Final Reflection

In life drawing I feel that I have learned a lot and refreshed some skills that I have not worked with in a while. Drawing overall, has been somewhat of a challenge for me in the past, but I rather enjoy sketching. I feel that I sometimes lose interest in strictly drawing. However, life drawing has captured my interest in drawing again and I think it has a lot to do with the process in which we develop a structure in life drawing. An understanding must come before an accurately drawn representation of form. At the start of this semester I set out to improve my general drawing abilities, become more sensitive with line, and understand contour better. Through this semester I feel that I've successfully accomplished each one of these goals. I am incorporating the drawing techniques that I've learned in life drawing and utilizing them within ID work. This is exciting when fine art can be met with design, even if it is only in the process.

I am mostly proud of the work that I've done in life drawing. Like with any studio course, there were some struggles, but I felt that each time we drew I learned something. I do think that any art or design student can benefit from learning how to draw structurally. If nothing else, you do gain a far better understanding of the human form. I've learned some things in the class and I've definitely made improvements in my own style and ability. Even since mid-term, I've improved with my line placement and weight. These improvements are beginning to show in my sketching ideation for my Industrial Design degree as well, which is, again, very exciting!

Here is a link to my final flickr photostream.

Skulls man

Drawing skulls is kind of an epic experience. I do think that these things are pretty challenging to draw. This is the first skull drawing I did. It is the side profile and I think fairly successful. Either way, I think skulls are a pretty good thing to draw in order to understand the facial structures of drawings. I think my line sensitivity is improving and I am more aware of my line placement. So overall, a good week in life drawing.

Progress

So this is my second shell ink wash and I feel that it was a definite improvement. The paper makes quite a difference and I learned a thing or two from the second shell drawing that I inked. So, overall, a definite improvement in my mind. I was able to achieve a better level of contrast throughout the drawing and didn't completely wash out the contours that I had drawn in charcoal. In fact, I felt that the contour drawing itself was the best shell drawing so far. So with this drawing I am pretty excited. I feel a lot better about ink wash after messing around with it a bit too.

Shell Wash

So this was an interesting assignment. This is my second shell drawing, with the second larger shell. It was nice to switch because I was having a difficult time seeing the detail in my initial shell. Either way, I felt this was an improvement from my first attempt. During class we began using ink washes and I struggled somewhat. I eventually began to control the ink and water somewhat, but not completely successfully. I do enjoy the blending of the charcoal and the wash, but it would not really be my first choice for rendering a shell. I do think the wash makes sense in that it is relative to the shell environment. We will be doing more shell inkings so hopefully I will improve with the watery inks.

Midterm Reflection

So at the midterm, I feel that I've made some definite improvements. For one, I am experiencing drawing again. It has been over a year since drawing two and since then I've been mostly doing design sketching as a part of Industrial Design. I also feel that I am much more sensitive in my line placement and weight. This was initially one of the goals I had in mind upon beginning Life Drawing. So I am happy with that. I am beginning to understand form and contour much better through drawing the models during class. I didn't really understand what a valuable experience it may be. I am incorporating the things I've been learning in Life Drawing in my Industrial Design work. I've a much better understanding of how to properly utilize contour lines in my sketches, even on organic surfaces. I've always struggled with this, ever since Presentation Techniques.

I am finding that drawing the models is the most beneficial learning experience from the class so far. I also am beginning to just overall enjoy drawing, which has been a challenge in semesters past. Using ink is a crazy experience in this class, but I do find it enjoyable when going well. I've learned a lot so far this semester. I've improved my technique quite a bit and found a freedom or looseness in drawing which is helping overall in drawing and sketching. I plan to keep working on the lines that I put down on the page and the understanding of reading surfaces and structures.

Here is a link to my flickr page

Here are some images of a project I recently completed in ID Art & Science of Production.

My it's been some time since I've visited my Life Drawing blog.

So now that spring is really beginning to set in, I am beginning to notice my natural surroundings much more. I feel that the looming sense of winter has faded and I am paying much more attention to all the life coming back to the surface.

I've been looking at the ant hills accumulating outside of my apartment lately. Ants, I feel, are in a constant state of highly organized rebuilding. They are constantly adapting to the changes around them. In a way, we too are constantly adapting to our surroundings. In the context of Life Drawing, I feel that I've taken much from the things going on around me. In the design world, we become very comfortable with the visual language surrounding us and begin to see more clearly what it is we're dealing with. Like ants, we are rebuilding or at least building upon a framework that will help us succeed in accomplishing our goals. So, I suppose let's all keep up the good work!