Manniken Fail and the Ribcage

This week we started by looking at our Mannikens and the spinal erectors we built over the weekend.  I had a hard time visualizing where the muscles go and what thickness they should be.  I made mine really thick and they were falling off of the skeleton.  It helped to look at everyone else’s Mannikens and the teacher’s as well.  I think when we start building the abs I will know how to look at the body from every angle and how that way of building muscles is actually helpful.  I’m still contemplating whether or not I want to sign up for the muscle website, I can’t decide if it’s worth it or not.  I still have some time to decide.

Also this week we did some more gesture drawings to get more comfortable with that.  I am still working hard on using my whole arm in the drawings and changing line thickness and pressure.  I feel like doing a lot of gesture drawings will help and pretty soon these things will become second nature to me. 

On Thursday we spent the beginning of class learning about the ribcage and how to draw that piece of the body.  I never would have guessed the simplest way to draw it was in the shape of an egg.  Granted, eggs aren’t so simple as I soon learned when I had to apply it myself but near the end I felt like I was getting the hang of it.  I really like the mix of anatomy and that sort of thing with the artistic aspect.  It’s a really neat approach to learning. The only thing I don’t like is that we have to sit on that hard floor for close to an hour when we have lectures.  It would be nice if we could find a room to go to and talk about things like we did last week.  Anyways, the last drawing we did in class on Thursday was another contour which I’m not sure if I have a grasp on those yet, but again, I’ll just keep working on it. 

Actual Models

This week we got to work with an actual model.  This was slightly terrifying and not weird at all.  That was something I was very worried about.  I knew I could handle it but I noticed when you start drawing, your focusing on the forms of the body and the curves and not so much the fact that the model was nude.  I think the way the drawing times were set up were good too.  The thirty seconds were nothing but after doing a couple of those and then working up the time and then back down was a nice way to keep the three hours short.  I think my favorite drawings came from the ten minute poses.

I have not yet started on the construction of the muscles but I am worried about the three-dimensionality of the whole project.  I seem to have trouble at looking at things in a 3D way but I am hoping that at least I will make a clean manikin.  I want each muscle to be well formed and accurate so I think this project is going to be the most challenging for me.  I think that I am up to that challenge though. 

I am looking forward to learning more parts of the body.  I think the ribcage is next.  I think that the lessons about the skeleton will really help my drawings.  I am especially excited for gesture drawings becoming second nature.  I won’t need to worry about whether I am using correct proportions or if I am using my arm to draw instead of my wrist, it will all come naturally.  This class is just so different from anything I have ever done and I know that it will be frustrating at times but I also know that I will come away with something that I can be truly proud of.

First Week

This week was really hard for me.  It's always difficult to get back into the swing of school, especially drawing again.  I always find my drawings rough and childish when I start drawing once again.  Slowly, things start coming back to me but one trouble I always face is line variation.  I don’t know why that's always a struggle for me but I tried to work on it a little more when we started work on the spinal column.  

My first drawing of the week was my shell.  Here is an image of my blind contour.

I started and stopped a lot during this drawing.  I kept turning the shell around to look at it from different angles where what I should have been doing is slowing down and looking at the shell from a single point of view.  I also drew the shell with no real line variation in width or color; they are all the same darkness.  Those were some the comments that were said in the small group critique.  They did say that I focused on some small details such as in the upper left corner.  This was my first blind contour drawing I have done and it was a very new experience for me.     

            I really enjoyed our next meeting time though when we got to learn about the spine and have a couple attempts at drawing that from the skeleton.  I liked it because when I got certified to be an instructor at stout we learned about the parts of the body such as the spine so it felt like old information, just a refresher course.  Plus, I still get some of them mixed up sometimes but it’s still interesting to learn about.  I also really liked my first attempt at the spine which I didn’t take a picture of but I thought I used a lot more line variation than I did in my shell drawing and I also think I captured the curves of the spine well from the angle the skeleton was at.  The hardest point of view for me to draw from was definitely straight on looking right at the breast bone and the front of the body.  I think this view will be a challenge for me and I am excited to take another swing at it this week.

First Attempt

Hey, I'm Michelle and I wouldn't necessarily consider myself an artist.  
There's those people that you label as artists right off the bat, I would say I more or less fell into this major.  Yes, I enjoy the idea of art, and through sheer hard work and slight talent, I would say I have produced some works I am proud of.  However, I am not a sketcher, I'm not constantly drawing or thinking of artistic ideas.  I believe that I just haven't found a subject that I truly enjoy.  Maybe always having a sketchbook just isn't my style.  I am hoping this class though will change that.  
I find natural forms such as the human body beautiful and forever interesting.  The question is, will I be able to relay that through my hand, my artistic ability. 
I always liked taking photos but that's like taking the easy way out in art.  Drawing takes time and it takes patience, you have to understand techniques and materials.  I liked parts of Drawing I and II but still-life after still-life can get boring.  It was good for working on your overall skill but I think that Life Drawing will be different from any art class that I have taken before.  I want to have another dimension to my artistic ability.  I like the idea of capturing movement, especially in the human from.  I'm excited for the challenge.  I can't wait until I can draw like some of these examples.

http://nelsartmarks.blogspot.com/2009/07/another-saturday-life-drawing-session.html



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I guess I am just ready to get started, no matter how difficult or frustrating this type of drawing may be.  I see myself devoting time to this subject and hopefully I will come away with more works I can be proud of.