Week 14 & Final Reflection

So here it is the final week, and the final post! I enjoyed this class very much and I know that I learned a lot. I think I learned more in this studio class than I have in any other studio class while here at Stout. I had some experience with painting, drawing, ceramics, and design before I came to college. However, I had no experience with life drawing. I came into this class with little to no prior knowledge to fall back on. Of course I knew what the human form looked like, I knew about human proportions, but I had very little experience in drawing them, and no experience drawing them from life. I am happy that I took this class, because I think it is something all people who are entering the artworld should have at least some knowledge about.

I am also happy with the progress I’ve made since the beginning of the semester, and even since midterm. I cringe a little bit while looking back on the first gesture drawings and the early poses. While my current drawings are not perfect, they have improved tremendously. My knowledge of the human form have improved, my knowledge of the internal structures, and I think most importantly, my knowledge of the way the human body moves and carries itself has improved, all of which comes through in my drawings.

I really enjoyed the gesture drawings. Drawing quickly is my strength, and the gesture drawings allow me to do what I feel I do best. I have also come to appreciate the long poses, however. They have taught me how to slow down and be patient, as well as how to understand my own ways of creating. However, I struggled immensely with the mannequin assignment. I spent more time on that aspect of this course than any other, sad to say, and I think it looks worse than anything else I have produced in this class. That is certainly discouraging. 

In my midterm reflection, I said that I hoped to improve as much in the last half of the semester as I did in the first half. I can say without a doubt that I have achieved that goal. To see my improvements through my final portfolio, click here. 

And Happy Holidays, everybody :) 

Week 13

 This week, our third shell contour drawing was due. This drawing also included an ink wash, which I was nervous about at first, but wound up really enjoying the ink. I had never worked with ink before, but have always enjoyed the way it looked and the mood it conveyed. The object of the assignment was to define the form of the shell with the contours in a way that somebody who had no knowledge of what a shell looked like would be able to define it. I’m not sure if my lines were successful in that sense, but I do think it was the best contour drawing I have done to date. The ink was supposed to suggest water and represent the waves of the ocean. The ink and the lines were supposed to relate to each other, almost as though the waves formed the shell. Again, I’m not sure if my ink relates overly well to the form of the shell, but I do find it successful from a visual standpoint.

We also spent time on the hand this week. We didn’t spend a lot of time on the hand, because they are very similar to the feet, which we spent a good amount of time on already. It was good to learn about the planes of the hand, because whenever I drew thumbs, they turned out looking strange and almost disconnected from the rest of the hand. Amy explained that this is because the thumb is located on the side plane of the hand, while the rest of the fingers are on the top plane. Good to know!

 We also went over the skull this week. I was excited for this, because the face is one of my favorite subjects to draw. It was interesting to learn about the internal structure of the skull and the cranium and how that related to the face the facial features. Amy explained that the eye sockets were one of the most important features to convey, which is contrary to what many people think. I am pleased with the way my drawings turned out this week, because I can see that I am making progress, which is always encouraging! 

Week 12

This week was spent learning about the shoulder blades. I was glad we spent some time on this, because when I did gesture drawings my figure's arms always looked detached, or somehow disconnected from the torso. The shoulder blades helped me to bridge that gap and my drawings look more successful because of it. We spent some time doing gesture drawings which included the shoulder blades. This was good, because after having a week off for Thanksgiving, I needed some time to practice and get back in the swing of drawing again. It's amazing how much you forget after what seems like such a short time. I do think my gesture drawings are improving and are more accurate formally. 

 


For the second half of class, we worked on a long pose. I am actually pretty excited because I think it is by far the most successful long pose I have done as of yet. The form and proportion are accurate and the figure has depth, which is what has been a difficult concept for me to create in my life drawings. It has been much easier for me to draw and create depth while drawing from a 2-D image, because it is easier for my brain to translate something 2-D into a 2-D drawing than it is to translate a 3-D form into a 2-D drawing. I am glad that I am understanding this concept better, because it is something I have felt a little self-conscious about in my art classes.

I hope I will be able to apply my better understanding of the shoulder blades to creating the muscles on my Maniken. I have been dreading doing that assignment, to be honest, because while I understand that it important and useful, the Maniken has been a very frustrating, exasperating experience for me. 

Week 11

We only had one day of class this week due to Thanksgiving Break. The day was spent at the Walker and the Bell Museum. I had just been to the Walker a few weeks prior, but it was nice to go back and look at things I had missed on the previous trip. One piece that I really enjoyed was a piece of what looked like thin tinfoil that moved and hovered above the ground. It was captivating in its slow, subtle movements and the way the light caught the foil as it moved. It sparked a sort of child-like fascination in me, as it seemed almost magical in the way it moved, visually independent from any force. After the Walker, we went to the Bell museum of Natural History. I really enjoyed this museum as well. It was interesting to see the animals in what would be their natural habitats. Many of the animals were very familiar to me, however some were not. I have always thought it was cool to see the fake water they use to place the ducks and other aquatic animals in. I enjoy seeing the surface above the water as well as the surface below. It is something that I would not be able to see in typical, everyday life, which is what I enjoy in art. While we were at the Bell, we were asked to do a drawing of one of the animals. I chose the crane, because I enjoyed its legs and feet and found something slightly human about them. I am fairly satisfied with how my drawing turned out, I only wish there had been more time to do another drawing of something more "skeletal" or something that could relate to class more. Overall, I think it was a positive experience.

Week 10

Class was cancelled on Tuesday, but Thursday was spent practicing and learning how to apply ink to our shell drawings. I think I finally got the drawing the cross contour shell, which made me nervous to dump ink all over it. I spent a lot of time observing the form and creating the lines so they moved across the form and defined the shape, rather than making the form look striped and flat. I used a brown and yellow pigment which had some shimmer in the ink. I wasn’t sure if the shimmer would be a problem, but I found it to be very subtle and it wasn’t as distracting as I thought it might be. I started very quietly with the ink, afraid of wrecking the drawing, but I soon discovered that I needed to be less afraid and use the ink intentionally and definitely. It was good thing to practice, as it helped me to be less nervous about the ink. I found the shell I did for practice to be too washy and the ink didn’t help define the form. That is something I will have to work out for the final drawing. 

Week 9

There was only one day of class this week due to mid-program reviews, so there was less production this week. The “part two” of our cross contour shell drawings were due this week. I personally feel like I took a step backward in my drawing. I tried so hard to incorporate the comments and suggestions I was given from my first drawing that I paid more attention to things like line weight and diagonal axis than I did to the actual form of the shell. You would think that my line weight and diagonal axis would be an improvement from the first since I spent so much time concentrating on those elements, however that is not the case. The whole composition was a disastrous regression. As disappointed as I am about that fact, it seems to be the general consensus amongst many of my classmates as well. As discussed in my group for critique, we hope to take the best of the first and what we attempted to do in the second and create a successful third piece.

We will be applying ink to our third and fourth drawings, so I am looking forward to that. I have never worked much with ink and my few attempts with watercolor were years ago. This will be an interesting experience for me. I have always enjoyed the surrealism that can be achieved through successful ink washes and I hope to achieve some of that in my attempts. We will be practicing with ink next week in class, which I am excited about. I am interested in how the ink and brush might relate to painting, which is my concentration. I would like to incorporate some of my painterly style into my ink work, but don’t know how the medium will react to my hand. We will just have to wait and see!

We also spent a significant time in class working with the feet. This is an intimidating matter for me, as the hands and feet have always been the most difficult for me. There is little room for error due to their very specific shape and bony nature. I think they will take practice to really get down, but the lecture about bone structure was very helpful. The differences in my drawings from before the lectures and after the lectures are always drastic. It seems I need to understand the internal nature of something before I can successfully capture the external nature. 

Week 8

This week in class we concentrated on the leg and knee. I worked with the thigh muscles on my Maniken and will most definitely be re-doing them. I am a little frustrated with this process because it seems that no matter how long I spend or how closely I observe, they look pretty awful! However, I know it is a valuable exercise and in the end will help me understand the human form better. I have redone my Maniken once now, some muscle sets I have done three or four times and I am at least relieved to say that every time I redo it, the better I get, so that is encouraging.

We spent quite a bit of time this week on long poses, which I had really struggled with in the beginning of the semester. I had trouble slowing down and being patient with myself and my work. I usually work very fast, and to some degree thrive off of instant gratification in my work. It has been a great learning experience for me to be forced to slow down and observe the forms more carefully. I have noticed a great improvement in my long poses since the beginning of the semester. My understanding of the internal structure of the body has expanded, which in turn has allowed the external form to come more naturally. I am still convinced, however, that the human form is the most difficult thing to draw or replicate! If one line, shape or proportion is off, even by just a little bit, the whole form looks very, very wrong. It is certainly not a forgiving subject matter, which puts me as the artist in a great position to learn. I feel like life drawing is a combination of art and science, and therefore exercises a different part of the brain than most art classes. While this aspect has been one of the most difficult for me, I also find it to be the most exciting!

Week 7-Midterm Reflection

This week was spent on the hip muscles on our manikens, as well as a long, 2 hour pose. I am struggling with my maniken. I spend a lot of time on the muscles and I really look at the images in the book, but I can never seem to make them look correct. I also feel like I have extra muscles on my maniken, but I'm not sure where they came from. I have already started over completely from scratch once and I have a feeling that might happen again before semester's end!

I also spent quite a bit of time on the long pose during class. I don't think I had ever spent 2 hours drawing any one thing before, so that was a new experience for me. I tend to draw really quickly, so slowing down has been a challenge, but I do think it is a good thing to learn. The extra time allows me to observe really closely as well as to erase and start over if necessary. I ran into some difficulty when drawing the top half of the body. I originally drew it too tall which made the figure look out of proportion. The sketch Amy did for me as an example was very helpful in allowing me to see what was 

actually in front of me rather than what I thought was in front of me. 

Midterm Reflection: 

I am a little bit shocked to find myself in the midst of midterms already. It seems to go so quickly, and the closer I get to my graduation date the faster it seems to go. I am satisfied with the progress I have made from the beginning of the semester until now. I have improved greatly and my understanding of the human form and how it moves has expanded to a deeper level. When I look back on the gesture drawings that were done during the first week of class, I can see how my understanding has broadened. The sense of movement in the figures has changed dramatically as well as the proportions and shapes of the forms. That being said, there is still much room for more improvements. I expect myself to improve as much in the second half of the semester as I did in the first half. In art, one is never done developing and learning. I hope to continue this process and am excited to see where my drawings will be in another 6 weeks. To see the progress I have made via my midterm portfolio, click here. 

Week 6

This week was spent critiquing the cross contour shell drawings. I found myself struggling with the shell drawing because I would get lost in the shapes and forms of the shell and lose track of what I had drawn and what I hadn't. My shell is very geometric and has many points which also made things difficult. I haven't done a cross contour drawing in a very long time, so that fact compounded the issue. I was very intimidated when I sat down in front of my paper. I didn't know where to begin on the paper. Mapping the shell out on the page was the first obstacle I needed to overcome. I usually draw on a much smaller scale, so creating the composition took some time, along with a coupe sheets of paper. I had really struggled with creating the cross contour drawing, but was pretty happy with the end result.

However, there is plenty of room for improvement. The line weight in my drawing is all pretty consistent, so I need to work on varying the weight of the line to create more dimension. I understand the concept of line weight, but it is harder for me to put that concept into action. I need to push the range of my lights and darks as well. My entire composition remains a pretty consistent neutral gray. I want to concentrate on this issue the most for my next drawing. I also want to show dimension through darkening the forms closest to the viewer and lightening the forms that go further back in space. I also need to work on the "spiral" of the shell to more accurately illustrate the motion of the form. I hope this assignment will come a little easier the next time around and that I will improve with each attempt.

Week 5

Classes were cancelled both days this week, so I took the opportunity to completely re-do my entire maniken. I took all the clay off and started over from scratch. I think the experience that I gained from doing the first set of muscles, however poorly they were done, allowed me to do a better job the second time around. I do feel like this time around was much more successful. I still think there is still much room for improvement, but I am happy with how far it has come since the beginning of the semester.

Week 4

Shell Contour, Practice Drawing

This week we were assigned our first shell homework assignment. We practiced in class by creating contour line drawings of our shells. The objective is to make the planar shifts within the shell very clear to the viewer. Creating volume with line is also important. I enjoyed studying the forms in my shell and discovering new shapes and forms that I had not noticed before. However, it is also difficult because my shell has some very complex structures and sometimes I get lost while navigating through the shell and lose track of where I am and what I have drawn. I think this will be an important obstacle to overcome in my future drawings. It was also difficult for me to illustrate the roundness in my shell with only line. I have been so trained to show volume through value and shading that it might take a few tries for my brain to understand the shift in process.

Relative Measurement Drawing

We also learned a new technique called relative measurement. I struggled with this technique, because what my brain wanted to tell me was different from what my eyes were telling me. I try to keep in mind an excellent piece of advice given to me by my dad: "draw what you see, not what you know" however, that is easier said than done! This technique was supposed to help with that battle, however I think it will take some more practice for me. We were to draw what we saw, or what we thought we saw, and then measure the angles in relation to other angles or landmarks on the body and make corrections. I think this is a good technique to master and use when drawing, especially for long poses, however I think it is going to take more practice before it becomes helpful to me.

Week 3

This week was spent working on the rib cage. We spent a lot of time on the skeletal structure of the ribs and their placement on the body. I thought it was interesting to learn about the various landmarks on the body such as the pit of the neck and the pit of the stomach. Keeping those points in mind will help me to see the placement of the ribcage on the model and translate it more accurately in my drawings. It is also important because this is the area from which a majority of the body's movements begin. The spine allows for all movement in the body and the ribcage is directly related. Understanding the way movement channels through the torso and upper body will be an important concept in understanding the human form.

We spent some time drawing only the spinal column and the ribcage. We were taught to imagine the ribcage as an egg, which made it easier to envision something that I had never actually seen before. It was interesting to see how a very subtle difference in angle of either could change the movement and pose so drastically.

We also spent some time doing longer poses which included the whole figure. We were still instructed to draw the spinal column and the rib cage first, then add the rest of the figure around them. It was amazing to see the difference in how my figures were structured when I drew them this way, rather than starting with the head as I normally would. I believe this way of drawing allows for more accuracy in the finished form, as well as helps describe the pose the model was in. It is also true that if the spine and ribcage aren't in the correct placement, the rest of the figure will be incorrect as well, so drawing those first will allow the rest of the figure to fall into place with a little more ease. It will be important for me to keep this thought in mind when doing my drawings.

Week 2

I got to have my first experience with drawing a live model this week. As all new things, it was exciting, but also a little intimidating. I was surprised that some of the gestural drawings came intuitively for me, but the longer drawings did not. It seemed the more time I had to look at the forms and try to translate them through onto my paper, the more obscure and difficult it became. Perhaps this is a result of thinking too much, or maybe it's just a normal response. 

We also did gesture drawings in which we only drew the long axis lines. I struggle with this type of gesture drawing because it is difficult for me to see the long axis within some of the forms. I also feel like they end up looking like stick people rather than gestural drawing of a live model. This process did not come as naturally to me as the former gestural drawings, however I think this is the type of drawing that the teacher is looking for. I only hope I get better at finding the long axis and translating it into my drawings. It is supposed to describe the figure and define the pose with as few lines as possible, but mine is certainly not doing that, at least not at this point!

I have also started working on "Sergi" my Maniken. We were assigned the Spinal Erectors, which were extremely difficult for me. I have always been more of a 2-D artist, so thinking in 3-D is a little more difficult for me. I feel like the muscles look flat and mis-shaped, as well as a little atrophied. I spent quite a bit of time on these muscles, but I'm not sure you would know it by looking at them! I do hope I improve with this process throughout the semester. 

Week 1

Continuous Line Drawing, 30 minutes

Tuesday was spent working on shell drawings. I found it interesting to examine the shell and discover its similarities to the human body. The curves, the angles, the points and the smooth surface are all reminiscent of the skeleton, which is not a connection I had ever thought about or observed before. We started class with blind contour drawings. This gave me an opportunity to really study the shapes within the shell without worrying about how accurately I they were being portrayed on my paper. We then drew the shell once more, this time while looking at the paper, but using only one, continuous line. This gave me an opportunity to follow the contours and see the shell as shapes inside a form. This allowed me to draw what I saw, not what I thought the shell should look like. This activity also gave me a chance to really focus on my line and mark making, which is something I think I can improve upon during this course.

Spinal Study, 3/4 view, 5 minutes

Thursday was spent studying the spinal curves. We studied each spinal section individually to define visual landmarks which would allow us to have a reference point while doing our model drawings. It was also discussed that the spine is where all movement begins, so mastering the spine will be the first step to mastering movement in the human body. We then drew quick sketches from the skeleton models from four different angles. The goal of these drawings was to accurately, but quickly depict the spinal curves from the neck to the pelvis. I was surprised to observe how dramatic the curves actually are. One doesn't usually think of the spine as being so curvaceous. I knew the curves were there just by knowing my own body, but I still thought of the spine as a pillar of strength, which to me conjured up images of straightness. Understanding the forms in the spine and its curves will be very helpful in understanding the figure as a whole. 

Introduction

Buffalo, Erica Mathieson, 2009

My name is Erica and I am an art education student. Art is my passion and I can't think of anything greater to do with this gift than to inspire the minds of the young to create art as well. I will forever be a child at heart and that is reflected in my work. I am excited to broaden my technical skills in drawing the human form as it will enrich my life much more than just artistically. I find that drawing the human form, specifically the face, allows me to feel more connected to humanity, both my own and that of others. It helps me to relate to others, as well as helps me to feel as though perhaps I am not as different from everyone else as I sometimes feel. I look forward to what I will learn and feel during the semester to come.

George, Erica Mathieson, 2009

I am also looking forward to this course because drawing is my favorite media to work in. I have always thought in pictures, so drawing comes most naturally to me. I can use my drawing tool as an extension of my self and allow my hands to do the thinking. I do not get the same freedom of expression with painting or other medias, however I do still enjoy working in them.

I am inspired by dreams and fantasy and enjoy incorporating those elements into my work. I create in my art the things I will never get to see in "real life". I feel as though it allows for an experience that both the artist and the viewer get to partake in. I hope to discover how to allow some of that to shine through in my life drawing pieces this semester. 

Surrealism Series, Erica Mathieson, 2009