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.