drawings of our shells. I learned a lot from this assignment and I’m glad we get to have another attempt at it. We broke into small critique groups and I really appreciated what my group had to say. They said I could lighten my lines a little bit at the top of the shell to help with the perspective aspect. I was also told I possibly added too many lines in some areas. My lines near the far end of the shell need to show more volume. The image looks flat because some of the lines are similar in shape and repetitive. They enjoyed my line weight in the front and overall they liked my angle and my use of the space on the page although those things can always improve as well.

On Thursday we spent more time doing longer drawings. The first 30 minute session we did I found to be very difficult to get started. It was as if I blanked out for a bit. But soon enough it came to me and I was able to continue with the assignment. I feel as though I struggle with proportions so I’ve been trying really hard to work on measuring things out in reference to landmarks on the body.  It’s frustrating sometimes when you can’t make something look right and you have no idea why. I can find the angle of a line, figure out where it connects on the body but it just looks off. Hopefully this will get easier as the semester goes on.

Week Five

This week was very brief. On Tuesday we went over the hip muscles and glutes for our manikins. Because the class room was oddly hot that day we did not do any drawing but instead were allowed to leave early as long as we worked on our manikin models. I did go straight home and made my muscles right away with a little more ease than past times. I feel like I understand how to work the clay better and am finding it easier to read the text books on the muscles.

As for Thursday, we sat around for a few minutes before a fire drill occurred. After going outside and coming back in, we waited a bit longer only to realize our professor left a sign on the door stating class was cancelled and she was out sick. So as for this weekend I will continue to work on my contour drawing of my shell that is due Tuesday. I have put about 3 hours into it so far and hope to put another 2 or 3 hours into it.

(a cross contour drawing from a previous week where we learned about the egg shape of the rib cage)

Week Four

I am only attending Tuesday’s class this week as I have a field trip all day Thursday for my furniture design course. We went over a lot today even though we did not draw a whole lot.  We got a head up as far as what to expect for upcoming homework. We were shown how to start our cross contour line drawings of our shells which look pretty cool. Later in the semester we will be applying an ink wash to them to add more character and value. All the samples I have seen so far of this project look really cool so I am very excited to make my own. As for now we are to stick to line drawings and focus on space, line weight, composition, and contours. We were told that each drawing should take around five to six hours which seems like a lot but at the same time the point of this is to pay attention to detail so it makes sense to take our time and move slowly.

We were also given our next manikin modeling assignment where we are to construct the abdominal muscles. Over the weekend I redid my muscles from the last assignment trying to put more effort into the craft and making the muscles look more like a group. I find that modeling with the clay can be difficult at times still but I am learning. Sometimes the key is to not touch things as much as possible so they don’t get all muddy.

I hope we get to see everyone’s cross contour drawings since I have learned a lot from my peers in the past. As for now I’ll start working on my own and post a picture of it in a different post.

Week Three

This past week we spent more time developing our skills at drawing a live model, studying our manikins, and added the rib cage to our studies as well. I can see how the spine is the most important thing to start with when drawing the human body. The rib cage comes next which helps give our drawings volume and will also help with proportions in the long run. We were taught that when drawing the rib cage it is best to draw it as an egg which at first seemed odd but after trying it out it made sense.

When it comes to modeling muscles with clay on our manikins I have a long ways to go. It helped a lot to see examples of other students’ work that had done the assignment well. First and foremost I need to work on my craft. I struggled with the clay and getting it to stick to the plastic manikin but after seeing that others accomplished that feat, I know that I can too. I also need to study the proportions of my muscles and make them look more like a cohesive grouping of muscles. I plan to redo my current work before moving on to the abdominals next week.

As far as drawing goes I feel that I am continuing to improve my skills. I have been practicing drawing with better techniques such as standing an arms length away from my paper and holding my utensil differently so that I draw from the shoulder. I have also managed to slow down my drawing and really observe more. By doing that I’ve noticed that my hand is more coordinated with what my eye sees and my drawings are improving because of it.

I have attatched one of my contour drawings from this week.

Week Two

This week we draw live models for the first time.  We started with thirty second gesture drawings and eventually worked our way up to thirty minutes drawings then back down to thirty seconds. I had never done gesture drawings before and while it was stressful at first I enjoyed it quite a bit at the end. The drawings had more energy and movement to them and I felt like they were more interesting than a lot of previous drawings I’ve done. I never realized how difficult it is to draw ligaments when they are being extended towards you.  There were a few times when the model was facing me and it was harder to draw than when they were in a profile or three-quarter view.

On Thursday we were assigned our manikins and started to dive deeper into studying the human body. I attempted to start the manikin after class on Thursday and I have included an image of my progress thus far. I find it difficult so far because the clay doesn’t always stick to the manikin and it is especially hard to recreate organic shapes. The scale feels really small to me as well and since some of the muscles can be small it is hard to get much detail in so they don’t feel correct. Hopefully after more practice and studying, working with the manikins will come easier to me.  I’m interested to see how my drawings will change as I start to understand the human body more. I find that I struggle with proportions a lot so I am hoping to improve that over the semester.  This week was full of firsts for me so they are more of a challenge right now but I am looking forward to getting better at them.

My manikin so far.

Week One

This past week we started to study the skeletal system of the human body. This is something I have studied numerous times before but was never able to apply it to art. I am already starting to see how understanding the human skeleton will make my work more accurate.

We started off the week with being assigned a sea shell and making our first attempts at drawing it. The first exercise was a blind contour drawing. For those of you who are unaware a blind contour drawing is where we study the shell by holding it in one hand and connecting our hand movement with what our eyes see to draw the item without looking at the paper. I have posted what I feel to be my best blind contour drawing of my shell below. After a few attempts at blind contour drawings we got into groups to critique our work. My group gave me some good tips on how to improve such as trying to improve my composition on the paper (which is hard to do when I can’t see what I’m drawing but at the same time a valid point), and also to emphasize arched lines even more. My critics felt that I had demonstrated a good use of line thickness, good use of time, and that I had observed my shell well. We also got a chance to draw cross contour shell drawings, this time we could look at the paper. I have included a picture of this below.

The second day of class this week was focusing on learning the five sections of the spinal column and how each section moves. There are primary curves which consist of the thoracic and sacral vertebra. Primary curves will always curve the same direction. Then come the secondary curves. These curves consist of the cervical and lumbar vertebra. The direction of these is flexible as opposed to the primary curves that will always curve the same way.

Overall I feel that I already learned a lot for the first week. I am excited to continue learning about the human body and get to live models next week.

Blind Contour

Cross Contour

Welcome

Hello!

My name is Shauna Baska. I'm an art major with a concentration in interior design at the University of Wisconsin-Stout. For as long as I can remember I've been interested by the arts and I wanted to eventually have a career where I can practice creativity and innovation. I enjoy and appreciate all different mediums of art although some speak to me more than others.

I will be graduating in December and after that I hope to land a job at an interior design firm in the twin cities although I am open to any opportunity I an get right now. I'm the type of person where if something feels right I go for it and that outlook has yet to let me down. I enjoy learning and broadening my skills in any way I can. That is actually the main reason I am taking Life Drawing I. I am absolutely terrible at drawing people so I am hoping that this course will help guide me in the right direction. Growing up I always believed that artistic talent is something you had to be born with and was impossible to learn. After taking numerous art classes at Stout I have found that to be untrue. I have greatly improved many of my artistic abilities and nothing feels better than seeing hard work pay off.

When I am away from class or work I love relaxing and enjoying life. Bonfires are one of my favorite ways to do just that. I also enjoy figure skating, watching movies, doing puzzles, shopping, and being with those most important to me. I am a person with many passions in life. When it comes to tv and movies I really like things that are very clever and have a lot of wit. As far as music goes my two favorite bands of all time are Queen and Metallica. I love all sorts of music but those two bands speak to me the most.

I've included two drawings that I have done for past classes that I enjoyed working on.