half of the time we're gone, but we don't know where.

Getting back into the swing of things! I thought it would take me longer to feel comfortable with charcoal in hand again, but its been surprisingly fast to catch on this semester. I guess it is because there was only a summer since my last drawing. Whereas when i took life drawing one, it had been a solid year without any extreme drawing. I kind of caught myself off guard with how well i have started off. Of course, i still have tons to learn. I think some of my proportions are off still. Hopefully that will get better as the semester goes on.

Some things that i want to work on this semester are line quality and patience. I get too antsy with drawings. Slowing down and taking time to observe and appreciate every mark is something that I'm going to try to aim for. At this point in my college career, it's hard for me to just...relax. Maybe not necessarily relax, but just getting into the mindset of being calm and patient enough to just think about drawing. Work and school and life are always wearing me out these days. Oofta. Here's to a good semester.

LIFE DRAWING TWO!

Im excited to take life drawing two. I was excited for life drawing one, but it kind of was put on a back burner to some of the other classes i was taking. This semester, I plan to make it more of a priority and get more out of it than i did last semester. I'm definitely excited to learn more about the skull and bone structures.

My major is studio art with a concentration in painting and a minor in photography.

Despite being busy with work and other odd life predicaments, I have still found time to make art. Well, this summer i did take my second painting 3 class. It was an awesome class to just make stuff for hours. I've continued this series dealing with aging, death, and a personal relationship with my grandma. I dont know how i feel about the entire series, but i like some pieces i've made.

I've also recently started shooting film again with my old 35mm camera from what i think is the 70's (maybe earlier?). I havent developed them yet, but im pretty excited for them.

final time.

Man, life drawing was tough to keep up with for me. Well, maybe not even that. Its just that it was, for some reason, put on a back burner. Maybe its because I haven't taken a drawing class in 2 years or maybe its because all of my other classes sucked every last drop of patience out of me. It was probably both.

Another thing that was relatively difficult for me was the balance between an upper level class to a beginning level class. My painting 3 class is all about developing your work the way you want to. It was hard for me to switch back to doing representational work and draw exactly what i saw.

I don't think that I really took as much advantage as I could have of the course, but I feel like I did learn a lot despite all of my complaining. I think that line quality and patience became really important to me as the semester progressed. I can definitely see my progress throughout the semester. Everything in this class was helpful to my art and understanding of the human body so i decided to give life drawing another chance and take life drawing 2 next semester.

here are my photos of the semester.

I know the bulb-y part of the shell looks off, but I like how stylized my second ink shell drawing turned out. I especially like the skinny end because of the lack of information given to the viewer.

Last class time (wednesday) I was totally in the zone. Those long poses and being able to listen to my music were great. I felt totally in the moment and I felt like i was really starting to grasp all of the studies we have been doing so far. I'll post some pictures after monday's class.

Let's see what happens now.

Life drawing is a struggle for me. I don't think its the class its self. I think that its just my life. I've been ridiculously busy and have had to prioritize. I know life drawing is important, but for some reason it's the class that has taken the back burner. I'm going to try to fix what I have done (or lack thereof) before the end of the semester. This is probably just a terrible time to take this class, and thats my fault. Oofta.

midterm

I think that the most helpful thing that I have learned in life drawing so far has been proportions. The short drawings of the simple drawings of just the spine and the ribcage have seemed to helped me the most.

I think that my biggest weakness in this class is drawing to dark. I've always had a heavy hand, and its hard to go back and adjust the form when the drawing gets all messy. I also think that maniken is another weakness. I'n not very patient with perfecting the muscles. I would like to spend more time on the maniken second semester so that i can really understand the movement and placement of the muscles.

drawings here.

regular study and blind contour