Skin & Bones

So this week we started it off with a critique of independent study student work. It was a photographic series based on the injuries and allergies of one active young man! We also got a chance to discuss the details of our exhibition on Monday! The class has collectively decided on the name 'Skin & Bones' since we have both portraits and skeletons. Great name, I love it. I've been working on posters for this event (I've included 2 versions below). The first one was meant to give an older, life drawing 'masters' feel to it. I really like how it turned out and I think it's simple and to the point, but eye-catching. The second one is more contemporary, but I was just kind of messing around and having fun with type and imagery in Photoshop! As I said before in a previous post, this poster designing is always a welcomed obligation. It's also a nice break from the other reading homework that too often bores me. After posting both posters on facebook, searching for feedback, and talking to Amy, we've decided to print off the 'masters' one. I'm really pleased with that decision so look for us on December 17th from 4-9pm!

Life-Size Life Drawing

So the room is crazy! A little caotic. I'm also finding that this whole drawing, done well, will take a LOT longer than class time is going to provide. Ugh! Good thing I have gen eds this semester so I'm not as swamped with projects at the end here. I hope everyone else is coping well, balancing extra curriculars, other classes, and work on top of this massive drawing! Good luck.

We also began talking about a potential exhibition for our Life Drawing II class. We're thinking of hanging up the portraits and the life-size skeletons for people to look at while walking in and out of the applied arts for the Senior Shows on Friday, December 17th! I think that's such a great idea. Most often, all the drawings and hard work put into projects for classes goes relatively unnoticed or unrecognized in the end. And everyone loves a show! I've been a part of a few shows in my college career and had a blast doing each one!! It's so exciting to see your work professionally displayed for others to admire. I can't wait. I've offered to do the posters, but I think we'll just end up discussing this next week or another time in the future. We have a while and poster design is fun so it'll be a welcomed obligation. More updates to come on that!

Break Time

Not a whole lot to report this week since break took Wednesday from us and I was bed-ridden with a cold Monday. We did finish the critiques on the long portraits which I think turned out so well. I love seeing the different drawing styles of each individual. Now we've introduced the newest project that will take us until the end of the semester. As expected, Life Drawing II will render a full-scale drawing of the skeletal structure. WHAT?! This project is going to be crazy! We received drywall for everyone to mount their pictures on, cut that to size and mapped out the room for each person's drawing space. Having only one skeleton for the entire class of 20+ people to crowd around with massive boards ought to be quite interesting...

Break was great though and extremely relaxing! Get ready to draw!

Crit on long portraits & the longer one to come..

The most constructive concept I took from the Long Portrait Critique in Wednesday's class was the style and overall look of all the finished projects. Each one had it's own line quality, line width, and value to finish it off. I kept my portraits planar and sketchy, with little line variation. I most enjoyed the portraits with great dark to light contrast to enhance overall three-dimensionality (thanks Dan!) of the model on a two-dimensional piece of paper.

So now we proceed into the large-scale skeletal structure. With so much time spent on one drawing, I'm concerned most with becoming bored or uninterested in the subject matter. This will unmotivate me to continue. With that said, I have briefly researched other life drawing styles on Google--sorry it is too cold and wet out for me to venture to the library.

This first one is done by Stephan Perreault. I enjoy it because the silhouette of the actual form and body is clean and concise. I enjoy the shading of the background being dark and the highlights of the picture being colored in white charcoal. I think this one is most reminiscent of my style of work because of the simplified, slightly cartoonish-style; clean, soft lines and angles:


This next one is pretty interesting based on the simplification the artist is representing. There is enough value information to recognize a form, however the details have been lost seemingly to preserve anonymity of the individual models. The almost non-existent outline of the bodies still reveal a sense of the form. I enjoy the use of value in this one. The treatment may be similar to what I transfer on the painting we do in the coming weeks.

The shadows of this last one is perfect for the value I would like to include in my long-portraits. I love that soft, blurred style where the figure or object seems to be sitting in a shadow.

This last one I included simply because I LOVE pastels. I've worked with them for 9 years now and I can't get enough of them! I'm almost thinking now that my long-portrait will be one drawing instead of two, but the finishing touch will be to go over and redo the value with pastels to get a more realistic piece. What are your thoughts?

Long Portraits

So for two weeks now we’ve been working diligently on long portrait drawings. We will complete three all together, spending three hours on each of them. Originally I thought this would be overkill for a portrait, but honestly it was a lot of fun. The half hour breaks made things very manageable for the artist and the model. Plus, these past few weeks I did not hear complaints about drawing. Everyone seemed to enjoy the project. I loved the detail I was able to get while observing the model for such an extended period of time. Each half hour I tried to focus on a different landmark or feature of the face and neck. Since the views were mostly ¾ front or back, there seemed to be a definite silhouette line that I loved to begin with. That outside edge set up everything for me. It gave my face shape and even definition for recognition. If that line was proportional to the face I was drawing, most likely the whole drawing would be relatively proportional. I really enjoyed how the drawings turned out, although as an artist I feel my work is never done and can always be revised or improved. For now, I have decided not to dwell on the drawings for fear of ruining them. I'll post all three drawings next week after the critique, for now here's the latest portrait of my friend Brick:

Returning to my statement about the outside line actually giving recognition to the model in front of me, I think of the number one rule of graphic design: Simplify. In logo design the basic idea is to convey a message or embody a company’s theme with as little substance as possible. To take any object and simplify it to its most basic structure, while still preserving that message. I love this idea of defining a person by that outside silhouetted line. I think for next time I’ll discuss how the critique goes on Monday and then during the week so various experiments in attempt to capture individuals with as little detail and features as possible. I’ll post more later!

Self Portraits in a Nut Shell

I've recently been researching Max Beckmann, an "expressionist" painter of his own sense. He is one of the few artists who have numerous self portraits, next only to Pablo Picasso. Beckmann believed that "profound emotions were transmitted by the articulate composition of the human form", the self-portrait in particular. I find it odd to take this concept and mix it with the idea of an artist painting another artist. Are we putting our own emotions into the portrait of another? Can each portrait be truly representational of another if our own impressions are still present when we draw?

I enjoyed this specific self-portrait of Max Beckmann because the craft technique reminded me most of the charcoal drawings we are experiencing in class, however this was made with dry point. In particular, I enjoy the nose quality and definite plane change from the bridge of his nose to the vertical front of the forehead. I like the plane definition of the under-eye lid as well as the hatch-technique shading. Here's the piece titled Large Self-Portrait, 1919 Max Beckmann

Long Portraits

This week we've started our long portraits, about 2-3 hours of drawing. Our groups' first model was Evan and I think it turned out great. Enjoy!

Portraits!

Yay! Now we can put a face to those bald bones we've been drawing for over a month.. I wanted to focus my Life Drawing II skills towards storyboard character drawing efficiency. This tends to mainly mean gestures, expressions, and skeletal posture. I've been waiting for the moment of expressions and it has finally come! I'm honestly going to make this post short and sweet. I'm proud of my portraits since we were given little direction and were just told to draw. The first one is Luke, the second Evan B, and the third is Paul. Enjoy!

Nip-Tuck

Alright so this post has little to do with Life Drawing II and much to do with Art in general. My good friend Paul and I were flew through the first and second seasons of Nip/Tuck on Netflix and finally graduated to Season Tthree! Woot! The show itself is a manifestation of present American society's selfish and glutinous ideology and their continuously evolving definition of 'beauty'. Although that description may not sound too pleasing to some, the show is incredibly intriguing and emotionally charged.

I feel our drawings in class are a physical manifestation of our own ideas of perfection. Think about it. Our own eyes in connection with our hands fill in or change aspects of an object based on how we want them to look. We then must return to the drawing and correct any perceptual flaws. This idea of reconstruction is not absent within the plastic surgery proffession of Christian and Sean, the main characters of Nip/Tuck. Whether on paper or in the surgery room, we are both striving for perfection, with realism. Most patients do not want to look fake rather 'normal'. A natural realism or natural perfection you could say.



Because the show focuses on improvements to define 'beauty' and perfection, how on earth does someone choose imagery depicting such difficult and subjective concepts? They find 'perfect' people. The idea of the nude in modern day's perfection is displayed on this Season III cover. What do you think of this depiction of perfection? What is your ideal beauty?

Critiquing a Critique

I was unhappy with the critique this week. 7 minutes and no one said anything worth while. I knew I had been struggling with cross contour and the class beforehand I had already spoken with Amy about this. I wanted to hear from the class, but no one had anything to say besides Evan. Thank you Evan for speaking at least, but I didn't take a liking to your comment because it was subjective. And I guess all critiques are subject, but you have to take them with a grain of salt unless the comment is collective. From the lack of response from the class, this wasn't collective. Evan stated that he enjoyed my 10 minute drawing more than any other. He thought it was more pure and natural because he didn't like the blendy value drawings and I had already stated the faults of the cross contours. The 10 minute drawing is not the strongest of the ones I accomplished these past weeks, sorry Evan. I really enjoy the value drawings I've accomplished. Expanding on my last post about going in-depth into Photoshop painting, value has been my priority these past months. I felt a true connection with the skulls and I really enjoy the profile view. I was totally in the zone with this drawing and therefore left most of my original lines to show the progression of connection, from basic to detailed.

The following is the 10 minute drawing, 2 value drawings and a cross contour:

To sum this week up, SPEAK UP people! It makes the class much more interesting when everyone participates and ANYTHING you have to say is helpful. It also encourages others to speak up or gives them a new perspective to reflect and comment on. I HATE, absolutely HATE crappy critiques. It's a waste of my time and yours. Sorry for the tough love, but Wednesday was brutal and I never want our critiques to progress like that again...ugh.

Connecting

This week I focused on connecting with the drawing. I love the artist high you feel when you are really interested in the subject matter and focused on the task at hand. I love turning on that iPod; the sounds fill your mind and calm your thoughts. The page extends into your peripheral vision; just you and the page. Wednesday it was Duffy and Gnarles Barkley singing me into the zone. Whats your favorite song to draw to? Comment away..

For a unrelated comment, I have begun going in-depth into Photoshop painting. I have attached a close-up of a character I've created. I began painting highlights and shadows onto the character and realized how convenient knowing the body structurally was to painting this storyboard frame. Although I haven't spent the time I wished I could on this painting, I think it hasn't turned out too horribly. Comment on suggestions! :)

Okay, so basically that's a self-portrait.

That's all for now, until next week.

~Megan

Which Skull Speaks To You?

I really enjoyed Amy's discussion Wednesday of the artist putting their energy into their work, and thus the work expressing the artist. The viewer can really read the connection between your mindset and the drawing based on line quality, variation, and fluidity; I liked the expression that came up in Wednesday's class about the 'confident line'. So all this is kinda freaky, but I definitely see this in my beginning skull drawings. The first drawing was a wash. I wasn't looking at the skull carefully enough and making that connection. The drawing is very simplified and line quality is very weak. (Picture 1-Below) The next drawing I sat and studied the skull, and from many different angles when a part of the skull became unclear to me. I believe the drawing reflects my deeper engagement with the skull, but there is still much to improve upon.

Our group critiques on Wednesday were helpful in determining what needed more work, mainly by simply getting a chance to compare everyone's drawings. I realized I'm squishing the head together too much to where it is becoming more spherical rather than egg-shaped. I also have major issues with the proportion and placement of the jaw bone. I think shading seemed to be one thing most everyone struggled on. We need to work on picking a plane to be hid by the 'light', a direction of your choice, and only shade that plane. Although I did minimal shading, I think it truly makes your picture come alive, especially in intricate areas like the protruding cheek bone. I think I'm just going to continue my focus on the proportion and shape of the bone before I focus on finishing touches. These are all things to work on next week!

So thanks for the critiques last Wednesday and we'll see you soon!

A Second Chance at Life: Life Drawng II

Hello all, I'm back for more!

I've taken a year off from Life Drawing, but I'm back in full force! The first week I was absent, attempting to switch classes into Life Drawing from Printmaking. Success! So for the first week I don't have much to report on what happened in the classroom so I'll explain my reasoning for wanting to switch.

I'm a Super Senior in the Multimedia/Graphic Design program with a Minor in Digital Photography. I will be taking my senior project class Fall 2011 and I am planning to do a short film. This will take a lot of premeditated planning and I need the specifics filtered out before next semester. Life Drawing will benefit me immensely in character drawing and story boarding for my short film senior project.

I won't only benefit from Life Drawing II educationally. I'm looking forward to exploring the human figure even deeper than I did in Life Drawing I. I think we humans are beautiful, especially woman with our exaggerated curves. The human structure fascinates me. I believe exploring the nature of the human form helps me discover more about myself. I am more accepting and understanding of my own form after Life Drawing I. I cannot wait to discover what Life Drawing II will bring to my perspective of myself. I am also looking forward to exploring how others find themselves along their Life Drawing journey by viewing and commenting on their blogs. Here we go...