The Face

Learning about the ear and the mouth, and then adding it to the knowledge of the nose and eyes was exciting but also frustrating. It seems that when drawing the face the different features have to be captured very exactly in order for it to look correct. Also, the angles of the face and where things line up is crucial! I really struggled with lining up the eye and the nose correctly. The lips and ear were easier than I thought they would be. I think that the self portrait will be challenging.

The Eye and Nose

After learning the structure of the skull we learned the basics of the eye and the nose. These forms were harder than I expected to draw accuratly. When looking at the eye and nose it was difficult for me to see how to capture the angles and curves on paper. I drew two eyes and the second one was an improvement, but still needs a lot of work before I work on the self-portrait! The nose took me many tries; I think that in comparison with the eye it should be a little more angled. I think that being able to see people individual features and draw them accurately would be a great skill to have. I'm glad we are learning the basics but I can tell it is going to take a lot of practice.

Final Shell Drawing With Ink

This drawing is a huge improvement from my previous attempt. The first drawing that I used ink with became very washed out and blurred. Right away I lost the pencil marks and was basically guessing where the shadows and highlights were. My goal for this drawing was to make sure the lines were dark enough to stay so I could use the ink to really enhance the form. I used a softer pencil lead which helped. I also was more cautious with wetting the page which gave me more control of the ink. Overall I am an satisfied with it, the bottom is the open part, but this was lost with the ink; it looks a bit like it is reflecting in water which is a neat affect (if I had meant to do that). Lastly, I would have used a different color of ink (not brown) because it looks kind of dreary.

Hand Drawing

I was apprehensive about drawing the hand, I thought that it would be difficult since it has many details and it seems crucial to get the proportion correct. For a first try I am fairly happy with how the drawing turned out. I like the finger portion better - it seems blocky and unfinished, but I think it has more dimension and life-like qualities. The back of the hand portion, on the right side of the drawing, seems flat to me. I do not think I captured the bottom angle exactly right. In the future I would like to work on a view with the hand open.

Shoulder Blades

I had been looking forward to learning about the shoulder girdle; I thought it would make my drawings look a lot more finished to be able to add more detail and definition in that area.
My first attempt was a little more difficult than I anticipated. In previous drawings I had added some of the main lines in the shoulder blade region which seemed obvious. From the angle I was drawing it seemed hard to capture the correct angle since the left side is angled away. It look many tries for me to figure out the angle of the should blades; looking at the drawing I think there is still room for improvement, especially on the left side of the back.

Ink Drawing

It was interesting adding the ink to our shell drawings since it was something new. I haven't worked with ink before so it was quite a learning curve. I was sick for the class period that we practiced, so after a few trials on my own, my first real attempt was on my third large shell drawing. I underesimated how difficult it is to control the ink. Also, I didn't know what to expect because it dries a lot lighter than it appears when wet. This was good becuase so much ink, water, and paper particles built up it all seemed to be blrrying together. For our final drawing I will be aiming for more control and more defined shadows and highlights to really add dimention!

Mid Term Progress

I can’t believe that it’s already midterm, the semesters has flown by! Although it went quickly I can see that I’ve already learned a lot in Life Drawing. It was a bit of a struggle to get back into drawing since it has been three years since I have taken a drawing course. I found figure drawing to be more my style than Drawing I and Drawing II. I like that we do a combination of fast gesture drawings and longer contour drawings. They each hold their own challenges for me but I can see how I am growing with each and how they will help me in other aspects of my major and career.

I have gained a better understanding of the form of the body from the hours of close attention devoted to it this semester. This will be beneficial for me when I am designing spaces when attempting to understand proportion and scale. My ultimate goal is to design functional, aesthetically pleasing spaces which better the lives of the people who occupy them; this would be impossible without knowledge about the form of the body that the spaces are constructed for. I know the studying the body will help me with incorporating successful ergonomics in my future designs. It has been good to have a refresher in drawing since this is always an important skill to have when designing since it conveys ideas quickly.

When working on interiors projects I am a perfectionist and spend as long as it takes to get every detail the way I want it. This course challenges me in that regard since I know that it is something that I will not master by the end of the semester and my drawings will not be perfect. I think this is a good thing for me to accept so I can find a healthy balance. For my drawings I want to improve my proportion. I am still leaving too much space between the rib cage and pelvis. Also, I struggle drawing the pelvis if the model is laying or sitting; I only seem to understand it best standing.

My work so far (albums are on the right side of the page): http://www.flickr.com/photos/mccarthyk2070/