March 21st-25th

This week we completely switched everything up and we went from working on the legs and feet to starting to talk about the back/arms/shoulders.  I was really really sick this whole week and ended up only able to go to any of my classes on Monday, so I only have one image of my long drawing from Monday.

I thought it was pretty complicated at first trying to find some of the muscles, but after putting the muscles on the maniken it made it a little easier knowing where they were.  And as long as there is a good enough light source, it makes it easier when you can see the shadows.  In this particular image, I was having a hard time with the foreshortening of the elbow, but after Amy came around and showed me how to think of it as a rectangle, it made it a lot easier.  I've also been trying to play with the line weights in order to show depth in a work that is primarily line drawing.  The one area, however, that I know I should've adjusted was right around the breast.  I tried to make the line darker to show how it was laying and folding over itself, but I think I may have made the line too dark and it doesn't look quite as realistic as it could.

Well, since I was really sick this whole week I don't have a whole lot to say as I was only there for two hours this week.  Until next time.

March 7th-11th

During this week, we focused on learning how to draw the lower legs and feet.  During the gesture drawings, it was kind of nice because all we had to do was really draw a single line to signify how the legs and feet would work together, but once we got to the long drawings it got a lot more complicated.

I actually feel that I did pretty well on the feet.  Following the lecture on how the foot bones and toes work together, I still don't think I have the greatest understanding of how the bones line up and how they interact with eachother.  We did some 5-minute long drawings just to get some practice before the long poses, and here is an image of 4 different 5-minute poses.

I still think that the toes are pretty complicated to draw, and I don't know if I'll ever get them exactly right.  But for a first attempt and also considering how far we all are from the model's toes, I think I did okay.  It would obviously be a lot easier being right up close.  The one thing that really stuck with me was Amy telling us that the high point of the foot comes up from the 2nd toe.  I made sure to draw that line from the 2nd toe up to the top of the foot to make sure to show the contour lines on the two drawings to the right.  I didn't on the left since I couldn't really see that line.

On Friday we got to the longer drawings, and we had a lot more time to focus in on the feet and really see them.  We also had the male model, and so the poses weren't nearly as feminine.  Here is an image of my long drawing from Friday.

In this drawing, I focused a lot more on the foot on the right, because it was closer to me and I could see more of it.  I really tried to show all of the different plane changes with my contour lines, and Amy came around and told me that I had done the toes well, but to try to also show the bones on the inside, even though obviously we can't see them.  For the ankle bone, I tried to show how the bone is really formed with the tibia and fibula.  I think it turned out pretty decent.  I was happy with it.  Feet normally gross me out, but I actually really liked how complicated and intricate the feet are.  It takes a lot more time to draw and a lot more attention to detail, which I love doing.

Midterm Post (Reflection on 1st Half of Semester)

http://www.flickr.com/photos/butlerj3/

(I organized these into sets on the page, but I'm not sure if I did it correctly.)

Well, this has been a real learning experience.  That's for sure.  I can't deny that I was extremely intimidated when I walked in the first day and saw all of the huge drawings of the skeletons.  I didn't think I'd be able to make it through, but it's going all right.  The gesture drawings have really helped me a lot in the way I see things.  I'm always so meticulous and want to jump right into the detail, but this has forced me to look at the big picture first, and then work my way to the details (which is how you should do it).

The manikens have been really intimidating at times as well.  3-dimensional work is not my niche, and I really struggle with that kind of work, but I do my best to pore over the book and get the muscles as correct as possible.  A lot of the times I'm just not sure which muscles are supposed to go over the top or under other ones.  It's very confusing sometimes.

So as far as my Flickr pictures go, I included a few gesture drawings, which I honestly could NOT get any better quality than they are.  I took like 5 pictures of each one and those were the best ones.  So I apologize for that, but hopefully you can at least see them.  I included the pictures that I already have posted on my blog as well as a few others.  And there are two of them (Drawings 8 and 9) that are actually of my boyfriend.  I wanted some practice and so I convinced him to let me draw him.  He wasn't too happy about it at first, but now that I drew them he wants to keep doing it haha.  So I hope it's okay that I included these in my midterm portfolio.  I thought they actually turned out really well.  I was surprised because I only did 10 minute poses and I did them really quickly, but I'm happy with them.  Here is one of them.

I'm definitely glad, though, that I've taken this class, because it really makes me appreciate the human body a lot more.  I always knew that it was complicated and that it sucks to draw, but now I like the challenge and I have a better understanding of how to build it.  It's all about those babysteps!

4th Week

Well, in the 4th week I really felt like I started getting some things down a little better.  I'll be honest, the ribcage and pelvis relationship still eludes me, but I'm doing my best.  For whatever reason, I seem to draw everybody like they're anorexic or something.  The drawing that I posted above is a 20 minute drawing of our female model.  The arms were actually in front of her and not behind, which is how it sort of looks, but I wanted to focus more on the torso and not worry about the arms, which we haven't even covered yet.  I figured I would get them wrong if I tried, so I just didn't even bother.

I was really worried when I saw the pose that we were doing for 20 minutes, because I'm normally really bad at doing foreshortening, but I think that this actually turned out all right.