End of the semester summary

The semester is coming to an end but hopefully my progression in life drawing will continue. Life drawing has definitely changed my views on drawing, for people and surprisingly objects. I have learned how to draw the figure showing depth and space on the figure plus in the surrounding area. My line weights have improved since the beginning as well as my confidence in my marks. I have also learned to take my time on making the muscles for the manikin and looking from all the perspectives when placing and shaping the muscles.

My strengths at this point are showing depth and space in my shell drawings as well as ranging line weights. My manikins thighs have shaped into muscles that have taken time to create and put on. My weaknesses are making the figure to static when the model is actually slouching or bending. My ink shell drawing was very challenging and I second guessed myself while putting on the india ink. My line confidence is still boarding on strength and weakness, because I did improve but I would have liked to improve more.

I'm going to use the skills I have learned about the figure in my paintings of portraits and even some objects. I will use them in my classes and hopefully in the work I continue you to make after graduating in the spring.

These are my links for the drawings:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/35792313@N05/sets/72157622885243571/

and manikins:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/35792313@N05/sets/72157622885227769/

Last day of class

Today was the last day of class. We had the model and she sat in the same pose for the full 3 hours. Getting back into the swing of things was quite hard today. We haven't had a model for a few weeks and we haven't done full body drawings either. The past few weeks we have been focusing on the smaller features such as the feet, hands, and face. I like when the model has a straight back and isn't slouching, like she was in the chair today. Foreshortening is a hard aspect to grasp and I tend to not do it enough or over do it. Today I didn't do it enough and Amy came over and helped me with the torso and legs. That changed my whole look on where her legs and arms were positioned. Overall the semester was a great learning experience and will definitely help me in my portrait paintings.

Finally the face! oh and hands

I have been looking forward to learning how to draw the face the entire semester. We started with the skulls last week and now we have moved on to the facial features. I was kinda disappointed that we had to rush learning about them, but I was excited to start drawing. Once I started mapping out each feature then it was clicking in my head what I need to do. I wasn't exactly sure where to start, so I started with the eyes then moved to the nose then to the ears after drawing the skull of course. I only had time to draw one face (Jessi's) and it turned out quite well for my first time drawing from the notes.

The next day we started on hands. I found out when starting the hands, that I was thinking about how the feet are drawn and how similar they really are. Jessi was my hand model for the day. I first drew her hand facing down and I found that it was easier to draw the hand that way than the second drawing when I drew it facing up. It resembled a claw almost in the drawing. In my spare time after the semester I would like to focus more on the face and hands just to enhance my drawing skills on those features.

Next week is our last week and we are doing one long pose.

Bodies exhibit/Skull/Shell

This week we visited the Bodies exhibit in the MOA. It was amazing! I loved it! I found it so fascinating being able to look into the bodies and see exactly where each piece fits together. While working on the manikin I found it hard to figure out exactly where each muscles connects to the bone. I remembered which ones I was having trouble with and made sure to look at the bodies in the exhibit and it really helped.

Also this week we started the skulls and I have been wanting to focus on this part of the body the entire class, since it pertains to what I do in my paintings, which is facial portraits. I enjoyed being able to start the skull then have help with it and start putting in the planes of the face.

Our large shell was due this week and that was very hard for me, even though I feel its the best drawing I have done this semester. I like drawing and painting small and having to draw the shell very large took a very, very long time. I definitely spent at least 10 hours on this drawing. I tacked the paper on the wall and set the shell on a table next to me. I had to start the shell a few times, because I kept drawing it too small. Finally, I drew it a decent size that I was comfortable with and it turned out great!