Flickr Account

Here is the images of my work through out the semester.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/55371768@N05/with/5281518924/ 

Second Half of Semester

The last part of the semester seemed to go by more quickly. I like how during class time we focused on different parts of the body for the day. I especially enjoyed learning the skull. Being able to break it down into planes and drawing it from the skulls was helpful to better understand where those planes are. Some of the techniques I learned while in this class were the use of contour lines to create shape of the body and shell we were drawing. Also measuring helped me to get the right angle and proportions right.

The use of contour lines can help me in my other classes, for example when drawing a product I could use contour lines to help communicate a change in planes. Also being able to understand the body can be put into relationship to other things I design. For example showing size and how the ergonomics of a product are related to the muscles and bones.

Through out the semester I have been able to work on my drawing skills. There is still room for improvement but with the consistent practice I’m beginning to get better with each class. The reason for taking this class was to help my drawing skills, even though it wasn’t directly related to product design.

Shell Drawing #4

For this shell drawing turned out all right, I liked how the third one turned out better. I tried to combine two different colors, brown and orange, to get a wider range of colors. With this shell drawing it seemed harder to control the ink and would wash off color in parts on the drawing I wanted to keep.  Also the charcoal mixed more with the color, changing it so it looked like a bluish / grayish tint. Some of the contour lines on the tail of the shell work but as you move forward the shape of the contour lines gets a little confusing. I probably should of used the shell more when trying to capture the lights and darks on the shell. Also with this shell is could of tried to make more emphasis on the plane changes in the front spirals. 

Manikins

When first getting the manikin I thought it would be easier then it was. The last big group of muscles that we got seemed to take a long time because of the pieces that we had to put on it. These pieces were different sizes and the book was confusing on where to place them on the manikin. Even after we go feed back, it didn’t get any clearer. I think the manikin turned out all right, some of the muscles might not be in the right places and such but it look like most of them are in the right place.  I like getting a change to work in 3D with the clay. It was a nice break from drawing and learning about the underlying muscles. I kind of wished that we had spent more time on learning the skeleton and the muscle structures so we can incorporate into the long poses and knew what to look for.

Hands and Skulls

Hands were always difficult for me to get right. When I have done it before in previous classes where we drew from our own hands it was hard to get the proportions correct. Part of the reason might be that I have long figures and were easy to get them to look disproportional. It wasn’t just me who had trouble drawing my hands, my partner seem to struggle a little getting the proportions right but did a great jobs despite my long fingers. When it was my turn to drawn her hands I tried to create the planes of them and go from there. I was able to block them in all right but still had some trouble getting the different sections right. The first drawing I did was hard to get right I was trying to do both the planes and what I saw at once and it just seemed to get a little muddled. The second one I did better, I was able to focus on the planes and try to get them in the right place and then added the contour lines and other lines and shapes.

Skull 1

Skull 2

The skull is the other part of the body we focused on during class this week. They were easier than then I thought they were going to be. They were fun to do because I never though of how the skull is laid out with planes and the face only make up one third of the skull. I especially like drawing the side of the jaw where it met up with the top part of the skull. In my drawings, I like to measure and pick a point and draw from there to get the angles and lines correct.  I liked drawing that part of the skull because I could use the bottom corner, as a point to get other parts correct. The first perspective view drawing of the skull I made it have a gorilla jaw. In the picture you can kind of see where I had draw in the jaw and was erased. The drawing over it was Amy’s; she was able to help me figure out what I was doing wrong. The second one was more of a profile view, I think I got the most of it in the correct position but the jaw might be longer then it should be.

Shell Drawing #3

I liked how this shell drawing turned out. It was fun trying to figure out the ink and how to make it work with the shell drawing. With this drawing I ended up starting over three times. The first just wasn’t working and the second one I was drawing the spirals wrong so they didn’t look like it was receding in space. So the three one I was able to figure out what I was doing wrong and how to fix it. I also was able to get a good diagonal and better placement on the page. When we got into groups to give each other feed back on our shell drawing, they gave me some good things to work on to improve my drawing.

One of the main things that were discussed in my group was that my shell drawing seemed a little too mathematical. As in that the lines seemed to precise and in need of change in contour line as it goes around. Even though my shell is pretty round it still could use some line variation in the actual lines going around. They also said that it had good depth, volume and nice plane changes as it went back in space. Another thing that I could improve on is having lighter lines in the back and creating more detail in the front to create more focus and life. The way I did the highlights was confusing with some of the shadows I had incorporated in to the drawing. For my next drawing I plan to use a stronger light source or pay closer attention to where the light is coming from. With the light source I did was able to keep that area whiter and became the spot were you looked at first in my drawing. In the cavity of my shell I could be darker so the surrounding parts would pop more. Also discussed in my group was that I could use a more wider range of lights and darks with the inks. When looking at other peoples drawing I noticed that many were done in different styles ands different way of going about this assignment.

This week we learned about the shoulder girdle. This consists of bone markers, in the front is the clavicle and in the back are the shoulder blades. We didn’t have a model in class but we got to draw from the skeleton. This was the first time we had to so it was different than working with a model. I like working with the skeleton because I was able to actually look at where the landmarks came from the bones instead of going straight to the model and trying to figure things out as I go. Also when working with the skeleton I got help with getting the pelvis right. By getting the proportions right makes the drawing look more actuate. Being able to finding different points on the pelvis diagram I was able to correlate them to the drawing I was working on. 

 

We also focused on the shoulder girdle. When drawing it, I found it would have been easier to draw bigger and be able to look more closely as that part of the skeleton. The size that I drew it at I wasn’t able to go into too much detail. As the class went on I wanted to focus more on what we were learning in class, so I drew a closer up of just the shoulder blade and clavicle. It was harder to do at a bigger scale because I had some trouble getting everything in proportion to each other. Then the ribs were hard to line up with the other bones. This time it was also hard to put in some of the contour lines because the shoulder blade had ridges in it that was hard to capture the likeness of them.

 

We also got assigned the rest of the muscles for the manikin. Like the ones before we had to find the right place and try not to get them too big so they didn’t look disproportional. By finishing them I’ll be able to see some of them on the model when we draw them again.

 

Field Trip

Yves Klein, Untitled Fire-Color Painting, 1961

For Life Drawing one of the places that we went to was the Walker Art Center in Minneapolis. One of the exhibits that that was interesting was Yves Kleins work. To me it was exciting to see certain pieces of his. For example the Suaire de Mondo Cane (Mondo Cane Shroud), where blue female body prints were pressed on to gauze. This was one of the pieces that I had studied in sculpture. Being able to see what you have studied in person makes it more real in a sense then seeing a print or image of the actual piece. While in sculpture, Yves Klein was one of the artists that I liked. He was able to capture some of the movement in the bodies by just the imprint. His work reminds me of when kids make hand print. Each is the same but still has an individual quality.  His body pieces are relevant to life drawing in the way that it’s done with bodies but it also creates a sense of life in the piece itself. With our drawing we try to understand how to draw and also give it some life in the way the model moves and poses. 

 

 

 

Yves Klien, Suaire de Mondo Cane (Mondo Cane Shroud), 1961

 

We also went to the Bell Museum of Natural History. They had many taxidermy animals where they were displayed in their habitats. The main reason for going to this museum was to draw from the exhibits. We could either draw from the taxidermy animals or from the bones that were also on displayed. I had picked a deer vertebrae to draw. I thought it would be interesting and would help me with my shell drawings. It was harder then I thought it would be with the complexity of the shape. They had many interesting things that could help our life drawing work.

Deer Vertebrae

This week we started out by getting the leg muscles assignment. Doing the muscles this week had to have a different approach where we had to keep the muscles thinner or trim them down to get the size right and able to fit them all on there. When doing the some of the foot muscles, I didn’t realize that a lot of them over lap each other and to attach to different toe bones. 

 

By learning the leg and foot muscles led us into focusing on drawing the only the feet of the model. I was able to approach it with like any other long pose drawing where it was helpful to measure to try to get the lengths and angles right. To me it was a little weird to just draw the feet but it was also beneficial that we only had to focus on one aspect of the body and try and draw it. 

Also are shell drawings, we finished them for this week and also able to practice for the next one. One the second shell drawing I got some feed back on how to make it better by changing up line weight and work on the atmospheric perspective. Later on in the week we got the chance to practice working with the ink. I like taking a little bit of class time to work though how the best way of working the ink into the drawings and to capture the shell. I still need to practice more trying to figure out how to push the drawing in capturing all the nooks and crannies. With working on it in class I was able to get some areas to start to work were others need more time to get there with layer different darkness’s to achieve the right depth in the drawing. The hardest thing I’ve come across using the ink is controlling it. I’m use to being able to control the median, but with the ink it has a mind of its own. Its frustrating and kind of nice just letting it do what it wants to give it different feeling that I  hadn’t planned.

 

Midterm Portfolio

1st Half of Semester

The first half of semester for me was mostly trying to figure out the basics and how to translate them to paper. The main purpose for taking this class was to improve my drawing skills. By drawing in class I think I have improved a little were the figure is being drawn more accurately. Learning how to draw in the basic understructures helped me to give the body form while drawing it. Drawing in the spinal column, rib cage and hipbones gave it reference points as a way to draw the body more accurately. With these reference points I was able to measure out angles and distances to give the body form. Also another technique we learned was using contour lines to show the way the body’s curves.

Gesture Drawings

With my gesture drawing I have noticed that they are a good warm –up before we start longer poses. I still need to work on going fast in the shorter times so I can draw more of the body and give it more of sense of life and movement. They show the basic spinal column and rig cage in the shorter times and gets more detailed as the time lengthens.

Long Drawings

The first section of time is used to figure out how I want to draw the pose and then start over to make it more accurate. This seems to help when I start measuring angles to get everything in the right place. Then adding contour lines also helps to give the body more of a form when drawing the hills and valleys that are formed from the muscle underneath.

Shell Drawings

With the shell drawings was difficult at first as I was trying to figure out how I was suppose to start. With this first attempt I learned that I should use less outline and create more of a long axis. Of course the drawing could use more line value from the start as I did most of it at the end with an eraser.

Manikins

The manikin is fun to do and gives a break to drawing for a little bit. Learning about the muscles can help to better understand what I’m trying to draw. At first I didn’t realize how hard they were going to be but as we get more muscles I feel I that it’s getting easier.

2^nd Half of Semester

For the second half of the semester I want to continue improving. By working on line value and weight, I can create distance in a drawing. I also want to continue improving on my accuracy. By using the techniques I have learned this far. With this will help to give more of a sense of life and movement to the bodies that I’m drawing. 

Flickr Account: http://www.flickr.com/photos/55371768@N05/ 

We are still working on gesture drawings and I still need to work on my line work. I keep getting my lines too dark and the same values. In order to hold our pencil in a different way then the way you would normally write. We taped a long pencil to our charcoal and stood farther back from our paper. It helped a little standing back which I wasn't able to put as much pressure on the end creating a lighter line. (First two gesture Drawings). We also tried a technique were we referenced other points on the body in order to get the right angle and length to make the drawing more accurate. It took me some time to get the hang of it. As I went on I was able to get more accurate drawings. ( Last three).

Week 3

On Tuesday, we reviewed our work on the manikins. It was harder then I thought it was going to be, trying to figure out where the muscles go. I didn't realize that we were to group them together but I had separated them individually. It makes more sense after we went over it in class. We get time to redo it and make it more accurate. Then on Thursday, we learned about the rib cage. Drawing the rib cage along with the spinal column helped to get the body's form. Being able to create the curves and movement of the body. We incorporated these into our gesture drawings. We kept increasing the time we got to draw in the rib cage and spinal column. To me it seemed harder to as the time got longer. I focused more on getting it right. With less time it was more about placing it and getting the movement of it. Though working with the gesture drawings I still need work on line weight and contour drawing.

In class we worked on contour drawings of our shells. It was are to figure out if you went far enough or too far when doing the blind ones. We also got to draw gesture drawing from a model. Once I figured how I could capture the pose, it came easier and harder. It was hard for me to get the right angles when doing the shorter time poses.

Intro

I’ve always been interested in art when I was younger but not till college did I start focusing on it and improving on those skills. I'm majoring in Industrial Design at UW-Stout and taking second semester junior classes. With this degree I would like to design things that are for the home, for example kitchen appliances and possible furniture.  My favorite courses I've taken involved creating 3D works. I like drawing concepts out and able to see them take a 3D form. I'm taking life drawing to improve my drawing skills and to learn more about the anatomy of the body. I would be able to uses these skills to better my design work to better express my ideas to others. Also by learning about the anatomy of the body I can better able to design pieces that would be more ergonomic. When I graduate I would like to join a company were I would be able to design things for the home. 

Some of the work I've done in my Industrial Design beginning classes.