Life Drawing Conclusion

The semester is over...and I have learned a lot. The first half of the semester was a lot of introduction to the body, the muscles, and how everything worked, which really helped me with my drawing. I avoided drawing the human figure at all costs before I came in to this class, but now I am looking forward to opportunities to draw the body.
This second half has seemed to be more on practicing and perfecting techniques and basic concepts. I have seen my line quality and variation get better, and I have also loosened up with my drawing and let it not be so 'perfect', like my first large shell drawing was. The shell was difficult because I do not usually care to draw on a large scale, but it helped with the contours and getting the line quality better. The introduction of the washes was a nice touch that really helped the shell drawings, but I wish we had time to do another in order to fix our mistakes from the first one.
Overall I really enjoyed this class and I got so much good information and practice out of it. My view of drawing the human body has completely changed and I am looking forward to do more figure drawings in future classes or on my own time!

Link to second half semester work images:
http://s606.photobucket.com/albums/tt147/BSoccer1030/FINAL%20LD%20blog/

T-Giving 1-Day Week

The BIG shell cross contour drawing was a bit of a struggle...once again, I was not crazy about the shell I had to draw. Like the first one, this shell was very smooth and plain looking, making it a little boring to try to work from. Aside from my feelings towards the shell, I do not think the drawing was a strong one. I felt one of the only decent aspects of it was my line weight, being dark at the closer areas and fading to light farther away.
There are plenty of not-so-good areas of this shell drawing. I felt it was harder to get the correct proportions with the larger paper. the front and back are pretty good, but the middle section (the largest of the smaller swirls) is way too long. I also thought that the angle I chose to draw from could have been more exciting. This long axis direction is plain and very simple. The final bad aspect is that the lines are very even and conformed, making it very exact and boring.

One the next drawing I have quite a few things to work on. My first drawing was very boring and a little flat, so I need to make it more alive and playful. I will do this by not making sure my lines are not completely erased and uniform. Using my whole arm, and not just my wrist, will also help with my line variation. Distancing the space between each of my lines will also help it feel more alive and add to the surface variation. The final thing will be to choose a different, more intense angle that allows me to capture more of the shell's unique aspects.

FIELD TRIP WEEK

So...this was the week of the field trip to the Bodies exhibition and the MIA. Unfortunately I woke up Monday morning with the flu and proceeded to lay in bed all day. I attempted to get up Tuesday morning and try to make it on the field trip, but when I got up I was still not feeling well enough to be sitting on a bus and walking around. So I did not get to experience the exhibit, which I am genuinely upset about. I was really looking forward to seeing it and getting to sketch and have a better understanding of the body in 3D. Not happy...

Aside from that, Thursday we started the skull and it went well I thought. I'm not sure what it was about the skull, but I felt more comfortable and confident drawing that then the actual whole human figure. It was nice to be able to look at the skull and see the various sizes and proportions of everything. I am looking forward to being able to draw the face and some features in the coming class periods, and continuing to work on my line variation.

the week after Midterm...

We focused on the legs more this week and my manikin is getting better. After completely redoing the quads, I feel like I am enjoying working with the clay much more and spending more quality time on it. I can definitely see improvement on the quality of my leg muscles, which should also help in drawing.
The longer poses got better this week too. I spent more time focusing on the proportions and getting everything mapped out before going too in-depth with it. I struggled a bit with the rib cage and kept making it too long. Hopefully I can straighten that out in the next couple sessions so I can spend more time on the other areas.
Overall, I feel like there has been definite progress made this week, both in the drawing and clay areas. I would like to continue doing well on the manikin, and also work on my lines (weight and variation) in the next few weeks.

MIDTERM PORTFOLIO POST

• I have learned quite a bit already this semester. In past classes instructors have said 'here is this thing, draw it.' So, to actually be shown what is underneath what you're drawing, and what makes up that figure, is extremely helpful. I have learned more anatomy and terms than I have ever learned in any science class, and I appreciate that. I have also increased my knowledge of the human figure so I would be able to draw it from memory, which is something I have never been able to do.

• My strengths and weaknesses are slightly sketchy at the moment, meaning that I am not sure how to critique them. For my drawings, I feel that I am pretty good with the 3-5 minute gestures because it gives me just the right amount of time to get all the information down. However, my 30 second gestures are a different story because I do not allow myself to enough time to get the full figure sometimes. Another area I believe I am doing well in are my proportions. Most of my drawings seem quite accurate, or close too it. Another weakness I would include is my understanding of planes. The last two class periods with long drawings, I have had an odd angle of the pelvis and have struggled with it. Understanding that form and the planes that make that up will greatly improve my drawings. As for the manikin, I think there are at least two areas that I could improve on that. One is the thickness of my muscle pieces. It is hard sometimes to see the thickness of the pieces in the book, and I feel like my pieces get a little big sometimes. The other weakness spot could be the curves of the muscles. I noticed first with my back, then the gluts, that my muscles lack curvature sometimes, so being more organic with them would be better.

• There are a few things I would like to learn or get better at. The first thing I'd like to improve on is definitely my lines. I do not like my lines at all, and they often look pretty flat. Some variation in thickness and weight would be good and improve my drawings drastically. Another area of learning, or just getting better at, as previously mentioned, is my understanding of the pelvis and how to draw it from every angle. The front and back view are relatively simple, but once the model moves in an abnormal position, it takes a little thinking to figure it out.
  

• Overall, the first half of the semester has gone pretty good. At times I have found myself getting a little bored with the repetition of drawing for 3 hours, but I should stick with it and focus on working on my weaknesses. I enjoyed the first half, so I am looking forward to what the second half of the semester brings.

Link to image site:
http://s606.photobucket.com/albums/tt147/BSoccer1030/

Week #5

The clay got better with the second assignment. The first ones were a little big, but this time I think I got the thickness' and sizes much closer. I started to enjoy it a little bit after I got the hang of it. I decided to go without buying the clay tools, so I thinks it's slightly harder just working with your hands. As we build each section, it greatly improves my understanding of the muscles, and helps a lot in the drawing portion.
Drawing with the model on Thursday was nice to get more practice with the pelvis area. The rib cage is coming along, but it definitely needs a little more practice. For the long pose I found I had an odd angle, so I had some trouble figuring out the pelvis and what directions it was going in. The foreshortening was also tough to deal with, but overall I don't think it turned out too bad.
Some things to work on are still line variation...it still looks odd..and also using the planes to figure out the pelvis will help a lot.

Week #4

I am enjoying having a better understanding of the rib cage area while drawing. It makes it a lot easier when you know what you are drawing. The lectures helped tremendously in showing and explaining everything. Again, having things explained in 'art' terms is so much easier to understand.
The short gesture drawings are still a bit tough because I tend to want to do too much detail right away. I can definitely work on focusing on what is wanted.
The longer poses went pretty well. I liked having time to get everything down and correct my mistakes. Something I will need to work on is line quality and weight. I tend to have the same line quality throughout the drawing, so changing it up will hopefully add some more depth and dimension.

Week #3

Starting the maniken...at first I didn't really know how I felt about the clay muscles. I thought it was going okay until I got to about the third or fourth muscle on the neck area and realized my first couple were probably a little fat. It was slightly frustrating, but after a while it did get better. The book was very good and helpful with showing all the connection points, but it got a little tougher because the maniken is slightly different from the one used in the book, so it's hard to tell sometimes.
After the first assigned muscles I am very thankful for this project because it definitely gives you a better understanding of how the body works. I never paid attention to anything having to do with the body, because it was always talked about in 'sciencey' terms, which I am horrible at.

Week #2

Week #2
The second week of Life Drawing went pretty well. I continued to enjoy the gesture drawing, but I found a difference in my drawing with the new model. The first week we had a female who seemed extremely comfortable with modeling and did very good poses for drawing. The second week was a little tougher...the male seemed quite nervous and not as comfortable yet, and his poses showed that. He was a little tense and unsure of how to vary his poses, so it was a little harder to draw them.

The shell drawing was a bit difficult as well. I began to grasp the contour concept a little better, but i was pretty BORED with my shell, and it probably shows in the drawing. My shell was extremely smooth throughout, with hardly any variation, only a little spiraling at one end. My lineweight is the same throughout, also making it look flat. For the next shell drawing I will try to correct all of these mistakes, varying the line thickness and weight more from side-to-side and front-to-back. I will also look for a different angle to draw from, so maybe I can find more variation in the shape.

Week #1

The first week of Life Drawing went pretty well.  While studying abroad in London this past summer, one of our requirements was to do 100 figure drawings in our sketchbook (i.e. people at train stations, on buses, etc).  We also did a couple of exercises with the same timed drawing format we are using for our gesture drawings in this class.  Having not done much drawing since freshman year, that assignment has greatly helped me in this class. Not only did I get back into the swing of drawing, but it also gave me practice in basic figure/form drawing.  I enjoyed the first weeks activities and am looking forward to this week.  I am looking to improve on fitting the whole figure in the box on the page...I got a little big on a few of them.  Also, the first attempt at a cross contour drawing went OK for a first shot, but hopefully it will come along better with some pratice with the shell assignments.

introduction

I am Brittany Schmelling, currently a senior Art Education major at UW-Stout. I chose to take Life Drawing I as part of my drawing focus for my major. I have always enjoyed drawing, but the human form has never been my strong point.  In my previous major of Industrial Design, I found a great need to be able to draw elements of the human body and have correct proportions, so I am looking forward to improving those skills here in Life Drawing.  My past drawing has been focused a lot on 'copying' and not as much 3D/still life work.  I can take a photo and draw from that, but I am most looking forward to being able to draw straight from memory/life.  As far as my major is concerned, I would (of course) like to have the experience of life drawing to better prepare myself to teach.  Below I have included a couple of my favorite works from the past 3 years...

Images (top to bottom):

Drawing I- Fall 2006- Still Life

2D Design- Fall 2006- Self Portrait using Text

Printmaking I- Winterm 2009- Multilayer print

London Summer Art- Summer 2009- Pastels from photo