Review Week 6

This week we were given our portrait assignment. We are drawing the faces of our classmates for the next three drawings. Each person from the group will model one day and further drawing time to finish the projects must be arranged outside of class. Tuesday was a practice day and a refresher of the facial features. We focused on drawing the eyes nose mouth and ears to bring back some of the structural tricks we learned in life drawing I. A lot of the techniques came back to me instantly while I was drawing my classmate. I tried to practice putting the features together, but I always seen to start too large and the portrait ends up getting cropped. I need to pay special attention to this when I begin my drawings next week. Thursday we reviewed the neck and hair and took a little trip to penco to get supplies for the final drawings. With the time that it took to get the materials and the lecture, we were left little time to start the drawings. I am eager to get started on Monday! I am hopeful that my drawings will turn out well. I think they will be a nice addition to my portfolio since we didn't spend much time drawing portraits in life drawing I.

Review Week 5

This week we practiced drawing the skull from memory. We will be having a skull test where we have to draw 5 views of the skull from memory next week. I found it very difficult to remember the structures of the face of the skull. I need to go back and study the landmarks and memorize how they look in relation to one another. I struggled with the cheekbones and mouth and jaw area in particular. I feel like I spent more time trying to create volume in the cranium than studying the facial structure. I think I may have just looked at the shapes and drew them as opposed to actually studying the structure of the bones. I didn't have as much trouble drawing the overall shape of the skull from each of the views and I found it much easier to draw the back of the cranium since we focused on it so strongly in the last series of drawings. Overall, I have a lot of practice set ahead for me so I can be well prepared for the test next week!

Review Week 4

This week we continued to work on our skull drawings and critiqued the work on Wednesday. I tried to create the form by adding value to the rough drawings. I think I was successful in identifying the form, but I relied too heavily on rendering the drawing. I should have created more of a balance between shading and contour lines to make the drawing more structurally effective and visually dynamic.

Review Week 3

This week we continued to work on the skull. Our assignment was to create 5 drawings of the cranium alone. We were to draw a 10 minute gesture of the top of the cranium, and 4 finished drawings of the profile, back, 3/4 back and 3/4 front. One of the 3/4 drawings must be only cross contour and the other should have cross contour and long axis lines with value on one side plane. I found the drawing of the top of the cranium to be extremely difficult. Due to working in the studio with limited views I have a slight view of the side plane as well and I found it difficult to make the form look accurate. After this drawing I focused on the straight back view. It is difficult to draw such a simple shape and try and make it look not only true to the form, but interesting as well. I abandoned this drawing and plan on starting over. I moved on to the 3/4 back view. I had more success with this angle and I was able to incorporate cross contour and long axis lines into the drawing, as well as value to one side plane. This weekend I will continue to work at home with my skull to finish the assignment for critique on Wednesday. I hope it will have enough detail to create an interesting drawing!