More Snow...

So this week we learned about the upper body. We mainly focused on the shoulders, but also started exploring the arms.

For our gesture drawings, we did the usual ribcage-pelvis-legs, but we added the spines of the shoulder blades. This consisted of two simple lines placed according to however the model was posed. I have to say that I think this is the hardest study so far. The shoulders aren't really that complicated, but it's difficult to recognize and point out the spine of the shoulder blades on the model. It was interesting how Amy could immediately point out where the angles of the shoulder blades were on the models, and I'm sure most of us in class were wondering how in the world she could see that. It's obviously something that comes with a greater knowledge of the human body. I'm sure we'll all get it soon.

Being able to draw from a male model on Friday was really great for the study we did this week. A man's body tends to be more defined than a woman's, so it was a lot easier to recognize the different parts of the shoulder and all of the upper-body muscles.

I've also enjoyed being able to add some little stick arms to my gesture drawings. It's just exciting to see our drawings become more and more complete.

Overall, it was a snowy and hectic week following spring break, but I'm looking forward to spending some more time learning about the shoulders and arms.

Feetsies

I'm writing this post while relaxing on a white, sandy beach on an island in the Maldives.

Just kidding...

My spring break has been hijacked by Senior Show, so I don't plan on returning to class with a golden tan.

But anyway...

This week's study was definitely the hardest so far, but the techniques Amy taught us were incredibly helpful. We started out with shorter drawings where the foot was represented by simple, rectilinear shapes. This allowed us to recognize the different planes of the feet, and really helped to get the right perspective. It ended up being a little more difficult to distinguish the top plane from the side plane, but we learned how to use the ankle as a sort of landmark to separate the two planes. 

Everyone's feet are different, so that's one thing that not only makes them fun to draw, but more difficult as well. The toes are by far the hardest part. Our goal is to avoid "sausage toes", and to think about toes as having different planes as well. I think it's important to really study the bones in the toes to see how they relate to each other. 

By Friday, we were ready to do a long pose and execute what we've learned thus far about drawing feet. I think the pose was about an hour, and I spent most of the hour getting the perspective to look right. I didn't have enough to time to draw all five toes, but I think at this point, it's more important to make really close observations rather than trying to end up with a complete drawing.

Mid-Term Post

http://www.flickr.com/photos/23462614@N05/

It's incredible how much I've learned in this class in just the first half of the semester. Since I haven't had a drawing class since Drawing 2 my freshman year, I was a little nervous about getting back in touch with my newsprint and charcoal. Being able to do nothing but gesture drawings the first week of class was great because it allowed us to become comfortable with drawing again without any pressure to perform. I've never been very good at drawing figures, so I wasn't sure how I would do with life drawing. Amy has made it much easier though with her lectures and having us focus on only one part of the body at a time. We're really given a lot of time to understand each part of the body and how it relates to the rest of the body, so I've never really felt like I was being rushed to learn everything.

I see a little bit of improvement with my drawings every week, but I'm really finding the most amount of progress to be in my understanding of the human body. Before taking this class I knew very little about the muscles in the body, but with the clay manikens and lectures, I now feel knowledgeable enough to be able to draw figures more accurately. When I think about it, it seems like everything I've learned in this class so far has all been new to me. I'd never heard the egg technique for drawing the rib cage, and I'd never been taught to draw the mid-line of the body first. I actually still find myself having to think about the rib cage, but I feel as if I'm almost to the point of immediately knowing how it's positioned. I've also noticed that my gesture drawings have become a lot less sketchy. You can see the difference between Gesture 1 and Gesture 5. I think I've slowly been becoming more confident in my mark-making.

I have really enjoyed being able to spend the whole first half of the semester on just learning and slowly developing a complete figure drawing. We just finished learning about the thigh, so I assume we will soon be learning about the knees, lower leg, and the arms. I'm excited about being able to draw a complete human figure, but I'm also a little bit nervous because it will be the time when we're really expected to produce our best work. At this point, I'm definitely not comfortable enough to confidently draw a complete figure, but we still have another half of a semester to go so there's still a ton of stuff to learn!