End of the Semester!

 http://www.flickr.com/photos/60254461@N02/sets/


We are finally at the end of the semester! I felt as though everything went by so quickly. It feels like we just started our jester drawings last week to me. I learned a lot in this class. I have never drawn with contour lines before and I find it to be a very useful tool in drawing. I hope to continue growing this skill during the summer. I think it is very important to get down the more difficult, basic skills before you create your own style of drawing. That is why I personally found this class enjoyable and helpful.
The manikin was a challenge in it self but also very helpful in the understanding of the human body. If that was taken out of the class I don't think it would be as much of a learning experience. It is important to have that three dimensional aspect to really understand what the muscles are doing as our models moved there body's in to different positions.
If I had to change some thing about the class I think I would maybe add more long poses as apposed to so many short drawings. I think it is helpful to have the time to sit and really think about what you are putting down on the paper, to really get a good understanding. I enjoy jester style as well and I am sure it is also important in the learning process, it just seems that the long poses are big learning days.

Facial Features

   I cant bealve we are geting so close to the end of the semester! I feel like things have gone by very fast. In just two weeks I will be going to France for the color studio and I am very excited to go! Then after that I will be headed to california for the summer to spend time with my boyfriend, work, and work on my portfolio. Until then I am trying to stay focused on what is going on now.
   This week was a lot of fun, I enjoy drawing faces because they all are so different and interesting. I felt fairly comfortable drawing most of the features we worked on this week. The ear is the only thing I have never really concentrated on drawing previously. It was not as difficult as I was imagining it to be. I think the most important part of drawing a portrait is getting those initial plains correctly. The distance between the nose, eyes, mouth and dimension of the head is crucial. After that its fairly simple.
I hope every one is having a good week and is not too stressed out with finals coming, I am trying to stay on top of things and calm but it is hard!

EAR/Hour long side view

20 min Partner drawing

Hour long side view

Hour long side view

20 min partner nose lips

Good luck everyone!!

Skull!

We started drawing the skull this week! I think the skull is not as simple as it first appears to be. It is very easy to end up with a drawing that looks a little too cartoon like. I shied away from filling in the eye sockets with black in order to not give my skull that flat look. I wanted to put in contour lines but was a bit unsure what they should be doing. I also tried to not make the eye sockets to large, but I failed with my first try =). It is strange that even when you think you know what your doing your sub-conscious can still take over and trick you! I ended up having to reduce the size of my eyes twice and I also had to make my skull over all size larger and longer with all three drawings. I wanted to make it more round than it actually is. It was difficult to draw but very helpful at the same time. 

3/4 Front

Profile

3/4 Back

Arms and Hands

This week was fun and challenging! I enjoyed the hand drawings we did and it was interesting to explore the different challenges that come up with drawing a skeleton hand and a hand with flesh and muscle. I thought drawing the skeleton hand was easier to accomplish then the hand of the model. With the hand of the model you have to visualize not only where the bones are but what the muscles are doing underneath the skin. I am not saying either one was easy for me, just that the skeletel hand was simpler to understand  =).
Once you understand where the arm muscles are located it is easier to draw them in. They flow together nicely and it is not hard to visualize them and fit them into each other. That being said I still have a ways to go with my work, but things are slowly coming along. I think my biggest weakness is still my contour lines! I think next time in class I will force my self to put a lot of them in. I tend to shy away form them because I cant quite get them to look as they should ha. UGH!

Here are my drawing for the week!

Model Hand

Skeletal Hand

Arm Work

Arm Work

Nice bicepes !

This week was all about the arms. I thought it was interesting to know how things connect up by the shoulder and down to the elbow. Also how the pinky finger and thumb connect up into the elbo area.
Some people my find the lectures in class to be long but I really enjoy them and find it helpful to sit and listen before we get to drawing. It helps me to visualize what I am about to draw.
This week end I got all caught up with my manikin, I will admit I was behind a few muscles! I used the visible body site to help me get through a lot of them. I cant say enough how helpful I think that site is. The book is nice but its hard to figure out which muscles go over and which ones go under. The visible body clears up any uncertainty there. I thought it was cool to see all the muscles in the arm and hands. There is a lot more then I thought there was. That has been true threw out the whole semester for me, bit still! Hope every one had a good weekend! Can you believe the semester is almost over, it went so fast...


Here are a few pics of my manikin ( sorry about the bad quality!)

Ok this is just for fun! It is the year of the rabbit for the Chinses horiscope! That is my Chinese animal for my birthday so I thought I would post this fun little raabbit! Hover over him and he changes!

Cuteki love eCards

One day week

Becuase of advisment day we only have one class this week, which is really unfortunate becuase I feel like I could use some drawing time! Last week I felt off with my drawings. I was having a hard time with some proportions and things where not looking right. I guess some times your hand just does not want to listen to your brain. =) One good thing is this gives me some extra time to work on my skelliton. I have some work to do on the back still. It is coming along fairly well though. I think by the end of the semester I will feel satisfied with it.
Although I have a way to go with anatomy I already feel like this class is helping me understand how muscles structure works on physical forms. At least it gets me thinking about it when I start a drawing of anything now. I think once I rap my head around shoulders and legs my drawings will start coming out more true to form.


Drawing of Hawk for printmaking:

HELLO
It has been along time sense I posted and I apologize for not keeping up with my blog post last week! I went to Monterrey California over spring break to visit my boyfriend  at Graduate school. It was nice to get away from the Minnesota/Wisconsin/Midwest area. The weather was really nice and it was a very beautiful area. After our break Luke came back and stayed here in Menominee with me. I am sure it was not as exciting of a break for him as it was for me. I am going to be staying there over the summer so it was nice to get a feel for it.
 Getting back to drawing, the past few weeks we did some work on feet and shoulder blades. The feet were very difficult in some poses and a lot easier to understand in others. Like Amy said in class if you are going to draw feet in a drawing or painting you care about there are certin angles that just dont work well.
I understand how the shoulder blades work fairly well but it is also a challenge. I think the hardest thing to do is visualize what they are doing when the arms are extended forward on the body. When I did my hour long pose I struggled with getting the top front of the shoulder blade to look correctly.

Here are some of the drawings I did from the past few weeks of class:

Midterm Portfolio

http://www.flickr.com/photos/60254461@N02/

    In the beginning of the semester I felt  unsure of what to expect from this class. I did not completley understand the style and type of drawign we would be doing. I figured that we would start with simple drawings and move on rapidly. That is not what occured and I am greatful for that now. I found it very benificial to just focus on one part of the body at a time, and further more focus on the movment of that particular area. It was challenging to mentally understand how the spin was curving some times during drawing sessions and I feel like it has helped me work out a few kinks I had.  I really enjoyed doing the longer hour poses as well. It felt good not to be rushed and have time to really think about what the body was doing and how the muscles and bones were laying.

2nd hour long drawing

   I feel like my understanding of the body is getting more acute and so my drawings have begun to improve. I am not yet at the level I wish to be. It is helpful to have a sence of the distence from the rib cage to the pelvic bone, and how the thighs attach to the pelvic area. I still struggle with arms and shoulders. I am hoping as we move through the body I will have a great over all understanding of human anatomy as a whole entity.

   The clay models have been a challenge but a great way to learn. Even though I have made a fare amount of mistakes on mine, having to go back and change things helps me to understand better. Also it helps me to remember what goes where better. I would say it is a great learning tool. I started off with very blocked in muscles that looked very unnatural. My manikin now is starting to look more accurate, and that gives me a sense of accomplishment.

   My goals for the rest of the semester is to increase my skills in contour line drawing. I feel like I am still a bit confused by it and do not have a good feel for it yet. I want my contour line drawings to convey a sense of volume and perspective. I also would like to be able to make a fast accurate sketch of the human form with out a model in front of me.

This week I really enjoyed doing the hour long pose. We have done short drawings all semester long so when it was time to do a longer pose at first I was feeling a little intimidated. An hour seems so long compared to what we normally do in class. Once I started drawing it ended up going by very fast however. It was nice to not feel rushed to draw the body parts as fast as I could. I feel more comfertable when I have time to really get every line right, or at least attempt to. It was also nice to have time to make mistakes and correct them by erasing. I felt like this drawing really helped me figure out a few things I have been geting worng. Like the space between the rib cage and the pelvick bone. I have been making it alot longer then it truly is in real life. I picture it being a long area but really there is not a big gap there. Also it was helpful to work on contoure lines a bit more. I have had a hard time figuring out conture lines. It seems as though they switch there direction on a givin body part.
 I also feel like my skeletal model is starting to come along now. I keep making my muscles a little too small, but bringing the models into class and having them checked over gives me a chance to fix my mistakes. Its tough to mentally see a three dimensional view of the muscles from looking at the book. I do think I am improving slowly though.

Hour Drawing

Hour Drawing

This week was a short lived and weird one for life drawing, and classes in general. I was disapointed we did not have class on tuesday, it kind of threw me off. On thursday we did not have much class time. My drawings turned out ok, but it was not enough time to really get into it enough. As I become a better artist I hope that I develop a faster hand. I feel like it takes me a bit longer to map out my drawings. I want to have a more fluid approach to the human form and an over all knowledge of the body to make it easier to move faster and with more confidence. In time.

I wanted to take more pictures of the drawings I ended up with but I am snowed in at home and do not have my camera here with me. I will have to post them along with next week. 

I found a site about life drawing with good tips that I would like to share:

1. Look at the Figure
2. Plan your Composition
3. Quickly sketch in the entire figure
4. Draw fast
5. Practice good line economy
6. Don’t erase
7. Add shadows and highlights
8. Draw the whole pose
9. Ground your figure
10. Date your Drawing 

These are the two I found the most useful to me:

1. Look at the figure. Take just a few seconds to mentally take notice of a few things.

Is the figure taller, or wider? The figure on the right looks wider at first glance, but is actually taller. The reclining pose of the figure, horizontal lines, the cropping of the photo, and even the format of your monitor all lend to this illusion.
How is the figure supporting its own weight? This is important to consider to prevent your figures from leaning over.
Hold your pencil up to the figure and visualize three lines, one each through the shoulders, hips and knees (see image above). Keeping in mind the relationship between these lines while you draw will help with your proportions and placement. Even taking 2-3 seconds with this step will help the layout of your drawing and save you precious time later.

5. Practice good line economy.

Practice with some one-line drawings. A one-line drawing is done without picking up your drawing instrument from the paper.

• don’t use chicken scratches. Try to be fluid and efficient.
• draw inside the figure, not just an outline. Study the subtleties within the figure, and your line in turn will become more sensitive.
• try to vary your line width and weight if you are using a charcoal pencil or Conte .
• don’t draw everything. This is a great exercise for learning how to edit. Be selective in both what you draw and what you leave out.

I also Included a few pictures here that I enjoy, some dealing with life drawing, some more for fun!

One of my favorite artists, his style reminds me of contour line drawing

This is such a good example of what we are learning, and a good drawing too!

My life drawing

I am sure this guy has in interesting anatomy =)

   Any one else hating winter, darkness, and all things that involve small mid-west towns? Sorry if you love snow and Menominee's enduring (?) quality's (?)... but I think I personally might be losing my mind.
Got to love it though. =D
    We are getting further into the semester now and I feel like I am getting more of a feel for life drawing. Understanding the body is an amazing thing. I admit I have a hard time slowing down with our drawings, but I think I am improving. I try to get a good look at the model before I  replicate what there body is doing. I feel more comfertable painting then drawing, some thing about it feels more free, more forgiving maybe. I could even go so far as to say soothing =). On the other hand drawing is a very intense thought process and it feels very unforgiving at times. I think I will get more and more comfertable with it as time goes on. To be good at anything takes a lot of practice, and I  have not put enough time into drawing to be able to say that I am a well accomplished and comfortable drawer. Not yet anyway.
   My skeletal model is finally looking better. I redid a lot of the back. It took me some time to finish the abs and glut muscles. I was avoiding it and finally had to just turn on some tunes and concentrate on it. There are always oh so many distractions! I feel like it looks fairly convincing and am happy with it for now. 

Here are a bunch of photos I needed to catch up on:

Here are a few more of my model:

     Its time for my 2nd post! Its late Sunday night and it has been along day of homework. I feel like the day ended as soon as it began. I started my first assignment for our skeletal models with out realizing how time consuming it would end up to be. I find the study of the body very interesting and was hoping that sculpting it out would not be overly challenging. That did not seem to be the case for me once I tried to start this assignment. I looked and looked at the examples in the book but I just could not quit rape my head around where each muscle is attaching and how they look from every angle. This is going to be a challenge for me! I decided it was a good idea to go ahead and pay the 17.50 (I think it was) for visible body.com. I took a peek at it yesterday just to get a feel for what it was. I think it will end up being very helpful for me sense the book was not quit doing it for me. I like that you can hide different muscles to isolate exactly which ones you want to focus on. It took me more time to look in the book and on the site than it did to carve out my clay muscles and unfortunately I think it shows. I have an idea of what it should look like and I think what I ended up with is not quite there. I guess I need work on visualizing the body! My muscles ended up looking very flat and not very realistic. I also think I needed to rap the muscles around each other more by the neck. I might have to make another go at the back area. I think this is really going to be a challenge for me, but hopefully I will come out with better skills and a better understanding of anatomy. 

Here is what I came up with -.-

Entery One

     My name is Tessa Schreiber and this is my first post for my life drawing blog.  I am excited about this blog mainly because I feel like my writing skills could use some tuning up and I have never created a blog before =).
   To just give you some basic information about me, I am pursuing a degree in graphic design and hope to graduate by next December.  I came to Stout last year as a transfer student and have really enjoyed the school.  I can't say that I am a fan of the small town atmosphere, but the people are great and it has been a good experience so far.
    Last year I went to Japan over winter break to visit my boyfriend who was teaching English to high school seniors.  I stayed there for about a month and in that time I got a good sense of the culture.  I also saw a lot of art in many forms.  The graphic art was amazing to me, very colorful, light and fun. Even with signage and commercial adds there was a very positive vibe.  It was a wonderful experience and it has led me to the conclusion that I want to travel a great deal after my college years!  My boyfriend is currently in California for graduate school for international education and I plan on moving there after graduation.  We both hope to find a job internationally for a few years after.
    I do not require anymore studio classes but it was recommended to take life drawing.  I feel like this class will be helpful to me and am excited to learn more about drawing and the anatomy of the body.  My hope is that in understanding the body better, it will become easier to visualize images with out having them in front of me and ultimately become a faster drawer.  We will see what happens!

A few images form my trip last winter:

Street graffiti

Lucky one eyed cat toys form a local artist

Me and my boyfriend Luke

Tokyo