Final Reflections

Well the semester is ending and our Life Drawing I class is coming to a close.  In this our final blog of the semester our focus is looking back and reflecting on all we’ve learned.

I can’t speak for anyone else but in reading other students blog entries I have to think most would agree it’s been an educational experience.  I think for me the obstacle I found it hardest to overcome was drawing without outlines.  

As far as what I have learned I guess, after again looking at my sketch pad in chosen images for my Midterm portfolio, this time with a more critical eye, my main expectation then for the rest of the semester was to follow directions, always include the ribcage, pelvis, and long axis in my drawing and work/draw slowly. To this end I think I have followed through with what I expected of myself although the slowing down I think tended to hurt me in gesture drawings.

While not a required class, being an art major with a concentration in multimedia with an interest in 3D modeling/Animation, I’m sure the things I learned will aid greatly in portraying not only my characters in a more realistic form but aid in creating their movements also.

In conclusion, while I found Life Drawing I extremely challenging I throughly enjoyed the class and believe I learned a lot.  I think the total extent of what knowledge I gained has yet to be realized as I’m sure someday I’ll step back from one of my drawings and say in wonder “Now where did I learn that from, yep Life Drawing I. 

Shell IV

Here is the last of my shell drawings, I was semi pleased with the way it turned out but see a lot that could be improved and, as I said at Midterm please stop by my Final Portfolio and I look forward to any comments you care to share,

Field Trip !!!

Well the plan for this week was the field trip to the Walker Museum of Modern Art and Bell Museum of Natural History both located in Minneapolis.  The trip got off to a slow start when there was a mix up in the bus scheduling and instead of leaving at 9:30 as planned it was close to 11 when were finally underway.

On a side note due to the bus mix-up and although it was not Cathy’s fault she felt bad and furnished treats for the class at a later date.

This meant we were only able to spend a short time at the Walker, which was ok with me.  I must just be a traditionalist at heart as I found the majority of pieces at the Walker pointless…  I did enjoy the photographs of a Minnesota native.  These pieces were more up my alley. 

We then moved on to the Bell Museum of Natural History where I wandered off on my own and admired all the taxidermy work.  Being an avid camper I enjoyed seeing all the animals, I have yet to see in the wild, in their semi realistic habitats.

"Lynx"

We were tasked with doing a drawing while at the Bell Museum and I chose the Lynx.  Here is my rendition I’m almost pleased with the way it turned out but wish I’d more time to put him in his environment.

Foot Fetish ? NOT

    I being a red blooded male enjoy the sight of a nicely turned leg as well as the next guy but feet... No thanks I think most feet are ugly and would chose not to include them in the majority of drawings I have done of figures.

  That being said I think once Amy showed us and explained how the bones and muscles of the foot work togather and are in fact are made up of side and top planes my drawings of feet may well go from flat flipper type appenages to perhaps a shaply foot in a nice high heel.  I also think now more of my drawings of people will no longer end at the ankle. I'm sure my subjects will approve.     
Here is a long drawing I did of K's foot and while I'll be the first to admit there is vast room for improvement you should have seen some in the past.

Mid-Term Portfolio Reflections

     Well, here it is the end of October, the trees have shed most of their leaves, and kids are dressing in costumes hoping for a full bag of candy.  These facts can only mean one thing the semester is half over and questions are being raised as to what have I learned thus far.
     As this blog is a of Life Drawing I I'll start there.  As one can see from the examples from my MidTerm Portfolio I am having real difficulty grasping the concept of drawing with lines, not outlines.  I have always been more of a "sketcher" than a artist so I find my first instinct is to look at the outline instead of the form.  This will be the main focus of things I expect of myself by the end of the semester.   Another issue that I am having difficulty with is, like others in the class, in trying to complete a finished drawing whenever the model remains still for a "long drawing" session.  This leads to another expectation for myself the final half of the semester which is to slow down in my drawings.    I also need to work on drawing lighter when starting a drawing.  I think that by doing this I will be more able to insure the proportions in my drawing are correct before the marks are already too dark.

Gesture III

Although it still has outlines I think my favorite gesture drawing thus far in the semester has to be "Gesture III"  I think I did a good job of getting the proportions correct, included the ribcage, pelvis,  and long axis of the thigh. 

       I guess, after again looking at my sketch pad in choosing images for my  MidTerm Portfolio ,this time with a more critical eye,  my main expectation for myself for the rest of the semester is to follow directions, always include the ribcage, pelvis, and long axis in my drawing and work/draw slowly.
      
      Thanks for stopping by and I look forward to any comments you care to share,

Shell Shocked

       This was an interesting as well as shocking week for me. 

       On Tuesday the first of our four drawing of our shell was due.  Amy had set certain criteria for our drawings such as There should be an identifiable diagonal axis with one end of the shell further away.  No outline (the outline should be implied by the contour). Every line should change direction at least once denoting a plane change.   The drawing should include the whole shell while maximizing the paper.   Amy also stated the drawing should take 4 to 5 hours stressing the need to draw slowly, tracing each contour as all organic form varies.  

Shell

  Here is the actual shell in the view I drew it,

Shell I

and my rendition of it.







We spent a short time in class on Tuesday doing peer critiques of our group members shell drawing taking note of  how well we/they had adhered to the criteria set.  Some of the comments I received from my group members were "Nice Line variation", "Diagonal axis present but could be developed more", "Proportion of shell spiral not quite right",  "Drawing shows nice sense of space",  "More outlines than needed". 
    Thursdays class we spent some time doing gesture drawings with the model with the proportions of ribcage to pelvis being stressed.  The class then moved into a prolonged pose while Amy took small groups aside for a more detailed critique of our shell drawings.  Amy further stresses the need for a deeper axis,  less outlines, and explained the easiest way to draw concave curves is to "draw like you are drawing the outside of the curve" 
     I agreed with the comments received from both my small group members as well as Amy and recognize there is great room for improvement in my next shell drawing.

Manfreds got "Back"

    Yep, as the title says "ManFred" now has back.  It was kind of a strange week.  Tuesday Amy cut class short due to it being extremely warm in the studio (workman/chiller line mishap or so I heard) so after a quick lecture on the major muscles/fasciae of the posterior (Gluteus minimus, Gluteus medius, Tensor fasciae latae, and, Gluteus maximus(Iliac and axial head)) we were turned loose to create muscles of clay for our Manikins by Thursday.  Thursday's class came and again I'm sorry to the rest of the class... but class was canceled due to Amy being under the weather.
     A bright spot this week in regards to my drawing/drawing skills.  While not a total "Eureka" moment I stepped back from my easel and there it was.... a somewhat recognizable facsimile of the model and, if I squinted just right I was able to tell myself it wasn't terrible just that I had a lot of room for improvement.  It did make me feel better in relation to my wondering what I thought I was doing in a Life Drawing I class. So perhaps there is a light at the end of the tunnel that isn't railroad related.

Abs of "Clay"?

    Once again we were given an assignment regarding our Manikins.  Last week, having reviewed the abdominal muscles and their importance in keeping our organs from falling out, we were tasked with placing three of the ab muscles (Quadratus lumborum, Rectus abdominis, and, Obliquus externus abdominis) in clay on our Manikins.

6 pack anyone?

"to be replaced"

    However on a side note, in reference to my manikin "ManFred", after a brief critique of the spinal erector muscles I had constructed, and seeing the level of craftsmanship expected..."Manfred" will be getting an new and improved set of the a fore mentioned spinal erectors.

Ribs - "Tasty"

    Yep, ribs were on the menu for class on Thursday,  How to draw them, not how they are best prepared....
   We started by learning that by first picturing, then lightly sketching an egg gives an artist a very close representation of the form of the ribcage. We discussed in-depth the various muscles that make up the abdominal, the way that the fibers of the individual muscles although oriented in different directions, all work together to support and contain our "innards". We then went on to learn the landmarks places to look on the model to determine proper placement of the ribcage in our drawings.

    Speaking of our drawings, I am still having difficulty making any of my drawings resemble anything close to the human form and, as for the 30 second gesture drawings mine kind of appear as an elongated egg (the ribcage) on a curved stick (my representation of a spine).  I'm hoping one of these days I'll step back from the easel and recognize the shape as human.

Spinal Erectors.

Not My Best...

    I am pleased to announce my Manikin "ManFred" is the proud recipent of his first set of muscles.  Here is a picture of ManFred modeling his spinal erector muscle group.  As the weeks of class pass and the updates continue I urge you to stick around, or come back for a visit, as I'm sure ManFred will be more than willing to show off his increasingly muscular form...

Hello Again,

   Well, here it is the third week of school and already I sense the feeling of being slowly overwelmed is not far off.  So goes the life of a Art major at Stout.
   As I previously mentioned, this blog is an ongoing assignment for Life Drawing I, so I guess I should update the followers as to what we are learning, or have learned thus far.  As I mentioned in my last post we have jumped right in and started figure drawing but this week we were introduced to another method.   
   The new method is a bit more tactile than simply observing the human form followed by attempting to transfer those observations to a two-dimensional representation of the three-dimensional form.  On Thursday of the past week each member of the class was issued a Maniken.  I have dubbed mine "Man-Fred"

Man-Fred

"Man-Fred's" Muscle Material

Through the use of Jon Zahourek's method we will slowly over the remainder of the semester be adding the musculature to our Manikins using clay.  Another benefit of this method is we get to learn Latin...
   I do believe this will increase my ability to better understand the human form as I will be "creating"  the muscles in a three-dimensional form. This will allow me another way to "see" the form through my sense of touch. I think knowing what the muscles look like under the skin will aid in transferring what I see in front of me to paper through my drawings.
   So I guess in addition to my development as a better figure artist,  the design of this blog to more closely reflect me, Man-Fred makes a third thing you'll have to come back to check on the development of.

Realizations...

   Greetings & welcome to my One Point Perspective blog. And If you've been here before, welcome back.
   Well we are  now in the second week of Life Drawing I and .... Our actual drawing started with the class spending thirty minutes drawing a "blind contour" drawing of a shell each of us was assigned. Yep blank paper over the drawing hand, draw the shell's contours without "peeking"  I'm proud to say I didn't look at my drawing till the time was up. But...not proud enough of the result to post it here.   A critique by a small group of classmates suggested I had a nice variety in line weight and they were able to recognize it as a shell (nevertheless perhaps a shattered one) so maybe I'm just to critical of myself.

   Leaving the shells behind we moved on to 5 min drawings of the human torso from various angles.  These were based not on a model but a skeleton thus allowing us to see the spinal column from all angles. Using the spinal landmarks we learned in class, we worked on showing the form through simple line/shapes. 
    Here are two of my sketches.

While they are far from what I hoped, I think I am beginning to accomplish describing the human form through line.  As I mentioned in my introductory post stay tuned and watch me improve...

In The Beginning

As I notice the leaves changing colors, and see the ever increasing numbers of big yellow buses, I reflect back, finding it hard to believe that it has only been almost two years since, after becoming a victim of the economic downturn, I returned to the halls of academia
When I made the decision to return to school to attain a Bachelors of Fine Arts degree (Multimedia concentration) it was at an age closer to the average students father's age than the student themselves. This gap in time between obtaining an Associates of Applied Sciences (Graphic Arts Technology) degree and returning to the hallowed halls of UW Stout has led me to the realization that unless one keeps working with and applying their artistic skills over time those skills deteriorate quickly. I was first disappointed by my first drawing of Drawing II class to quietly pleased with the progress I had made by the end of the semester.

First Drawing of Drawing II

Last Drawing of Drawing II

As a requirement to obtaining my degree I have had the opportunity to be exposed to other subjects expecting to produce a well-rounded graduate...  I was surprised to find that it was one of these non-art related classes, Sociology in fact, that had became my favorite thus far.  Perhaps this was because it gave me the ability to understand the sociological reasons for so much of what I have experienced thus far in life.
While the driving force behind this blog is an on-going Life Drawing I assignment, I was eager to enroll in Life Drawing I as, I believe, no one can truly consider themselves an artist unless they are able to accurately portray the human form.  And if it turns out I can master the skill it will come in real handy when I'm asked by a client to produce something more than a stick figure to sing/dance.
As to where this journey is going to lead, I'm not exactly sure but I welcome you to pop in every once in a while and note the changes, not only in the design and/or direction of this blog but in fact the design/direction of my destination.