Final Journal

-The first objective was to understand and use a structural approach to drawing. This course definitely taught me how to do that. I now know how to approach the human form and draw the main structure first, instead of being overwhelmed by the individual characteristics of that person. Structure in all forms is now more obvious to me and I can say that I do pay more attention to it and use a structural approach to drawing.
Another objective was to develop a working knowledge of artistic anatomy through lectures, drawings, and clay modeling. I really learned a lot about the body and how we are put together, but there is just so much to know that I feel that I'm not really confident yet with the artistic anatomy past the basics. My weakest area is probably muscles, and that would only be improved with much deeper and more applied studies of the muscles.
I feel that my drawing skills really have improved this semester. Never before was I introduced to cross contour drawings, but all the practice in this class really helped me to realize its importance. Having to draw the shape and the valleys across the human form really taught me to look closer too. I also found myself thinking about my own body a lot when trying to figure out where something was on the model that I couldn't always see, such as the pelvic points.

-One thing that I feel I definitely improved on was my shell. In the second half of the semester when we started using the ink, I was able to let go of my control and let the ink do what it wanted. I feel like a loose, "messy" look is really not my style or comfort zone, but it was fun to try! I feel that being open and experimenting with new things is very important for an artist.
Something that I had to work on was refining my lines and adding variety to their form. This I tended to focus on mostly in my shell drawings in the second half of the semester. When drawing from the model, especially in gesture drawings, I was trying to go so fast that I did not really spend any time thinking about my line quality. During the long poses, I was aware that I needed to add variety and I did try, I just have a very hard time working lightly, I think!

-This class was great for me to take. Being an art education major, I will be using this knowledge throughout my teaching career. From my experiences in the schools so far, I know that the human form is what most students are apprehensive about. Now having a basic knowledge of the structure of the body knowing tricks for how to go about drawing it (start with the egg-shaped rib cage,etc.) I can teach my students the same way. What I wish we would have spent more time on is proportions, though, like for instance where on the head the nose goes or how long a thigh is in relation to the head size. Little tricks like those would also be very useful in teaching students about drawing the body.

Even though I was unable to post all my drawings from the semester because of an upload limit, you can still check out many of my works on flickr:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/48324086@N05/sets/

Journal

This week we spent all of our class time learning the facial features. We started with the eye, which is my favorite. Eyes used to be very difficult for me to draw because I'd always try to get the perfect oval-ish shape that they were, when in actuality they are really round but with the lids coming over them in three sections on top and two on the bottom. This helped me a lot to get more realistic and 3-D looking eyes. This picture was from that day also, but after we learned how to draw the nose. It is interesting that the nose is broken into three sections as well, then the round part at the end. I need to work on not making my three sections too large. In this drawing I think the nose got a little too big to go with the eye, but overall, I think both of the features turned out pretty good.

Journal

Well, last week we learned about the skull and began our drawing studies from skull models (not actual models). I felt that I had quite a bit of experience drawing heads, but drawing an actual skull is very difficult! The first thing I had to learn was that there was nothing ROUND about the head whatsoever. Also what was difficult was getting proportions right when the head was turned a bit. On the front 3/4 view, I ended up drawing the far side much too big, making that part look like it was viewed straight on and the other half of the face looked like it was turned at an angle. (That's what all those eraser marks are from!) This angle-proportions thing is probably going to be the hardest to get right on the actual model. Plus faces are what we are so used to looking at and we KNOW what they are supposed to look like. Any wrong angle or proportion is going to be very easy for viewers to pick out.

Journal

Well here it is...my fourth and FINAL shell drawing for this semester! To be honest, I was really getting tired of drawing the same shell. It would have been nice to switch to a different type of shell mid-semester. But I guess this way we really got to know this one. For this drawing, I took on the most difficult angle yet. I did struggle with it, especially first drawing out the spirals and getting them right. I had avoided this angle all semester, but now that it's finished, I'm very proud of my accomplishment! I also really like my ink job. I feel like I'm really starting to get used to this medium and can somewhat predict what the ink will do. During the critique of my third shell, I said that I had wanted to do two things in the future: use more white of the paper for my highlights and to let loose and let the ink do what it wants. I focused a lot on those two goals when doing the ink on this drawing and I am happy with the results. I left some areas white and I think it is very effective. I also allowed for more running and drips to happen, and I think it really adds to the feeling that the shell came from the water. It's very interesting to look back at my first shell drawing and see my improvement! I'm proud of how far I've come in just a few short drawings.

Journal

This was a one hour pose we did during class in which we were to take an extra close look at the shoulder girdle. It's difficult to see all the muscles here in the female model. I feel like they would be a little more apparent in a male. Anyways, I'm pretty proud of how this one turned out. I took on a challenging viewpoint. My arm and shoulders are a little messed up because the model did a slightly different pose half way through, but I didn't want to go back and change what I'd already done with the arm. What I think is most successful is the lower back and pelvic region. I spent a lot of time trying to get the cross contour lines to follow the hills and valleys of the model. I also really like that the cushions and pillows are implied with a lighter line and are there for simply to make the pose make sense, but the focus is all on the figure.

Shell #3

This is the third shell drawing we had to do, but the first that involved ink wash. I've never worked with ink before, so this was definitely a fun experiment. In most of my works, I have a very controlled style, but I realized that didn't work well when working with ink and water! I tried to control the drips and where the ink would spread, but that was difficult. It's better to not fight the medium you're working with. For the next, and final, shell drawing, I'm going to try to let loose and let the ink do what it wants rather than being so controlling.

Journal

Today we started learning about the foot. Feet and hands have always been a challenge for me, but after learning about the bones and muscles and the inner workings, they are even harder to draw! We only did two fifteen minute drawings of the feet today and one challenge I've already discovered is finding the right length of the foot and also making the toes the right size. I feel like I don't really know where to start with the foot...for the torso, we had landmarks on the inside, like the ribs and the pelvis, but it's hard to pick out a form-defining shape inside the foot without drawing all of the bones. Nevertheless, I thought the pelvis was hard when we started that...it's just going to take more practice. Everything seems more overwhelming on the first day.