FINAL Blog

In the 2nd half of this semester I have grown and learned so much. We have learned how to draw the feet, the hands, the face. To me those three things were the hardest. I struggled a lot with the feet, hands and face. They seemed to be the trickiest for me. With the exception of the eyes, I enjoyed learning all the different parts of the eye and how to draw it. Every ones eyes are noses are so different so it was nice to get to draw my friends and families! The manikins helped a lot when it came to actually drawing the parts that we had molded. It was nice to see their form and be able to mold and form the muscles ourselves. It was a difficult process but I am glad we did it. I have really enjoyed this class. I like the way it was set up and the assignments that we had. The shell was a lot of fun. This last shell ink wash drawing was a different experience. I have never worked with India ink before so it was fun to play with a different medium. I took this class because I was told it would help my drawings look more three dimensional and I think I have really learned that this semester. I can see why my advisor would suggest this class for me. It has really pushed me out of my comfort zone and pushed me to be a better artist.

http://s604.photobucket.com/albums/tt122/welnae/Final/

Eyes, Nose, Faces, Hands...

For over Thanksgiving break we were assigned to draw 5 eyes and 5 noses. It helped that we took notes on how to draw those before. I kept looking back on my notes while I was drawing my eyes and noses. It didn't go as bad as I thought it would. I struggled a little at first but then I got the hang of it. During class last week we drew faces, I drew Sam's. That was a struggle for me. The proportions is what I struggled with the most, my eyes came out way to big and I had to go back and fix that. Then we started on hands. Hands are not one of my strong points. I struggled a lot with the different angles.

Big Shell

What was different about this shell drawing compared to my very first drawing was that I chose a different angle this time and I feel like I used a lot more lines on this one and got to really learn a lot from it since it was so much larger. Taking more time and slowing down helped a lot. Some things I need to work on are line weight and variation. My whole drawing is pretty light and I feel like I need to add some darker lines to add some dimension. I also need to improve on making the bumps and point of my shell more realistic; I struggled with that a lot. Working on such big paper was nice. It was hard to find a place to draw in my house but it was nice to be able to really draw big and move the arm around. I enjoyed working with this paper, I like the texture of it. Amy talked about some of the drawings looking alive, that is also something I feel like I need to work on.

While my group was critiquing my shell drawing some of the feedback I received was about line weight and about some of my problem areas like the bumps of the shell. Amy critiqued my shell also and helped me box out my shell and showed me how to improve the curves and bumps of my shell.

This week we also learned how to draw eyes and noses. The eye drawings I did over break seemed to go a little bit smoother then noses did. It was fun to see all the different angles and plane changes of the eye. The noses I need help with, I am still not happy how mine turned out. It will be fun to see how the face comes together over the last few weeks!

Field Trip & Skull

This week we visited the Bodies exhibit at the Mall of America and the Minneapolis Institute of Art. The Bodies exhibit was very helpful! It was great to see the muscles and how they look underneath the skin. It was very interesting and I learned so much by reading about all the different systems. The art institute was fun to go to also. I live in South Minneapolis, so I've been there few times but it is nice to have time to go look at whatever you would like. On Thursday we started to draw the skull. No lecture, we just started to draw. I think it went ok, it wasn't as hard as I was execting it to be. It was nice to have Amy come around and help me. Here are the two drawings we did in class, one profile and one 3/4.

Feet this Week

This week we focused on the legs and feet. Amy lectured on feet this week and we got to start to get more detailed when it comes to the feet and hands because they are similar. The feet are a struggle for me, but they are fun to work at. There are so many angles and planes to the feet and everybodies feet are different. I am glad we are practicing the feet, that was something I would always avoid drawing, and now that I know how to start with the different angles of each toe it helps a lot. Here are some of my drawings of the feet and model.

New Shells & Drawings

This week in Life Drawing, we had a lot of time to draw. We got to do a lot of gesture drawings and a few longer poses also. We are starting to focus more on the legs now. We did some of the leg muscles over this week and the second time around really helped me. It was nice to just focus on a few at a time and it was nice to be able to get them checked and look at before adding more on. I still struggle with the manikins but I'm using the different views now in the book and understanding how each angle of the manikin should look. In the drawings we did this week we were told to look at the legs and focus on the lines and muscles we saw in the knee and muscles of the leg. I enjoy focusing on the legs, it seems like there are a lot of planes and bones and angles that you can focus on and draw. I have provided a few pictures of my gesture drawings, my longer poses, and my contour shell drawing. This week I had to buy new newsprint, and I ended up getting smooth instead of rough. The paper is wrinkling very easily and doesn't look the best in pictures. This weeks shell drawing I struggled with a little but it went way better then my first one. These shells are really nice to work with, they are so much bigger than the first ones. I'm excited to see what this next week brings, it would be nice to learn about feet and how to attempt to draw those.

MIDTERM

At this point in the semester I have learned a lot about my drawing skills and knowledge of the human form. In the beginning I didn't know anything about drawing the human body, or how the muscles were shaped and attached. I always tried to avoid drawing people and faces in my earlier drawing classes because it was not one of my strong points at all. I am glad I am taking this class; I have grown a lot just in this first half of the semester. We started with bones and muscles of the spine and back and then we moved on to the rib cage. After learning the main shape of the rib cage we moved on to the pelvis and then to the thigh. I learned a lot about how muscles work and what they are supposed to look like while building the manikins. I have learned about contraction, attachments, joints, and ligaments. Also we learned all the different views of the manikins; such as anterior, posterior, ventral, and dorsal, just to name a few. I have such a better understanding of how to even approach and start a drawing of a person now that I am in this class. With the tools that I have learned thus far, it is so much easier to begin a drawing. I feel like every day I grow and learn something new.

Some of my weaknesses would be understanding foreshortening. I seem to struggle with understanding the angles and the shortening part of the object I am drawing. Another weakness would be the contour drawings. The first shell drawing was hard for me to do. It was hard to draw and convey on paper what I was seeing while looking at the shell. I also struggle with the muscle building part. It is hard to understand sometimes how big the muscles should be and what they should look like when they are all put together. Some strengths I have are my gesture drawings and the longer drawings we do. Drawing has never been a strength for me but when we get to do gesture drawings and the longer 30-60 minute drawings it is nice to see that I don't struggle through them as much as I thought I would. I like the feeling of accomplishment at the end of a long drawing.

I would like to get better at contour drawings. When done well, they look really interesting and I would love to improve my skills when it comes to contour drawings. Also it would be fun to learn about drawing faces. I'm not sure if we get to that in this class but I know I have no idea how to even begin to make a face look realistic, so that would be great to learn about too!

Here is the link to my Photobucket page:

http://s604.photobucket.com/albums/tt122/welnae/

Life Drawing-Legs

This week in Life Drawing we really got a chance to do a lot of drawing. Tuesday was Advisement Day so there was no class that day. On Thursday though, the girl model was there and we got to do gesture drawings and some longer ones too. I received a lot of helpful pointers from Amy and Josh. I like that they walk around and help you to understand what you are trying to draw. I struggled a lot with for shortening this week, it was hard for me to understand how to draw something that is coming right towards you. But after a few pointers I started to get the feel for it. Now that we know how to draw the spine, rib cage and the pelvis it is easier to start the gesture drawings with those main features and work from there. We were assigned the leg muscles to be due this week so we also had a short lesson on the curves of the legs while drawing them. The legs have a ton of different curves, kind of like a zig zag. It was fun to add another part of the body this week and start to understand the bones and muscles and different angles of the legs. Here are some drawings that I did in class, a one hour drawing and two quick gesture drawings. With the one hour drawing, I fist had issues with the whole gravity part that was taking effect to her body, but once the center line was drawn and the core was finished it was easier to add the legs and arms. I'm glad we had so much time for this drawing, a lot of times I had to go back and erase and re-draw areas once I understood them.

Rib Cage and Pelvis

This week we had a lot of time to draw and get a feel for the rib cage and pelvis. On Tuesday we took notes and watched a video and on Thursday we drew the whole time. It was nice to do gesture drawings and start with the spine, rib cage, and pelvis. Starting with the core like that is really helping me understand the body and how to draw it. The drawings I have provided below are a contour drawing of the knee and hip area, and a longer pose drawing of the back of the model. With the contour drawing I struggled a little, it was hard for me to pick a spot to draw. With the other drawing of the back of the model, it took me a while to understand how the pelvic bones were supposed to be drawn. Starting with the spine and the rib cage helps a lot though. It will be nice to learn about more muscles and be able to add them into our drawings.

Rib Cage & Abs

This week in Life Drawing 1 we took notes on the rib cage and the abdomen muscles. We learned about the Lateral, Anterior and Posterior views of the rib cage. It helped a lot to learn about the angle of the rib cage and the different landmarks of the rib cage. I liked that we got to do some gesture drawings at the beginning of Thursdays class. That helped me a lot in figuring out how the rib cage should look from different angles. It also has helped me to proportion the body right. At the beginning though it was a little rough, it had been a long time since we had done any gesture drawings so I struggled at first but after the first few poses I started to warm up again. It took me a while to get the rib cage to look right, and to get it to start and end in the right place but I think I improved over the class time. Here are some of my gesture drawings, some 30 seconds, some 30 minutes.

Shell & Manikin

This week in Life Drawing 1 we had to do contour drawings of shells. The week started off with critiques of those drawings. It was nice to get into small groups and discuss them. Having individual attention was nice because I was a little lost when it came to which way the lines were supposed to go. It helped to see other students drawings of their shells also and see how they attempted it. I hope as the weeks go by we will be able to work on the shell drawings a little more. Mine didn't come out exactly how I would have liked it to so to be able to work with them more and see improvement would be nice! We also learned about the spine and the muscles this week. Taking notes on the different angles and the pulling and shortening and attaching of the muscles really helped me to understand more about the human form. I have not taken any human biology classes here at stout, the closest class I have taken would have to be Human Genetics which doesn't help much so it was nice to learn a lot and take a lot of notes about the muscles. When it came to working with the manikins it was a little hard at first. I worked on it with my roommate Sam, so that helped a lot! Using the books was easier than I thought it would be. It is nice to have something to look at while you're doing your own. I have provided a few pictures of my manikin thus far. I know there are things wrong with it, I had trouble figuring out how much clay to use and how big to make the muscles.

I'm excited to see what the next week of Life Drawing has to bring. I feel like I am getting back in the swing of things now and my drawings have been improving a little since day one. I am excited to see how much I learn and improve over the whole semester.

First Week of Life Drawing

This first week of Life Drawing 1 I think went really well. I was a little rusty this week though, I have not done any drawing since freshman year in Drawing 2. I like that we do gesture drawings for the first half hour. It really warms me up and helps me to understand the different angles of the body and poses. I have included a few of my 30 second and 1 minute gesture drawings. On Tuesday the model had really good poses, she changed it up a lot and gave us all very different angles to work with. With the contour drawings on thursday I struggled a bit. It has been so long since I have done one of those that it took me a while to figure out which way the lines were supposed to go. I learned a lot on thursday though, a lot of students had some really good contour drawing examples. Seeing the other students drawings and discussing a the end of class what a contour drawing was helped me understand how I was supposed to attempt the homework.

Photos of Some of My Work

All from Drawing I, Freshman year

Introduction

Hi! I'm Emily Welna. I am a Junior here at Stout and I am an Interior Design major. I am taking Life Drawing to improve my drawing skills. At my Mid Program Review, one of the teachers thought that taking life drawing would help my drawings look more 3 dimensional, so that's why I'm here! I didn't take very many art classes in highschool, not many were offered, so I didn't have much experience coming here to Stout. I've taken drawing 1 & 2. I struggled through drawing 1 but in the end I had improved much more then I thought I would. I hope to grow even more over this semester and improve my drawing skills! I think it will be fun to learn how to draw the human body, I have been dancing for about 15 years and as a dancer, your body, the way it moves, and your muscles are always on your mind. It will be great to learn how to draw the muscles and how bodies move. I'm excited to get started and improve my drawing skills!