The final blog, my oh my! I can't believe this semester is over, it went by so fast. Over the course of the semester, I feel I have grown and gotten better at life drawing. In my midterm blog post I wrote about how I think my greatest strength is my willingness to learn, I still believe that is true. I think I have learned a lot during this last half of the semester. I feel that with every drawing, it becomes easier to understand the human form and it doesn't take as long from me to draw the body either. I think my shell drawings show the greatest improvement. If you compare my first shell drawing to my last, there is a big difference. I wanted to have more fun with this last shell drawing, to step back more and really observe what I was drawing. The difference in my shells shows that I have to ability to grow, take what I have learned and then apply it, it just takes some time.
I have learned so much more about the human body since mid-semester but especially on how to draw parts of the body such as the hands, feet and skull. I think learning those details helped make the body seem more complete and helped me look at the body as a whole. I think that has been one of my problems, I've seen all of my work in life drawing as incomplete but now that I somewhat understand how to draw the hands, feet and head everything seems to be more complete.
I will use this information next semester when I student teach and later in life when I'm an art teacher myself. Knowing how to draw people and the anatomy of the body will be helpful; everything and anything I know will only help me and make me a more confident teacher. Being able to explain how the human body is drawn and using correct terminology will be very beneficial. It will help the students respect me because I have knowledge and the information that they will need to learn to become artists.
Below is a link to the images for our final:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/44068237@N04/sets/72157623015364842/
Peace and Blessings!
Wednesday, December 16, 2009
Tuesday, December 15, 2009
Loooong Pose
This Tuesday, was our last class period and my last class EVER as an undergraduate!! I am very excited to be done with classes and I am ready to start student teaching! So, during class, we did a drawing that was roughly 2 1/2 hours. In some aspects it felt super long but in other ways it didn't seem long enough. When I started drawing I had every intention of covering as much of the paper as possible but my drawing kept getting smaller and smaller. It was hard to get the details of the feet, hands and the face. I think it is easier for me to understand the form of the body but I still make small mistakes that add up. I still have trouble figuring out how to foreshorten the rib cage, that is something tricky.
I have started my final shell drawing and I must say I am trying harder this time and working on it more. I think I wasn't as successful on my other shells because I over thought the idea of cross contour and just thought of it as a grid. I think that's where I went wrong. With this shell drawing I am slowing down and stopping drawing when I get annoyed; I want to enjoy drawing the shell and I think I would just power through not liking what I was creating. I am also treating the cross contour more as a guideline and trying to think of the lines as cross hatching as well. Stepping back every few minutes help too; I would stare at the paper for too long too close.
Below is the final drawing from our long pose on Tuesday.
I have started my final shell drawing and I must say I am trying harder this time and working on it more. I think I wasn't as successful on my other shells because I over thought the idea of cross contour and just thought of it as a grid. I think that's where I went wrong. With this shell drawing I am slowing down and stopping drawing when I get annoyed; I want to enjoy drawing the shell and I think I would just power through not liking what I was creating. I am also treating the cross contour more as a guideline and trying to think of the lines as cross hatching as well. Stepping back every few minutes help too; I would stare at the paper for too long too close.
Below is the final drawing from our long pose on Tuesday.
Those Forgotten Feet
I forgot to blog about when we drew feet a few weeks back so I thought I would take some time and write about the experience of feet.
We first started out by learning some of the bones of the feet. For me i seemed to know or remember the bones of the feet/hand better. Maybe because of the anatomy class I took in high school we went over the tarsals and carpals quite a few times. I am one of those people that remembers either useless facts or something that has been told to me over and over again.
The feet were interesting to draw to say the least. I had a tricky time making the feet not look like one fat, flat object. There seems to be some trouble when trying to draw the bottom of the feet as well as trying to draw the top, to separate the two. Trying to make feet look like there is a roundness to them is a puzzle to me. I had to draw and redraw them over and over.
Below are some of the drawings that I did in class of feet. Exciting, I know!
Also, on a side note, here are some images from my senior show! Hope you enjoy!
This next photo is my friends helping me take down my show and we decided to have a photo shoot!
We first started out by learning some of the bones of the feet. For me i seemed to know or remember the bones of the feet/hand better. Maybe because of the anatomy class I took in high school we went over the tarsals and carpals quite a few times. I am one of those people that remembers either useless facts or something that has been told to me over and over again.
The feet were interesting to draw to say the least. I had a tricky time making the feet not look like one fat, flat object. There seems to be some trouble when trying to draw the bottom of the feet as well as trying to draw the top, to separate the two. Trying to make feet look like there is a roundness to them is a puzzle to me. I had to draw and redraw them over and over.
Below are some of the drawings that I did in class of feet. Exciting, I know!
Also, on a side note, here are some images from my senior show! Hope you enjoy!
This next photo is my friends helping me take down my show and we decided to have a photo shoot!
Saturday, December 12, 2009
Attempting Hands and Shells
Before this last week it had been a while since I had drawn anything. I had missed the Tuesday before Thanksgiving because of a painting field trip so it's been about 2 weeks so I was feeling a little rusty.
In class on Tuesday, we started out discussing the face. We talked about the definitions for parts of the face. It was also interesting to learn about the different planes the face has and how to draw them successfully. It was hard to think of the nose having a top, bottom and side planes but it makes sense now that I think about it but I found it difficult to draw; to create space and structure for the nose as well as other facial parts was a challenge. When drawing faces, I thought it was hard to get the eyes to sit back and not seen like they were floating in front of the head. Another thing that was difficult to do was being drawn. It was weird to have someone drawing you and just having to sit and wait.
We also had a critique about our shells since some of us missed the critique on Tuesday, November 24 because of the painting field trip. I still am struggling with the cross contour shell drawing. I think I am getting better though. I think my problem is that I am over thinking things and not enjoying drawing the shell. This last time that we draw the shell, I am going to try just drawing the shell and not over analyzing it.
In class on Thursday, we started drawing hands, using the same information that we got from the feet lecture. I think that drawing the hands was easier than drawing the face but again problems arouse. I think that problem was being able to get the hand drawings to look like they had mass. It was hard to draw the poses of the hands when they were foreshortening or bent.
Below are some images of some hands and then my last shell drawing.
In class on Tuesday, we started out discussing the face. We talked about the definitions for parts of the face. It was also interesting to learn about the different planes the face has and how to draw them successfully. It was hard to think of the nose having a top, bottom and side planes but it makes sense now that I think about it but I found it difficult to draw; to create space and structure for the nose as well as other facial parts was a challenge. When drawing faces, I thought it was hard to get the eyes to sit back and not seen like they were floating in front of the head. Another thing that was difficult to do was being drawn. It was weird to have someone drawing you and just having to sit and wait.
We also had a critique about our shells since some of us missed the critique on Tuesday, November 24 because of the painting field trip. I still am struggling with the cross contour shell drawing. I think I am getting better though. I think my problem is that I am over thinking things and not enjoying drawing the shell. This last time that we draw the shell, I am going to try just drawing the shell and not over analyzing it.
In class on Thursday, we started drawing hands, using the same information that we got from the feet lecture. I think that drawing the hands was easier than drawing the face but again problems arouse. I think that problem was being able to get the hand drawings to look like they had mass. It was hard to draw the poses of the hands when they were foreshortening or bent.
Below are some images of some hands and then my last shell drawing.
Saturday, November 21, 2009
field trips and skulls, my two favorite things
This past Tuesday we went on our field trip to the bodies exhibit and the MIA. I had never been to anything like the bodies exhibit so it was really interesting to see. I had envisioned what it would look like but there was so much more. Everything had so much detail and there was an abundance of information, the information was almost overwhelming at times. I thought the section with the nerves was really intense, to think that we have that many nerves is unreal. I also thought the nerves looked very beautiful, especially the ones that contained the red and blue nerves together, visually very appealing. The section that i remember the most was the part with the fetuses, it freaks me out to think of something growing inside of a person. I liked the part where they showed the size the fetus would be at certain weeks. It amazes me how much the fetus grows in such a short time.
At the MIA, i love going up to the third floor to check out the Chuck Close and the other contemporary artists. Another piece that i had never seen was the Kehinde Wiley, on the second floor. The Wiley piece is placed with all the traditional paintings which is extremely interesting and fit quite well with the traditional artists. I loved his painting of the figure, his ability to foreshorten the figure is amazing and is beautifully done. There was also a new exhibition by Michael Kareken, which looked extremely interesting. They were still putting up the exhibition but what they had looked promising.
On Thursday, we started drawing the skull. I was interested in learning how to draw the skull. I think it went pretty good, i am still struggling with cross contours. I am starting to understand the structure of the skull, at least it seemed to be going better. We drew the skull twice, each for an hour and 15 minutes. I think it helped to draw the skull for a longer time period so I could concentrate and not feel rushed.
Below are the two drawings of the skull.
At the MIA, i love going up to the third floor to check out the Chuck Close and the other contemporary artists. Another piece that i had never seen was the Kehinde Wiley, on the second floor. The Wiley piece is placed with all the traditional paintings which is extremely interesting and fit quite well with the traditional artists. I loved his painting of the figure, his ability to foreshorten the figure is amazing and is beautifully done. There was also a new exhibition by Michael Kareken, which looked extremely interesting. They were still putting up the exhibition but what they had looked promising.
On Thursday, we started drawing the skull. I was interested in learning how to draw the skull. I think it went pretty good, i am still struggling with cross contours. I am starting to understand the structure of the skull, at least it seemed to be going better. We drew the skull twice, each for an hour and 15 minutes. I think it helped to draw the skull for a longer time period so I could concentrate and not feel rushed.
Below are the two drawings of the skull.
Saturday, November 14, 2009
body language
This is my first post since midterm. I have been horribly neglecting my blogging responsibilities, hopefully I will remind myself to do this weekly. Honestly, and this is not excuse, but with my senior show right around the corner I have been ignoring all of my classes and just concentrating on painting. I have been trying to balance all my classes better for the second half of the semester. Below I have added the image of the postcard for my senior show! I am doing my show with two fellow art educators: Tracy Considine and Lance Schott. Our show is up from November 30 to December 4. Woot!
The last couple of weeks we have been working on the drawing the body and redoing the muscles. I have been really trying hard to get the muscles right but I think my problem was i was only looking at a few of the pictures in the book, not all of the images, which show how much muscle should be showing and the thickness of the muscles. It helped me immensely when i would google the names of the muscles and then look at the muscle and the surrounding ones, then I could see how the muscles worked together. I must admit, even though I think I am understanding how to create the muscles better, I still am not the greatest at it.
In class we have begun working on the feet, looking at the bone structure and the muscles on the foot. I think the foot is really hard to draw, it is a task to make the foot look 3-Dimensional, not just flat and fat. Doing the cross contour helps create the idea of arches that the foot has but cross contour is hard too.
Maybe I should just say that EVERYTHING about Life Drawing is hard and I struggle a lot in the class. There I said it. Let's put it behind us and work through it.
Speaking of using cross contour on the foot, we had another assignment to draw a shell using cross contour. This time drawing the shell went smoother but I still don't think I am using cross contours correctly. I need to be more organic when drawing the contours and less mechanical. Being more fluid with my lines will help my drawings be more effective and will help with making the shell look more 3-D.
So below are two images. The first is my shell and the second is a one hour drawing the I did in class.
The last couple of weeks we have been working on the drawing the body and redoing the muscles. I have been really trying hard to get the muscles right but I think my problem was i was only looking at a few of the pictures in the book, not all of the images, which show how much muscle should be showing and the thickness of the muscles. It helped me immensely when i would google the names of the muscles and then look at the muscle and the surrounding ones, then I could see how the muscles worked together. I must admit, even though I think I am understanding how to create the muscles better, I still am not the greatest at it.
In class we have begun working on the feet, looking at the bone structure and the muscles on the foot. I think the foot is really hard to draw, it is a task to make the foot look 3-Dimensional, not just flat and fat. Doing the cross contour helps create the idea of arches that the foot has but cross contour is hard too.
Maybe I should just say that EVERYTHING about Life Drawing is hard and I struggle a lot in the class. There I said it. Let's put it behind us and work through it.
Speaking of using cross contour on the foot, we had another assignment to draw a shell using cross contour. This time drawing the shell went smoother but I still don't think I am using cross contours correctly. I need to be more organic when drawing the contours and less mechanical. Being more fluid with my lines will help my drawings be more effective and will help with making the shell look more 3-D.
So below are two images. The first is my shell and the second is a one hour drawing the I did in class.
Sunday, October 25, 2009
Midterm Portfolio
Since the beginning of Life Drawing, I feel as if I have learned so much. At the beginning I knew nothing about drawing the human body and about the muscles and bones of the body. Now I know so much more, though I feel that there is much, much more to learn and not enough time to do it. Knowing the basics have helped me with drawing and in my other art classes.
One of my strengths is that I am willing to learn, grow and absorb as much information as possible. Another strengths is my gesture drawings, I think I struggled in the beginning but have learned how to create an effective gesture drawing.
One of my weaknesses is that I am not a fast learner, so learning all of the names of the muscles is really tricky, even learning what lateral and posterior were was hard. I also think one of my weaknesses is getting the body to look like it has weight and isn't flat.
Something that I would like learn more about is being able to look at the human body and see the muscles and then draw them correctly. I think knowing where the muscles are will help improve my drawings and make me a better artist. Also, I would like to learn how to give the body shape, not seem as flat so it looks like it has weight to it. The third thing that I would like to learn is how to foreshorten the body correctly. I have always had problems drawing things that need to be foreshortened, so I think it would be extremely beneficial if I understood how to do this, for myself and my future students.
Below is the link to images of my mannequin, shell, gesture and thirty minute drawings.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/44068237@N04/sets/72157622554545567/
One of my strengths is that I am willing to learn, grow and absorb as much information as possible. Another strengths is my gesture drawings, I think I struggled in the beginning but have learned how to create an effective gesture drawing.
One of my weaknesses is that I am not a fast learner, so learning all of the names of the muscles is really tricky, even learning what lateral and posterior were was hard. I also think one of my weaknesses is getting the body to look like it has weight and isn't flat.
Something that I would like learn more about is being able to look at the human body and see the muscles and then draw them correctly. I think knowing where the muscles are will help improve my drawings and make me a better artist. Also, I would like to learn how to give the body shape, not seem as flat so it looks like it has weight to it. The third thing that I would like to learn is how to foreshorten the body correctly. I have always had problems drawing things that need to be foreshortened, so I think it would be extremely beneficial if I understood how to do this, for myself and my future students.
Below is the link to images of my mannequin, shell, gesture and thirty minute drawings.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/44068237@N04/sets/72157622554545567/
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
