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!