Week 15: Final Portfolio

                            Flickr Final Portfolio

This semester has gone so fast, but It's been great! I have learned so much about the human anatomy, and how the body works...it's been really amazing to spend an entire semester drawing directly from a model. At the beginning of the semester it hard to get into the habit of drawing gestures for the first half hour of class or so, because I wanted to start right into drawing the full body complete with details. Your arm also gets tired very quickly, which can be discouraging. I think I have built up a tolerance for it by now however, and the time goes by quicker than ever once you forget about it. The mannequin was also really helpful in understanding the muscles, the class would be pretty difficult without having that knowledge on the side to reference from. I don't think I'll be able to remember all of the names, but I know I can at least recognize their function and placement on the human body.
     I have such an admiration and appreciation of the human body because of this class. The simple things such as studying the shoulder blade, learning the bone structure underneath it, and then watching it the muscles move and flex on the model. Amazing. Our bodies are so fantastic when you really understand them, and I don't even have to be a doctor. I don't know how our nerves and blood cells work as in depth, but I can still have a this great appreciation and wonder from drawing the body, which is cool!
     Its such a great opportunity to also go to the open life drawing as well because the cost is usually so high to draw from a live model, and at Stout everything is paid for. Hopefully I'll continue to attend the drawing sessions next year when I get the chance, it'd be a great way to keep up my drawing skills. I'm a Graphic Design major, but having good illustration skills is also really important to integrate into my portfolio.

Week 14

This was our last full week of classes! I can't believe it...time flies. We had two class periods to work on the head and bust...I had a direct profile view, so I think mine feels kinda flat looking, but I like how it turned out. We also had time for a long pose friday. Another weird angle with the foot harshly fore-shortened, but I did feel like I had a stronger sense of how the head rests on the shoulders from doing the bust pose a day earlier.

Week 13

                                                                                      

We've continued with the skull this week, but focused more on individual facial features. We started with the eyes and nose, and it went pretty well, but all of the planes on the features were very small to capture, so drawing bigger was a challenge. The landmarks and guidelines to help you position the features were very helpful. For instance, the outside edges of the nose line up with the inner corners of the eye, as if there was an invisible line there. The eye has also many small planes that can really complete the eye- such as the small top plane of the lower eye-lid. This usually is highlighted because of the wetness of the eye, and makes it come to life quite effortlessly. It was difficult to position the iris inside the eyeball itself, because the upper eyelid actually covers most of the eye. Its tempting to want to draw the pupil as if fully seen, but you quickly realize that it doesn't look quite right...more like a deer headlights. We did not draw from the regular models, instead we drew each other, so that was a different experience...I can appreciate what the models go through when remaining still, its not easy to be motionless for so long and hold a pose...oofta.

Week 12

Its been a short week, because friday we have no classes due to Easter break. We've just started the skull, which I'm pretty excited about. The skull has many subtle plane changes, which can be misleading when trying to add in value. The head is actually more egg shaped than one would think, and most of the bones below that are towards the front of the face. We haven't talked about specific names of bones yet, but its interesting to see how the cheek bone connects to the eyebrow area. Also the temples of the skull are a key landmark that will help when drawing from a live model.

Week 11

Well I thought I'd hate drawing hands, because every time I try they always turn out looking like sausage links.. but I really enjoyed drawing them this past week. We had several models positioned throughout the room during class. I thought it'd be a good idea to start out with the skeleton model...get a good sense of structure and bones underneath the skin and muscles before I draw a real hand. The finger bones are pretty crazy..each palm has "phalange" bones attached, with a squared off edge. The phalanges are connected to metacarpals, which have more rounded ends, as you can see in these notes:

After I worked on the skeleton most of monday, wednesday and friday I started working on the live model hands, and how the muscles interacted. It was difficult to capture the knuckles just right, because many times you cant see the bone actually, but have to draw it as if it were there underneath anyways. Shading and adding value helped a lot though, which is something I haven't had a whole lot of time to add into my drawings. We spent the entire class time working just on hands, so it was nice to get detailed with them. Hands say so much about a person...rough, delicate, strong, tiny...so interesting.

Week 10

More arm muscles... emphasis on the arm pit and capturing that "gap" between the muscles. The Deltoid muscles come over the side/top of the shoulder, very close to the collar bone. The Latissimus Dorsi is the main side muscle that is usually bigger on males than females, and bulges out quite a bit. The pecks (chest muscles) also draw towards the corner armpit, and the hollow space is formed because of these three joining.

Its hard to capture this when the muscles are completely stretched out, as in the top drawing. I think I drew the arm a bit more slim than it really is...its probably a bit more flexed than that. Slowly working our way down the arm and on to the hand next week!

Week 9

We've continued down the arm and into the forearm this past week. Monday we learned about the elbow and its connecting muscles. Some of the landmarks on the arm were the Medial Epicondyle and the Ulna. The Medial Epicondyle is the bone that stick out on your elbow, and the ulna is the part of the bone closer towards the wrist that has a slight bump. I don't know why, but I think this bone is really lovely.. Its a simple little 'chink' at the wrist that really adds so much beauty to the arm. The muscles on the arm, such as the Flexor Carpi Radialis make quite the twist in the arm when changing from a 'palms up' to a 'palms down' view. When the palms are up and bones are parallel, this is called "supine" (untwisted). When are palms are down and the bones are crossed, this is called "prone". Its interesting to think this way, because I've always thought that when we have palms up are arms are being bent a twisted way, but its actually the other way around, so when we're casually walking are muscles are slightly curved/twisted... Humans are so weird. 

The clay has been getting really complicated in the arms....at first mine all started out very small and thin because the book never really has accurate pictures of anything...but after looking at other classmates and the teacher example...and of course the live model, I realized people, in fact, do not have spaghetti strings for arms. ;)

Week 8

This week has been about the shoulder blades and surrounding muscles. The mannequin was pretty easy to sculpt this time around, mostly flat planes and triangular shapes. It's great to see how the shoulder blades work when moving on the live model, and how it changes from male to female. The top muscle is higher on males usually almost covering the shoulder blades, bulking up towards the neck. The female model shows more of the shoulder blade and front collar bone. Knowing where the shoulder blades sit is also really important in finding the Teres Major and Minor. It will be interesting to add the triceps and biceps more fully as time goes on; the top half of my mannequin is really bulking up!

Week 7

The foot. Oof. Hasn't been easy. There are so many different little bones and muscles involved, its enough to drive you crazy. The clay mannequin's, as always, do help a lot. There are many tendons going down to each toe that really help shape the foot, as well as the pinky toe muscles. The pink toe in and of itself is a strange thing; it almost looks like another foot protruding off of a 4 toed foot. Weird. Toenails are also difficult, some grow more on top of the toe, while others are closer to the front/ground surface. It gets even harder when the toe show not even the slightest indication of bone structure underneath, only a long blob of flesh. The ankle is a good landmark when drawing, it gives direction to where the heel stands.

Week : Midterm Portfolio

http://www.flickr.com/photos/tptak/sets/

Above is the link to my flickr account- more directly my "sets" of photo's needed. It wasn't easy trying to pick out the top 10 drawings of what I've done so far! It was great to look back on what I had drawn however, and compare it to how I'm drawing now. Not a drastic change, but its pretty evident that I started out knowing little about the shapes involved in the human body. The sketches weren't bad, but they didn't show any internal structure as to what was actually happening under the skin and muscles. Now that we've been making the clay manikens and drawing from a moded I think I'm beginning to understand how to draw the figure, from quick gesture drawings to 40 minute stills. In drawing number 2, the sketches look alright, but the egg shape inside the figures is a bit small and disproportionate as a set of lungs and ribcage. I've been getting better though, and I think drawing number 4 shows a better "egg" shape within the figure. I think I have learned a lot in this class so far, and not just drawing skills, but patience as well. Many times I just want to get it down right the first time, and keep working on one figure for as long as I can- but it's not always going to be that way. Gesture drawings are always a bit of a "tease" for me, because I want to keep drawing that pose until it looks like a convincing rendering. Gesture drawings are of course very fast and meant only to get the main body movement and shape of the figure with brief, simple lines. Its in drawing dozens and dozens of these brief figure shapes that you get better at recognizing the general movement of a figure. I also learned a lot about cross contours. I struggled a lot with finding the line direction in a body for the longer poses, and didnt really understand how to draw the lines around a curved surface. I think that last week I was finally beginning to understand it however, especially in drawing number 5. I realized that even though a body part( abdominals for example) may seem to be curving around a bone structure with a smooth half circle shape; what's actually happening is that the contour line is coming out towards you, then falling to the background. Its not easy to describe on a post, but I do understand it better now. I look forward for whats to come in the week's ahead!

                                                        

Week 5

This week has gone really fast! The live model drawings and clay sculpture has been going really well, and we're moving quickly through the muscles. This past week has been learning more about the "quads" as well as the lower calf muscles. As I've said before, its really interesting learning with the clay models how to form the muscles and how they overlap on the bone; and its even more interesting to be able to recognize and render those shapes from a model. I'm actually a bit farther than what these pictures show, these are only of the spinal area and glutes, but I will have more pictures up soon of the lower leg.
                                              
My drawings this week have been getting more difficult, because we are learning about drawing the pelvis in relation to the spine and "egg shape" in the lungs. Its really hard to try and understand what the pelvis is doing in a pose. How are you supposed to draw something that you can barely tell is there?! The only guidelines are on the side near the upper thigh really....all the other planes on the pelvis are hidden...ugh! If I get anything out of this class I hope I'll be able to draw a pelvis accurately...baha

  
    

Week 4

Unfortunately I've been getting a bit lazy with my drawings. There hasn't been the same amount of enthusiasm as in the past couple weeks, and  partly because I've been swamped in other classes, and partly because I've started to feel at ease in the class. I think there was a certain amount of anxiousness and excitement with the start of this class that kept me focused and now I'm becoming more comfortable with the ways of drawing the human form, how to stand when drawing, and the understanding the anatomy. This can be a good thing, to feel comfortable with your drawing atmosphere, I just hope it doesn't get too far so that I start to slack off and not appreciate the opportunity I have in class time. I've realized....Its really tiring drawing for two hours straight! trying to get curves, and bones, and muscle shapes down right. It gets frustrating and your arms get tired, and sometimes you just want to call it quits. But drawing class is what you make of it.... If I let go of all the things I've been thinking about that day, the list of to-do's, the worries, the problems, and shut it out for just 2 hours while I'm drawing, its loads easier to loosen up and just draw. It becomes less of a chore when you enjoy being there.

I found this image while browsing around; a drawing by David Jon Kassan. He has really inspiring work and draws with really nice line quality. Great artist to admire and attempt to imitate!

Week 3

Another week of Life Drawing has just flown by; its crazy to think that we've been drawing from a live model for 3 weeks now. This week has been focused on finding the spinal cord  and also the "egg"" shape within the rib cage. Its not so much a challenge when you have point blank view, but it can get pretty tricky when the model twists and lines become deceiving. Towards the end of this week we started drawing from a male model, and it was like a whole new way of drawing. Many features were the same on both models, but a male model is very geometric and angular, compared to the delicate, graceful curves of a female model. Both are very fascinating to draw however. The muscle structure of a male is much more complex, and there are so many layers to them. For women I think that the muscles are very slender, or unseen because of extra fat...but in male models you can really refer to the clay manikins that we have in progress. You can see the neck muscles bulging a bit more, or on the bicep/tricep muscles of the arm. 

The manikins have been really helpful in understanding the anatomy of the human person. I struggle with remembering the long names, but I can at least recognize where they are on the model. 

These sketches are some 1-2 minute drawings from in class this week. I give a lot of credit to our in class models, the poses are beautiful. I definitely couldn't hold the poses for as long as they do, its really quite a talent to know what a good pose is that will help the artist in their sketches. 

This second image is of the first cross-contour of the male model. Again, drawing from a male model was very different. After drawing from a female so long, I just wanted to draw circles and curves like I have before, but  males (for the most part) have anything but- the  torso and shoulders being very geometric. I've got a long way to go before I grasp cross contours....I have a habit of just drawing across instead of following the actual 3D shape of what the skin and muscles are doing. I really have to force myself to see those shifting plains and shapes, like looking at a topographic map.

Week 2

This second week of life drawing has been quite inspiring. It had been awhile since I worked with charcoal or conte, so, as a graphic design major it felt really good to loosen my mind and my wrist and just draw. I am really excited for the opportunity to take this class, and am ready to soak it all up like a sponge . Drawing the human figure and studying our own anatomy is such an amazing thing; I feel there is so much to be grasped about the beauty of the human figure and how it has inspired so many of the classical artists in their work.

 Seeing the human figure and drawing from nude is s a humbling experience, because,from the drawer's perspective, when drawing a nude model, you have to leave all worldly expectations and presumptions about "what is beautiful" behind, and look at the body as a glorious work of art within itself. Not many people have the opportunity, within a respectful atmosphere, to draw the human form in all its simplicity- it makes me feel somewhat connected to the great classical artists, knowing that I'm drawing the same way they did. Times change, technology advances, but our humanity is constant. You might look at great art from the 13th century or marvel at Michelangelos' "Creation of Adam", but he was inspired by the same human figure that I will be drawing from, every week, in our small little art room of 20 people.  We still have ten toes and ten fingers, we still have interesting noses and ears. We still toil from labor and our feet become calloused with travel, we love from the same heart, and cradle with the same arms. Its like we're timeless gems that keep getting discovered over and over again,..each one is different, yet just as beautiful as the previous.

The first image is one of my  30sec. drawings from a model, and the second is an unfinished carving of a figure, slowly emerging out of stone. Its interesting to see how the human shape appears, whether you're adding or subtracting!

Week 1

This is my first post! Hoorah. My name is Theresa Ptak, I'm a junior studying Graphic Design. I'm taking quite a few classes this semester, a full load of 17 credits. Life Drawing I is one of them, so this is where I'll be posting my weekly progress in the class on things I've learned. I've taken several drawing classes previous to this class and have had some technical digital imaging courses, so it will be nice to loosen up and and study the human figure. Here are a few images of what I've been working on the past couple semesters:

The first is done with soft pastel and the second with conte crayon. Hopefully this experience will come in to play a bit with this Life drawing class. I look forward to learning how to draw quickly and communication shape and form with minimal line and time. I look forward to another week of studying the human figure with gesture drawing and clay models.