Final!

 Sets:
Long Poses
Gestures


Entire Flickr Acct.


This has been a definitely different semester than last when I took life drawing.  I feel that this semester was a lot more relaxed and that I produced better work than before.  It was really nice to have options in class and decide what I wanted to work on while still working with the class; this is also the reason i have more photos than required in my sets. This semester I wanted to focus more on portraiture since we didn’t get a chance to do that in our life drawing class last semester.  I was a little nervous to work on portraits since I literally knew nothing about them and didn’t know any of the landmarks of the face.  I worked independently while the rest of the class was doing long drawings and feel that I did a few good drawings a nice example of this would be long pose 13. The eyes in this portrait were a little difficult since they were closed, I was also looking down at the model which was a weird angle to be at, but overall I was fairly happy with the outcome of it since I didn't have much direction with it.  During the last week or so of the semester Amy went over the parts of the face, which helped put everything together and the different structures made more sense. I feel that the best portrait I did was long pose 21.  I feel that there is a close likeness to the model and that I did well using contour lines to show the different parts of the face; I especially like how I handled the nose. Compared to last semester this class went a lot smoother, mainly because it was a refresher course. I'm really anxious to use the knowledge I've gained in other mediums.  I'll be going to London this summer and will be studying painting and drawing and am hoping to use the figure in a lot of my work.  I'm hoping that my understanding of the body and ability to sketch it quickly (thank goodness for all those gestures!) will help me realistically portray people.  I still feel like I have a lot of work to do and a lot I need to continue practicing, but overall I'm happy with my progress.  I think some of my strengths are drawing with my whole shoulder and trying to show movement within the figure. I think that my hair in my self portrait is a good example of this. Some of my weaknesses are drawing too quickly and trying to overcome what my mind is telling me and just to draw what I see.  It has been a great semester; I've learned so much this year! It's been a great experience, thanks Amy!

ridiculousness.... if thats a word..

Eitherway, it's the only word that I can come up with to describe my schedule lately.  I have been cramming stuff in left and right, the true definition of "multi-tasking" comes out in me when I'm stressed and have a million things to do.  Lately I've been working on a huge case study for a psychological research method's class i'm taking for grad school credits. It's kicking my butt, I wont lie.  It's of course right after life drawing so I always feel like I'm rushing out of class to book it up to Harvey on time.  Regardless, I'm very close to finishing my study, had a brief presentation on results today and then a full presentation of the study on Tuesday.  I can only imagine what my facial expressions must look like while I stand up there and talk about a study I really didn't like.  I'm so glad we're going over parts of the face in class, I thinking it's the most interesting thing we've learned thus far.  You can read people so well just from their facial expressions alone.  My ultimate goal when drawing the models is to get a close resemblance.  The first portrait I did of our male model is probably my favorite so far, I feel that it's pretty accurate and at least somewhat recognizable.  I had a little bit of a harder time with the female model because I was at a weird perspective and her head kept moving.  I had the most issues with the nose and just couldn't seem to get it right. Overall I'm happy with the line quality and how the hair turned out.  Today we did a full body drawing and once again I was at a weird angle, but it was a good challenge for me. I was a little bit unfocused because I was nervous about presenting my study results, but I think it turned out alright in general.

three weeks!

Theres this little voice inside my head that keeps screaming, it makes me a little nervous. I dont feel as stressed out as I should be and trust me, I should be getting nervous. I have so many large projects to finish up, but it's just not phasing me yet.  This week we focused on parts of the face, particularly the eyes, nose, lips and ears. I'm glad we had time at the end of this semester to go over this because last semester we just ran out of time, so this is all new information for me! However, it's also something I would like to learn more about, so although frustrating it's very rewarding.  It's difficult for the drawings to have a likeness to the model, but I dont think i did too bad today.  With a little help from Amy I think my drawing was starting to shape up pretty well.  I always love watching Amy draw or make corrections to work.  She just sees things so differently, obviously because she's trained at what she's looking at.  It makes me feel blind somethings, like "oh shoot, how did I not see that obvious landmark?!".  Our final project is to do a self portrait.  I'm pretty nervous about actually drawing myself, I've drawn myself from pictures before and they usually turn out fairly flat.  This time i think my approach will to actually use a mirror and just take lots and lots of time, we'll see how it goes.

I miss the sun...

What a poopy week! first off, it snowed, it's disgusting and I'm royally sick of it. Today is the first day I have seen the sun and I have to be in class all day.  I need to pack, seriously. I dont know why I'm blogging about the sun and packing, but It seems important.  On a serious note, theres four weeks left in the semester, I'm freaking out. I have so many huge projects that I have no motivation to do and then I'm basically graduating. I have student teaching next semester, which I haven't even received my placement for and then after that, I have to grow up.  I've spent four years complaining how much I want to graduate and now that I'm here.... i'm blank. I want to be done, but now what? Apply for grad school? get a job? Sometimes I wish that this were all already planned out for me, but i suppose that would defeat the purpose of actually "living". 

back to life drawing:

Tuesday we worked on the skull. I LOVE working on the skull.  It's slightly irritating because it's basically one big optical illusion.  It's difficult to get the placement of landmarks and remember that the cranium is actually 2/3 of the skull, thats HUGE.  I've been dabbling with some portraits and studies of skulls from previous classes, but it was nice to have a refresher and everyone focusing on the same thing.  I'm always impressed by my classmates drawings and feel like I can learn a lot from my peers.  


OH, and totally unrelated to ANYTHING... my squirrel friend came for a visit the other day :)

spring weather: 1.. homework: 0

It has been so gorgeous out this week that I have literally put off homework to go outside and play volleyball 24/7.  I think that's why I'm a little bit depressed today, it's slightly cold/windy and cloudy outside and I heard it was going to snow tomorrow.  Definitely puts a kink in things. This week was a full week, which was nice, but it was also difficult because as I stated above.. I wanted to be outside the entire class period.  We continued to work on shoulders on Tuesday and Thursday was all about hands.  Although difficult and sometimes frustrating I really like working on hands.  I also liked how Amy ran class today.  It was laid back and we could each work at our own pace, but knew that we had to get at least two drawings done.  One drawing from the skeleton and one from the model.  Being a ridiculously fast drawer I whipped through those, so I dabbled a little bit on trying to map out actual little bones.  Overall I felt relaxed and productive, which is a nice change of pace from being stressed and overbooked.  I feel like my drawings turned out better because of this.

lacking concentration...

I wont lie, I would probably be more productive if I was out laying in a field somewhere doing nothing rather than sitting inside classrooms all day while it's GORGEOUS outside. This week was a half week, Tuesday was advisement day so we didn't have class. Thursday was pretty relaxed, we worked on some gestures then did an hour pose focusing on the torso, shoulder girdle, and arm.  I, once again, sat in a spot where I had a goofy perspective.  This is good because it tests my ability and makes me work on something that I hate, but it also frustrates me to no end.  I was actually flipping through my drawings and was feeling pretty good about my progression. Granted, I was looking through some drawings that I did last semester, but I can definitely see increased understanding just within my gesture drawings. I'm really eager to keep working on my skills and possibly branch out more.  Once I feel fully comfortable with proper proportion I would like to start abstracting my drawings a bit more.  I would also like to start working with india ink again. WARNING: bragging is about to happen :).  I had actually posted some of my work on facebook and someone saw it and put down an offer on the piece... over facebook. I was floored and very excited.  It's hard to sell the piece because I reallllllly like it, but then again, I am going to London and am funding the trip myself.. so I need cash, ASAP.  Buh-bye favorite ink drawing.

every time I turn around...

my "To-Do" list gets bigger!! tricky little devil, really.  Lets see, this week was fairly normal for once. On Tuesday I had a typical "Johna needs to expand her artistic horizons, or at least pretend to" day.  I had this thought about exploring personal perceptions of ones own body and how one might view something they cannot change such as their skeletal structure.  I got this idea looking back through my photos of drawings from last semesters life drawing class and one of the first drawing of the skeleton I did was so disproportionate that it was almost interesting. Regardless of how incorrect it was I was intrigued and thought of how I could really mess with things.  I began to sketch random bones/structures and connecting them with ligaments and tendons.. it didn't quite turn out how I wanted it, but it's a start.  I'm just thankful Amy lets me explore things on my own while staying within the range of "life drawing".. which is a more difficult line teeter between than you'd think.

still working on it.. definitely not happy with it yet.

So, to make up for my artistic dabbling on Tuesday I hunkered down and worked with the class today, which was probably a good decision on my part since we ended up doing a two hour pose.  I broke it up into two one hour poses and did one of the face/torso and then worked on a facial profile.  I was looking at the model from kind of a weird angle so that was a bit of a struggle.  I had a lot of difficulty with the arm and was hoping Amy would give me a couple pointers, but she never got around to me, which is okay.  I honestly think it made me work a little harder to figure out how to truthfully represent what I was seeing. However, it still ended up a bit wonky looking.. and I was definitely too far away to really be focusing on the face, but I thought I would try anyways.. I think it's better than my first attempt.

3 minute gesture

one hour pose

30-45 minutes

snow day!

I hate to begin with the weather.. but really?! I'm so upset with this snow it makes me sick and that's coming from a person that loves snow and winter activities! However, I'm so ready for warm weather, chirping birds, and clear bike trails. 

meanwhile, back to class- Tuesday was challenging. After not really drawing for two weeks gesture drawings were a little tricky.  It always amazes me how fast I forget things.  We worked on a long pose after a good amount of gesture drawing and I seriously had to re proportion my drawing three times.  Usually I can come somewhat close with only minor changes.  During the last twenty minutes of the long pose I decided that I wanted to get a little more technical with this drawing and try to map out bone and muscle structure. Since it was a pretty simple pose I figured it wouldn't be that difficult-I was wrong.  I had to reference our textbook a few times just to see where I was and if the muscles were lined up appropriately.  I don't think it's quite right, but it's definitely something I want to work on.  With that, this blog post is going to be a tad bit short because.. well.. we only had one day of class this week.

hope everyone had a nice week back!

just call me Carrie..

I'm feeling very much like a Carrie Bradshaw from Sex and the City today as I sit here sipping my coffee thinking about what I want to say/need to say/should say.  I of course lack two things-an actual audience that follows what I write and a closet packed with uber expensive clothes that I would have no idea how to wear.  Oh, and I don't smoke.

With that, it's been a weird week.  The class was working on manikins on Tuesday so I asked Amy for a sick day to take care of a sinus infection that I've been breeding for the last two weeks. Amy suggested going to health services and getting some antibiotics, so that's exactly what I did.  Low and behold, she was right, within 24 hours I was 110% better.

  Today is another exception, we're having another walk out in order to peacefully protest the issues that Wisconsin's Government is facing.  I'm so furious that I don't even have words, which is probably a good thing since this is a life drawing blog and I shouldn't reflect my personal political opinions in here. However, this affects my life and I know myself well enough to say that what is affecting me will eventually show up in my artwork.  So, there's my justification. 

We were also working on the foot today which I'm feeling pretty okay about. I definitely want to get some drawing done during spring break though. Hope people are ready to be my models! (not nude of course, that could get a little awkward. yeah.) Amy also gave us our midterm grades. I like that she does this for two reasons-it lets me know where I stand and where I need to be by the end of the year. I'm a little bit frustrated with myself because I feel like I'm reverting back to old habits-Amy even pointed that out. Definitely a slap in the face, but it just goes to show that habits die hard.  So I'm going to use Amy's suggestions as goals and I'm going to post them as a way of publicizing them and hopefully that will help me be a little bit more attentive to my weaknesses.

things to work on:

1. greater line variation (seems like a no brainer huh?)

2. Less outlines-especially in long poses (definitely)

3. Continue working on the inside of the form (I think I'll ALWAYS be working on this)

okay so-that's the plan. In the meantime I've been dabbling in some ink washes too. I have a lovely little picture to show you all, but my camera is currently charging so I'll definitely get back to you on that!


As promised! (two weeks later! sorry!)

I love this little ink wash and am so inspired by it, but have no idea why!

Midterm

I really cant believe I'm already posting my midterm portfolio.  In a way I was a little freaked out that I didn't have enough work, but after spreading it all out I think I'm making okay progress.  I'm also in a little bit of a weird situation, stuck somewhere between life drawing and drawing three. It's working out okay though. There is definitely a sense of freedom that I get. I love life drawing and really want to spend more time doing it and understanding the human body, but at the same time I also like working on more conceptual pieces and dabbling in my own niches of creativity.  I have noticed that my gestures aren't as great as I wish they were. For some reason I really elongate the torso and consistently leave too much space between the ribcage and pelvis.  Although it's good that I recognize that, I really need to pay more attention to it. I've also been really enjoying the extended gesture drawings (5-10 minutes), I don't remember doing gesture drawings that long before, but I really like them and feel much less rushed and more relaxed with the extra time. 

One of the things that I wanted to work on this semester was portraiture. I'm definitely still a  little intimidated by it and feel very lost. I'm basically shooting in the dark and relying on what I know about drawing the body to make up the face. It's also a little difficult because lately our models have been moving a lot more than usual so their positions aren't very consistent.  I actually have a model of my own lined up for next week and am planning on working on her portrait, but unfortunately I wont have that for this portfolio.  

Since I'm not working on a manikin I've been doing mostly sketches of the skeleton.  I've also started to incorporate flesh/bone (here is an example).  I'm not quite done with this portrait but it's going in a direction that I like thus far.  Part of the difficulty of having some freedom this semester is that I'm almost over flowing with ideas and things I want to do and just don't have the time to complete them. 

I've also started to dabble in my investigations with tea again.  I'm not done with these drawings, but I think they're a good base. I'm intending to do some staining/painting with tea and perhaps some ink washes. I started working on these after I had a little visitor on my window sill.  I always keep my tea/coffee mugs that need to be washed on my window ledge, so it was almost an immediate connection for me.  I realize that they're definitely not related to life drawing, but I couldn't resist.

My little squirrel friend!

Links:

Long Poses

Gesture Drawings

Five-Ten Minute Gestures

Skeleton Drawings

Other

main photostream

Wow, midterm came fast!

It feels like this semester is just flying by-which is good and bad. It's good because it means we're getting through the year, bad because I haven't even started to accomplish what I really want to this semester.  I can definitely tell I'm starting to make progress on my drawings again, just seems much slower than last semester.  I need to spend some time sitting down next week and going through all of my stuff, maybe i'll be more impressed with myself after I see everything laid out... then again, maybe not.  I've been doing a lot more research and trying to compile styles that i'm interested in.  Lately I've been really impressed with Gretchen Kelly's work.  Let me introduce you to her:

Kelly is a figurative artist working out of New York, NY.  She does daily figurative paintings of the human body.  Her paintings are distinctive; gestural and vibrant. 

Kelly paints from a model posing from one to forty-five minutes.  She strives to exhibit the beauty of the human body within a single moment using gestures and color.  She is a figurative painter and works quickly and definitively.  She focuses on the present and what’s in front of her.  She only goes back to add in the background of her pieces. 

Kelly also dabbles in other depictions such as scenes of barns, fields, lakes, and mountain scapes.  She also paints portraits, aquatic nudes, and small town scenery.  

I was very drawn to Kelly’s figurative drawings and paintings.   I especially admire her minute poses. Being in life drawing II right now,  I can really appreciate her line quality and how she understands the human figure. Her gestural approach is refreshing and very energetic.  I often get so stuck on my gestures being proportional that I often forget about the moment of the body.  Even though all of Kelly’s models are posing you can “feel” the movement and stretching that the model is doing.  I think a lot of the reason there is so much emotion in her paintings is because of the vibrant colors she uses.  Her hues are eye catching and energetic. The wide haphazard brush strokes are gestural and add to the aesthetic of the poses. 

Compared to my own work, Kelly’s is much more abstract and gestural.  I would like to explore a more vibrant color palette after seeing her work.  I would also like to focus on capturing the movement of the body.  I know that I have the concept and understanding of the human structure and I think it would be interesting to step away from that.  Kelly also works on a small scale, usually on 8x10” or 11x13” pieces of paper.  I like this approach and often keep my work at a smaller scale.  I feel that working small makes me appreciate the things that I create more. 

Definitely a weird week...

Well, class was canceled on Tuesday and although I went home with good intentions of doing some sketches and actually working on a drawing on my own... I didn't.  Things just came up and I got distracted, which is totally the story of my life.  Today we did a couple of gesture drawings which was nice to get warmed up and remember what we're supposed to be doing and then we were dismissed for the rally that is going on on campus.  I definitely don't want to get into politics or my rage towards them, but it's such a hard line to draw and know where to stand.  Part of me is just like.. eh, whatever is going to happen will.. and then I get upset with myself for having such a crappy passover kind of attitude. However, when I stand back and look at all of the educators that I have had in my academic career and look towards my future career in art education I really see validity in what we're standing up for. So with that, kill the bill.

okay, enough political activist stuff, back to drawing. I managed to remember my USB cable like I promised and so here are some pictures, they're from the past couple of weeks so I apologize about the randomness of them.  I always like to keep updating my posts with pictures though, it's really interesting to look back through old posts to see how far you've progressed. Also-sometimes you create a drawing in class and think it's wonderful, then post a picture of it for all the internet world to see.. and suddenly it's not so great. It's definitely a great self assessment!

independent studies

first week

week one

most recent

The deep freeze...

I'm blaming the weather on my current mental blocks towards all school work.  It's much too cold to actually be ambitious and get things done in a timely manner.  Instead.. I think all students should take a hiatus, drink some coffee, and watch a good movie.  On another note, I apologize for not posting any pictures of my own work.  My camera works just fine, but for two weeks I've forgotten to grab my usb cable to actually put my pictures on my computer. So, one more week and I should actually have some work of my own up.  Until then, bear with me and the inspiration images I keep digging up.

 As we keep working on breaking down the body, I realize how important it is.  Also, I've noticed that when i don't warm up, either from gesture drawings or doodling, I don't do as well.  I tend not to pay as close attention to proportion or landmarks and my line quality is a less than desirable.  Below is a great example of different ways to break up the body and to increase understanding. 

I've also been trying to work in a more geometric manner, such as the middle figure on the last row of the picture. You would think that breaking things down into geometric shapes would be easy, but its very difficult to look at something that is round and full of dips and curves and change them into angles and planes. 

I'm looking forward to continue working on drawing the body and understanding the structure of it.  I'm also going to try to do more independent drawings and work in a more artistic manner.  AND i'm going to remember my USB cable when I go home this weekend!

plenty of ideas!

As we're working on drawing from a model more I'm trying to find ways in which to push myself.  I'm still remembering all of my skills from last semester, but I'm also trying to figure out ways that I can push myself a little more.  For starters I think I'm going to work on a different style of gestures. I'm fairly comfortable with the structural style of gestures that Amy has taught us to do, but I'm considering doing more doing more figural gestures, much like the picture below:

I'm also getting used to drawing from a male model instead of a female model. Our model does a great job though and gives us some very intricate poses that are sometimes hard to approach. Learning how to break down the body definitely helps with those poses that are difficult to start. For some reason it always helps me to draw the models head and the angle of the chin. Although Amy has never taught us to do that, it's just something that helps me get started. 

I'd also like to start working on the side with something less centered around long poses and instead possibly breaking up the body and incorporating it into different contexts. I've been looking at inspirational images from artists Alicia Claudle and Joe Thapia. Both are beautiful artists. I love Alicia's eclectic approach to her prints and how she incorporates other images with the body.  Joe's images on the other hand are beautiful, light, and flowing. They use India ink and if you've been following my blog, or go back and creep, I'm fairly comfortable with India ink and like to work with it.  Possibly using India ink or tea to define the body contours would be another approach for me to take.

Joe Thapia

Alicia Claudle

back again!

Well I'm happy to say that I'm back in life drawing again! This semester Amy is letting me take life drawing as a drawing III credit, thankfully, otherwise lord knows when I would have graduated! So anyways, a brief introduction for everyone!

• I'm a Senior
• My major is Art Education- I'm minoring in psychology
• I've worked for University Housing for three years and am currently a DSM in CKTO
• I have a chicken pox scar on the tip of my nose
• I work in a vintage clothing boutique
• My parents own a restaurant
• I love winter & snowboarding
• I'm not a morning person
• I go to the gym every night
• I would be lost without my planner and cell phone...... and laptop.

So, there me at 13,000 ft! yay! 

Moving on, yesterday was the first day of class, it was a little rough. I havent drawn literally anything in over a month and didn't think I would be as rusty as I was, so my drawings were definitely less than spectacular. Since I've already taken lifedrawing I want to continue to improve my skills as well as incorporate more mediums/techniques into the drawings.  Below are some ide
as that I've been compiling!

definitely more technical sort of drawing, but it would really test my knowledge of the muscles/bone structure and might be an interesting approach for me to take. 

So, once I get a little bit better I'll start trying to branch out a little bit. We'll see how things go, but in the meantime I'm looking forward to it!