Sunday, September 26, 2010
Second week success
Patience came easier this week as I got into the swing of closely studying what I was drawing. We had a critique of our three skull drawings on Wednesday which was really helpful. Whenever your work gets put up you see it fresh and with new eyes. This summer when editing photos I would spend a long time on them, put them away, and come back to them a different day and change them cause I realize that the edit didn't really fit. Sometimes I would even come back to them a third or fourth time with fresh eyes to make sure they where ok. With the skull drawings I tried to do this by finishing them a day or two early so I could look at them after finishing and change whatever needed to be changed. The critique group I was in really helped me to see what I needed to change and improve on as well as the strengths of those first drawings. At times I relied to much on shading to describe the form of the skull instead of contour line. After all the critiques our professor spoke about breathing life and energy into the drawings. How some artists are able to make any mundane everyday object come to life and capture you. She spoke of the masters and how they where able to capture this energy through their drawings.
Wednesday, September 22, 2010
First Week Frustrations
So this week in drawing on Tuesday 9/13 I was confronted right away with the fact that I have not drawn for a while and the results where not pretty. My right arm muscles where soar from the three hour class period, holding it up to the drawing easel. I love using my whole arm in the drawing process. I didn't have the patients needed to really see throughout the 30 minute drawings. Drawing fast always appealed to me with large hand gestures waving around trying to find the form. At times I get too detailed too fast with a drawing so perhaps the time constraint frees me to leave the drawing lines open and uncluttered with only the most vital information. Proportionally my drawings also needed help.
Wednesday 9/15 for some reason marked a large improvement and was able to settle down into a rhythm to almost hammer out one of the three skull perspectives due next week. Focusing on the skull for most of the class period, my eyes began to see nuances that where before hidden as I tried to describe it on the paper. The jaw really gave me problems as it receded in the middle and came out again at an angle toward me with multiple complex plains. When I stepped away, took a break, and came back I was able to draw the larger plains and it seemed to come into perspective a lot better. I still remember that moment in my memory like a picture when I saw that part of the jaw that was missing. Surprisingly I didn’t measure and was able to proportion the skull accurately just from the long observation and redrawing of the lines. I especially had a lot of attempted lines around the circumference of the skull that I tried to blur out with my hand by smudging the lines. We did this with Loom in Drawing 1. I think he made us create multiple histories under the drawing where we could draw for a period and then we where required to brush over the whole drawing with a papertowl and start drawing again. By the end I love the tone that was created around the drawing from brushing out lines and the interesting dynamic lines shooting out and around, evidence of the struggle for accuracy.
Wednesday 9/15 for some reason marked a large improvement and was able to settle down into a rhythm to almost hammer out one of the three skull perspectives due next week. Focusing on the skull for most of the class period, my eyes began to see nuances that where before hidden as I tried to describe it on the paper. The jaw really gave me problems as it receded in the middle and came out again at an angle toward me with multiple complex plains. When I stepped away, took a break, and came back I was able to draw the larger plains and it seemed to come into perspective a lot better. I still remember that moment in my memory like a picture when I saw that part of the jaw that was missing. Surprisingly I didn’t measure and was able to proportion the skull accurately just from the long observation and redrawing of the lines. I especially had a lot of attempted lines around the circumference of the skull that I tried to blur out with my hand by smudging the lines. We did this with Loom in Drawing 1. I think he made us create multiple histories under the drawing where we could draw for a period and then we where required to brush over the whole drawing with a papertowl and start drawing again. By the end I love the tone that was created around the drawing from brushing out lines and the interesting dynamic lines shooting out and around, evidence of the struggle for accuracy.
Thursday, September 09, 2010
First things first
Introductions...
Q: How long have you been at Stout?
A: Embarrassed cough... lets just say I'm a super senior.
Q:What is your concentration?
A: I am a multimedia design major but seem to be distracted by glimmering specks of gold in other subjects the further I progress in my major. I only have 2 semesters left so am finishing up to get my bachelors after which I will experience some life outside of the US.
Q:Why are you taking Life Drawing II?
A: Drawing unfortunately is put to the side in most of my creative pursuits and am trying to change that. My figure drawing is especially in need of attention.
Q:What do you hope to learn?
A: I want to finish this semester with an improved understanding of translating the objects I see onto the paper with appropriate line and proportion. To change my turbid relationship with drawing to one of respect and trust.
Q:What are some projects/artworks you've completed recently?
A: Almost finished touching up 10 roles of film I shot in California visiting with family and ODing on the Yosemite back country for a couple days. For some reason I feel much more comfortable shooting film with my 1980's Pentax then I ever have with a digital body. My nomadic parents ended up there a couple years ago and a time opened up during the summer to bring down the 365 days since I had seen them to a more manageable 0. I am very excited with how the project is finishing up.
Q:What travel or internships have you done?
A: I did an exchange to Germany for a year during which I was able to travel extensively. It altered me so completely that at times I feel like an exchange student here.
Q:What do you enjoy doing in your free time?
A: Hmm, well in the free time I had during the summer I read a lot about different health topics (interested in fermented foods and eastern medicine), played disc golf, tried to run/bike, a little photography, watched a lot of movies (favorites being Sin Nombre, Revanche, The Burning Plain, En la Cama, The Insider), brewed my first batch of beer, and simply relaxing in the sun.
Q: How long have you been at Stout?
A: Embarrassed cough... lets just say I'm a super senior.
Q:What is your concentration?
A: I am a multimedia design major but seem to be distracted by glimmering specks of gold in other subjects the further I progress in my major. I only have 2 semesters left so am finishing up to get my bachelors after which I will experience some life outside of the US.
Q:Why are you taking Life Drawing II?
A: Drawing unfortunately is put to the side in most of my creative pursuits and am trying to change that. My figure drawing is especially in need of attention.
Q:What do you hope to learn?
A: I want to finish this semester with an improved understanding of translating the objects I see onto the paper with appropriate line and proportion. To change my turbid relationship with drawing to one of respect and trust.
Q:What are some projects/artworks you've completed recently?
A: Almost finished touching up 10 roles of film I shot in California visiting with family and ODing on the Yosemite back country for a couple days. For some reason I feel much more comfortable shooting film with my 1980's Pentax then I ever have with a digital body. My nomadic parents ended up there a couple years ago and a time opened up during the summer to bring down the 365 days since I had seen them to a more manageable 0. I am very excited with how the project is finishing up.
Q:What travel or internships have you done?
A: I did an exchange to Germany for a year during which I was able to travel extensively. It altered me so completely that at times I feel like an exchange student here.
Q:What do you enjoy doing in your free time?
A: Hmm, well in the free time I had during the summer I read a lot about different health topics (interested in fermented foods and eastern medicine), played disc golf, tried to run/bike, a little photography, watched a lot of movies (favorites being Sin Nombre, Revanche, The Burning Plain, En la Cama, The Insider), brewed my first batch of beer, and simply relaxing in the sun.
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