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.