LD2 Week 2 - Skulls and critique

This week, we continued working on our first project (three skull drawings from three angles: 3/4-front, profile, 3/4-back) and then critiqued them on Wednesday.

During our critique, we first split into small groups (4-5 students, with one advanced student to help guide the critique) and discussed our individual drawings. We then, as a class, had a quick look at all of the drawings and made comments on a few of them. I found that beginning as small groups has a number of benefits. It allowed us to get more one-on-one feedback from our peers, as well as a student who already has a solid understanding of artistic anatomy. I believe that this is quite helpful to pick out which areas of our work need the most refinement. The class critique that followed built on that, allowing us to observe successful drawings in order to get a sense of direction.

The first image below is of the three skull drawings I completed for this project. The second image is two of the three drawings I made for the same project that we were assigned in Life Drawing 1 (for some reason, I am unable to find an image of my third drawing from LD1).




When compared with the drawings I made for Life Drawing 1, I am pleased with my drawings for this project. I was initially concerned about how I would cope with the drawings after being out of practice over the summer, but it wasn't nearly as painful as I imagined. The major improvement I notice between the drawings is the proportions. In my LD1 drawings, I elongated the cranium of the skull, making it look too pointed. The craniums in my recent drawings are more rounded and believable. I was a bit more comfortable and successful in adding contour lines to my LD1 drawings, but I'm sure that I will improve in that aspect as the semester progresses.

One of the biggest concerns I'm having this semester (it was also a concern in LD1) is the amount of time it takes me to create a drawing. It's obvious that I spent the most time on the 3/4-front view for the recent skull project, but that doesn't at all imply a lack of effort put towards the profile and 3/4-back views. I am continually measuring, drawing, remeasuring, erasing, redrawing, etc. etc. This really slows me down, but I find it very difficult to draw acceptable lines on my first (or second, or third, or fourth..) attempt. I'm not sure if this means that I need to focus on the movement of my arm while I'm drawing, or if it stems from the way I'm viewing the skull. This is one of the top focuses on my list of things to improve.

The First Week

I spent the first week of Life Drawing 2 getting back into the artistically-anatomical swing of things. During our first meeting, we practiced gesture drawings (see three images below). The first was a 3-minute gesture from a 3/4 front perspective. The second was a 10-minute gesture from a 3/4 back perspective. The last drawing was done in about 45 minutes.





I was a bit rusty when I began to draw, but I'm pleased with my first round of gestures. After starting, it wasn't long before I began having difficulty trying to recall the skull lectures from Life Drawing 1. I struggled to remember the plane angles and other anatomical landmarks that aide the drawing process. I took what information I could remember and worked with that, and I was pleasantly surprised to find that it was easier for me to get back into drawing than I had anticipated. Although I was having the aforementioned problems, I was able to smoothly regain a solid feel of the charcoal on the paper. I wasn't the greatest at the gesture when I finished Life Drawing 1 and knew that I still had a good amount of practice to do, but I could tell that I had done this before.

On Wednesday, we had a lesson on drawing skulls. One of the key ideas that I took away was about drawing heads from different angles. Beginning with a sphere, the method involved slicing off the left and right sides of the sphere to create the flat planes of the sides of the skull. It then went on to line up the brow, nose, and chin, as well as adding a rectangular shape to the bottom of the sphere for the jaw. I believed that I could use this method to instantly improve my drawings, and was eager to utilize it when we began drawing.

We then started our first assignment of the semester (three long skull drawings; 3/4 front view, profile, and back view). Unfortunately for me, the method sounded a lot more straightforward than it was. I had just as much trouble drawing the shapes that created the foundation of the skull as I did when drawing the skull from scratch. All I could do was keep trying and hope that my three drawings turned out well.

Life Drawing Two

So begins a new semester, and a new Life Drawing class. I will continue this blog with my work and thoughts from Life Drawing II.

I'm still in the Multimedia Design program here at Stout. I'm taking Life Drawing II because my main interest in multimedia is 3-D design. Learning the ways of artistic anatomy will help me create believable, realistic characters. I'm taking a Digital Characters class this semester, and I think that taking the two classes together will help strengthen my abilities in both.

My final 3D project of last semester was a 3D model of an AR15 rifle. This is the barrel and sights, with a bit of the hand guard showing.

I haven't done much worth bragging about over the summer. Most of my time was spent delivering pizzas or golfing (trying to golf, anyway). I took a Wine and Spirits course at the beginning of the summer, and I really enjoyed it. The credits won't further my graduation progress, but I've always wanted to learn about the subject and jumped at the opportunity to take the class. I didn't do much else academically, aside from a few 3D tutorials and exercises. I haven't drawn anything since last semester, either, so I hope that I'm not too rusty this semester. As far as travelling goes, my claim to fame was being part of my friend's wedding down in Texas in May. I'll be going to Spain in January for a wine and food course (the followup course to the one I took this summer), and I'm very much looking forward to that.

I'm the Vice President of the Stout Student SIGGRAPH (Special Interest Group in Graphics) Chapter, and a couple of us put together a demo reel for the club that was shown at the Backyard Bash. It can be viewed here.

Well, that's all I have to update for now. I'm looking forward to further developing my drawing skills, and I hope the semester goes well for everyone!