LAST BLOG POST!

Well, here it is, the last Life Drawing blog post I have to do.  It's been a roller coaster ride of a semester, each day was different, some days I felt pretty confident with my drawings, but other days I felt I really crashed and burned.  Early on I really struggled with line weight and drawing with cross-contour lines, but, as the semester progressed, I really feel that my drawing skills have improved.  It was fairly easy to notice a marked improvement in my drawing abilities while looking through my older drawings from the beginning of the semester. 

The upper left image here is one of my first long drawings.  The lower right image is one of my final long drawings.  I can certainly tell that my observational skills as well as my general drawing abilities have improved.  As much as I resisted the process early on, I feel that I've really come to appreciate the style of drawings we were expected to do.  Life Drawing has certainly improved my

In the end, I was fairly happy with how my mannekin turned out.  I found the process of placing the muscles on the mannekin to be highly tedious, but, in the end it was very satisfying to see it finished.  Follow this link to my portfolio on Flickr.  http://www.flickr.com/photos/pinnowc/sets/

Crunch Time.

Well... Last week was the week that the pile of work hit all across the board.  The end of the semester approaches and I'm feeling the pressure. 
This week in Life Drawing 1 we focused primarily on drawing the shoulder.  I've been looking forward to learning how to draw the shoulder for most of the semester.  After learning a little more about how the shoulder girdle is constructed I was certainly able to draw it with more confidence.  One thing that I certainly struggle with, and, at this point, may not get in this semester, is simply where to place cross-contour lines.  I'm able to place them to bring some sense of volume to the form, but I feel like I'm doing a wire frame inside an outline instead of actually using the cross-contour lines to define the form.  I think it would be a lot easier is we could draw a model that looked like this guy.

Another Short week.

Well, last week was yet another short week in Life Drawing 1.  Class was canceled on Tuesday, therefore we only had class on Thursday.  In class went over some examples of the use of ink in shell drawings.  We also got a chance to try our hand at using the sumi brush; not my favorite.  I think I worry too much about controlling the ink rather than embracing the slight element of chance that comes from working with ink.  I think if I step back and embrace this lack of control my drawings will benefit.  We also went over the lower leg muscles on our mannekins.

The Foot

This week we had only one day of class due to mid-program review.  I embraced the day off to catch up on a few things that have been killing my soul this semester.  The day that we did have of class we focused primarily on the foot.  We listened to a lecture on the musculature and bone structure of the foot and did a long drawing of the feet. 

I'm continually struggling with my line quality and my tendency to press too hard, but making a conscious effort to avoid it has been helping.  We also went over our shell drawings in small groups.  My group thought that my second drawing was an improvement on my first shell drawing.  I had to leave my drawing on the wall as our instructor was unable to get through the entire class to give comments.  Therefore, I do not have a photograph of my second shell.  The semester is getting down to the final few weeks and I'm already feeling that customary rush at the end when everything piles on.  My mental health and sanity pay the price.

 This week in Life Drawing we had our Mid-term portfolios due.  It was interesting to me to go back through my drawing pad and see that my ability to draw in this style is improving.  I still feel like I'm not really grasping it, though, and it's starting to frustrate me. 
We learned this week how to draw the attachments of the knee and hip. Every time we learn a new attachment I feel that my drawings improve slightly.  I am eager to learn the attachment of the shoulder as this is one attachment that consistently gives me grief.  As can be seen in my long drawing below, I have a tendency to make the shoulders too narrow. 
I have started my next shell drawing and it is moving along fairly well, I'm finding it a little bit easier to find the proper placement of the cross-contour lines.  It's definitely easier the second time around. 

The first half of Life Drawing has been a series of highs and lows for me.  Some days I would feel fairly happy with my drawings and other days would be a complete disaster.  I struggled for the first couple of weeks getting the hang of how we are expected to draw.  I found it difficult, at first, to see the internal structure of the model and to build on that skeleton, many times I reverted back to drawing what I was seeing (like a still life).  I also struggled with keeping my lines light in the early stages of a drawing, I have the nasty habit of pressing to hard.  My first shell drawing is a good example of my tendency to press down too hard.

There is very little variation in the shade of my lines which makes the shell seem a little flat.  In honesty I thought I would enjoy working on the manekin more than I do, I've been finding it excessively difficult to understand the textbook images and I often refer to other visual sources to build the muscles.  I think that I am beginning to grasp the drawing style that we are expected to portray, but there's a lot of room for improvement.  I'm looking forward to moving into the shoulders the second half of the semester, that's one attachment that I've found to be a struggle for me to draw as well.  I'm certainly not the best in the class, but I feel like I'm improving, which says a lot for me, I've never been very excited about 2-dimensional media, and, as a result, I tend to avoid them.  I'm finding the structure of Life Drawing to be more relaxed than the foundational drawing courses, and that certainly helps me stay motivated to draw. My mid-term portfolio can be found here.

First Critique

This week in Life Drawing we had our first critique.  It was really nice to see a sample of everyone's work.  It was interesting to see the vast variance in how everyone handled the assignment.  I was happy with my group's critique of my shell drawing.  They thought the diagonal axis of my shell was strong and that the cross contour did a good job of giving the illusion of form.  One thing that was apparent seeing my piece alongside all the others was that I certainly need to work on varying my line weight and shade.  Most of my lines tend to be the same heavy black throughout the drawing.  I could see in a number of the other drawings that varying the weight of lines really helps giving the illusion of perspective, I think my work would be stronger if I worked on varying the weight of my lines.  I missed class on Thursday, but understood from what I was told from my classmates that we did a couple of long drawings and went over our drawings in groups.