Final Reflection and Work

Final Self Portrait

These three photos show how my self portrait evolved.  I had a first draft, a pre-final copy, and then the final with more contrast added.  

Finalized Muscle Model:

Final Reflection:

Over the course of this semester I have gained a huge amount of knowledge regarding the human body.  The most substantial experiences in this class were being able to study each muscle grouping, build them, and draw them. I have also improved in many areas of paying attention to detail.  Seeing actual lines, shadows and proportions from the live model improved my ability to understand and draw together. In my drawings, I have utilized value and line. I feel that my gesture drawings are strong because of the line quality and composition.  

Skull:

Being able to see an actual representation of the skull to draw from was very beneficial, rather than drawing from a live model right away.  I was able to see the proportion between the various parts of the skull.  By using convex lines around the areas that were holes allowed for the bone to come forward.  The eyes, nose and jaw line all show examples of this.  Contour lines around the top and near the brow line gave a three dimensional look to the skull. I found the most challenging part of the drawing a skull to be adding all of the extra features and skin on a live model. By starting with the bone base of the skull, this allows for the addition of the cartilage, skin and other features. 

Gesture Drawings:

In the past few months my fast gesture drawing skill has greatly improved. The direction and proportions of each pose has become much more accurate. There is line variation between thick and thin. Value change is also important to recognize foreground and background. By drawing so fast, you have to let you hand flow while seeing the model's pose.  The landmarks of the ribcage, pelvis, shoulders, and legs connect the gesture lines in each area. Being able to imagine the pose also allows you to visualize and physically feel what you are drawing. 

Long Poses:

I found that having extra time in my drawings allowed for me to pay closer attention to creating accurate proportions, placement of muscles, and line value variation. By adding the surroundings on the second drawing, the model seems to be in a space and not just placed in the middle of the page.  This composition is strong and the emphasis on the model stands out. The first drawing focusses on the arms, shoulders and torso. The proportions and value change are the strengths in this drawing.

Gestures with Shoulder Blades

Face and Eye

Hand and Fingers

Legs and Feet Drawings

        

   

Reflection on Blogging Experience

This is my first experience in using a blog to hold pictures, posts, and commentary. When the semester began, our very first posts about each of our own personal work was the most interesting for me.  It gave a visual insight into each personality and artist's style.  Being able to express myself and show my current projects and designs allows for others to give me input. 

Blogging has been a positive experience for keeping a digital organized sketchbook.  I really enjoy the physical website that holds the photos and commentary.  The posting back and forth for critiques has a lot of potential.  I don't feel that our class or myself has taken advantage of the full possibilities.  It does take time when you're looking through people's posts and reading everything they have to say.  I feel in some cases that there are a lot of repetitive comments made about the drawings.  The main suggestion I would advise others is to keep up the posts that are supposed to be up as well as maintain personal posts and commenting on others.  I  plan to improve on my commentary for group members and posts about personal projects for the rest of the semester.  

I plan to add more personal posts about current interests, events, and projects.  I haven't had much time to add posts other than the assigned posts.  I feel that those are more important to keep track of and in order.  It would be nice to get feedback about commonalities that my fellow group members are feeling with stress, designs, and work.

I have posted a few comments to each of my group members and still need to improve on the quantity.  I think checking the blogs daily would allow for a small amount of time to be dedicated to posting and commenting. I have received posts from my group members on a few different areas. The discussions have been beneficial and though provoking.  Responding to questions through commentary is also helpful. 

One potential blog assignment could relate to exploring drawing mediums.  I feel that using charcoal pencil or graphite allows for quality variation in value and weight.  I tend to use vine charcoal and thick charcoal, as well and have problems with it become too smeared.  In the past, I've enjoyed using ink and  marker.  It would be interesting to experiment with a medium of choice and do a post of these drawings.  The variety in the class could potentially be beautiful and inspiring. 

I would currently rate my blog as a 9/10.  I feel that I have completed all of the required posts.  I feel that I add in personal things and plan to increase the amount of blogging that I do for the remaining weeks of the semester.  I think that my image quality has been working well.  I size each of the photos to be ten inches and usually use the medium setting.  Details are captured at almost the real size and viewers can critique details about the photos. 

The overall blogging experience has been positive, with the realization that it takes a lot of time to be truly involved with commenting and keeping up with posts.  I find this space that I have created to be an organized digital rendering of life drawing class. I plan to use it in my portfolio as an example that stands out from my other design work.  Along with websites that I have designed, this blog can show organization, attention to detail, and my improved drawing skill. 

Best Drawing #1

Instead of drawing from a live nude model, this was drawn from a model of a skeleton.  I began with figuring out the angles of the long axis lines and basic placement of the rib cage and pelvis.  Drawing a skeleton and being able to see all of the bones and joints is very different than using a human who has skin covering all of the information that you are trying to draw. Using the skeleton assisted in understanding the shoulders and hips and and how they connect to the arms and legs.  

The placement of anatomy was accessible in this front view of the skeleton. The process of adding muscles on top of the already drawn skeleton was frustrating because the lines continued to darken and overlap the long axis lines.  By erasing out the areas that end up being muscle, the definition amongst them increases.

 

The adductors are the muscles that twist and layer diagonally from the pelvic crest to the top area of the femur.  The connection on the skeleton makes the drawing very clear whereas on the human model it's not as visible.  The structural connection between the pelvis, legs and abdomen stands out on the skeleton. With the knowledge of the muscle groups the empty areas between the bones can be filled.  This knowledge also assists with the live model by being able to visualize the placement of the muscle groups. 

Best Drawing #2

The muscle definition of this pose made the process of drawing details very smooth.  Because the model was holding his body weight against the angle of the stick almost of his muscle lines were visible from this back view.  

The oblique muscles, located aside the gluteual muscles, are shaped like a tear drop.  There was a very specific curve that my eye wanted to accurately create. The pelvic bone protruded from the hip region and allowed for placement of the top of the leg that was adjoining.  

Being able to see these muscles contracted and flexed at the same time all in one long pose was extremely beneficial to those of us drawing.   The pose lasted about an hour and this allowed for placement of the legs and spinal erectors.  

This pose was the first time that the clay building and drawing really seemed to flow well together in my creation of this drawing.  The drawing's success would not have been possible without the knowledge and experience of seeing, touching, and building these muscles onto a body.  The clay creation of muscles and movement of your eyes and hands in drawing have a huge connection.  By building the muscles, drawing them becomes clearer and more accurate. 

Best Drawing #3

The qualities that make this #3 in my long drawings are the line and proportion factors.  There is a slight variation of value from dark to light in the line and added shadowing.  The use of long axis lines mimic bone placement on the legs and arms. The proportions of the ribcage and pelvis placement is accurate. This pose allowed for an immense amount of information about the figure's bones and muscles. 

There is an ease about drawing the same figure each day of class because you're able to notice new details about the figure.  The curves and bumps of the figure's physical body stand out in the abdominal and ribcage areas. 

This drawing was about thirty minutes and we were learning about foreshortening during class. The right arm of the figure is coming toward the viewer.  Capturing this proportions requires shortening the drawn arm to make up for the foreshortening factor.  The abdominal region is also foreshortened.  The viewer can see the edge of the far left side of the figures abdominals.  The area between the two sides of the pelvis becomes very small in the drawing because of how flat the figure is laying. 

Newest Gesture #6

Newest Gesture #5

Newest Gesture #4

Early Gesture #3

Early Gesture #2

Early Gesture #1

Class Reflection

Throughout this semester, Life Drawing class has allowed me to gain a variety of skills.  The combination of hand drawn pieces, creating the muscles with clay and using the internet as a digital sketchbook have all played important roles in succeeding in this class. Using the blog keeps everything very organized and professional.  Oral critiques in class would be beneficial rather than just leaving comments on each others blogs.  I feel that their is a lot of potential for the blogs yet I learn better seeing my drawing and gaining an in person critique.  

My drawing skill seems to be improving. The whole process has become somewhat involuntary.  Without thinking about drawing value or weight, I automatically see this on the figure and translate it onto my paper.  Another issue I have is composing the figure on the page.  I tend to draw large and almost to the edge of the paper.  I've shrank down the size a bit and can now have room around the figure that I've created.  This space is needed for adjustments and just to have white space in the composition. 

Adding the lower leg

Seeing muscle addition from top to bottom has made me really appreciate the time and work that has been put into building this model.  I feel that the leg is built too large and near and ankle and knee the muscles shouldn't be coming out so far.  I'm having trouble with separating muscles and defining them.  I seem to overlap everything and then lose track of what was what.  I will need to return to the book and online images to redefine each area. 

The foot was challenging for me as well.  In the same way, the tiny muscles going to each toe seem like they should be about 1/3 as large.  Building pieces at this minute scale require patience.  They clay usually sticks fairly well and can be shaved down to remove thickness.  Yet, on the foot, every time I tried to reduce the height the pieces would just come off.  

The overall model building has been frustrating, time consuming, yet very beneficial to understanding the figure in relation to our drawings. 

Best Muscles

Click to Enlarge

Longest Poses

The problem here was the torso and abdominal region.  I tend to add in about 6 inches to an extra foot of space between the chest and pelvis.  Amy showed me where her view of the lines would go in the darker line on the pelvic crest area.  It's difficult to see this large extension until the whole piece has been drawn and you step back to see.  It did feel too long though.   

This pose was one of my more successful drawings because I feel that I composed the model properly.  I feel that the foreshortening of her right arm and abdomonial region was handled well.

This was about a half hour and focussed on foreshortening.  I struggled with the area of the body that was invisible to my view yet I learned to work with lining different body parts up. 

This was about an hour long pose.  The muscles were very defined and tight so it made the drawing process easier. 

Longer Drawings

Gestures of Importance

Building the Leg