Tuesday, December 14, 2010

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/

Thursday, December 9, 2010

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.


Thursday, December 2, 2010

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.