Day off!

This week was all about our shells and more muscles.  On Tuesday we discussed our shell drawings and how they improved or still could improve from our last attempts.  I think my shell this week was definitely better than my first attempt so I’ll focus on the positives first before tearing it apart.

First off, my shell was slightly bigger than my last one and it used less contour lines so it looked a lot cleaner.  Also, everyone liked the use of the red conte versus the regular black charcoal which was another plus.  They felt the lines were more descriptive than my last drawing and I could see why since I actually spent time on it this time instead of whipping it out in an hour which is what I did with my last attempt. 

The things that could change or get better is the atmospheric perspective, overall the shell was pretty much one color.  I tried to make the back lines lighter but I always start out drawing too dark and so by the time I got to the back I couldn’t make it any lighter.  I started to on one edge but I can make it more pronounced.  Another thing to work on is just adding a couple more lines going lengthwise on the shell, they said that would really help define the overall shape and it would be easier to see the form of the shell.  Finally, just something I want to work on is the line weight and changing between thick and thin, I tried doing it this time but I really want to focus on it in my next try. 

I am looking forward to discussing our Mannikens on Tuesday because I want to know what I can do to make it better.  I feel like the blue clay I chose is really hard to work with versus the regular brown.  It is harder to smooth out and look nice and maybe people have tips on how to make that happen.  It is definitely getting easier to make the muscles, I don’t know if they are exactly right but I think it’s looking pretty good.