Lots of feet!!!!

This week has been alot of fun for me since we've been focusing on the feet.  I really enjoy the "bony-ness" (if that's a word) of feet and it seems to be fun for me to draw.  It's definitely been a challenge for me to get the toes right (and the right amount), so as you can see in some of my drawings, i've ran out of time to complete the toes - or i just omitted them.  I also feel that I'm learning quite a bit about blocking out the general form of the foot and then coming back in with the contours.   I look forward to moving forward and learning about the hands.  

Link

Here's the link to my flickr photostream:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/44090358@N04/with/4051187895/

Where I'm At- Mid-term check-up

So far this semester, I would say that I have learned the most about the skeletal structure of the spinal column, ribs, pelvic bones, and limbs. Secondly it's been very interesting for me to learn about the various muscles in our limbs and in hip area. I would say that learning about the ratios of the lungs to pelvic bones has been very helpful to me in learning to get my proportions right as I draw from our models. I would also say that learning to look for the spinal muscles and curvature has been huge in getting the essential gesture of the models in my drawings.
I would say that my weaknesses right now is my tendency to jump into drawing without looking hard first at my model and using too many heavy lines without hierarchy. I would like to improve on my linework throughout the semester and really be sensitive in the marks I put down and establish hierarchy and visual interest with my linework.
I would also like to improve my knowledge of the muscles of the body with the maniken and be able to translate that into my drawing. When I first shot the pictures for this maniken, I didn't do a very delicate job of putting on the muscles. So since then, I've come to realize that I can do much better and have subsequently changed alot of the quads and hamstrings. I will add pictures of those as soon as I have them done!
I think that's all I have for right now!

Maniken photos

Here is the latest pics of my maniken!

Reflections on Manikens and getting back into the swing of drawing

This week I found drawing to be quite a challenge. Last class period I had alot going on in my mind and I think it totally showed in the way I was drawing. Instead of having strong and confident lines, I kept drawing line after line trying to get the right one and ended up with a bunch of unwanted and chaotic lines that weren't unified. I also think I was kind of rusty with life drawing as it had been about 2 weeks since we last drew from our models. Anyways, I think the Manikens have been kind of interesting to do. I haven't quite figured out the best technique for putting the clay on the maniken, whether i should create the basic shape of the muscle before i put it on the maniken or if i should just build up the muscle on the maniken a little at a time. i'm not quite sure yet, but i'll have to try building it up this time as i had been mainly making the muscles first and then putting them on.
i hope that i will be able to really learn the different muscles of the body and be able to easily recognize them on our models so i can better represent the actually contours and forms. i've also found the bone structure lessons quite interesting- i especially found it interesting to learn that we build bones by actually putting strain on them from using our muscles and that allows the bones to grow and take in calcium. Very interesting! anyways, I will post some pictures of my drawings as soon as i get back to the art building! cheers!

How Life Drawing saved my ID project.....

So. I've already begun to use what i've learned in life drawing to help me draw characters for a redesign of an existing line of soft, plush girls' dolls called "Groovy Girls" that are made by a toy company called Manhatten Toys in Minneapolis, MN. The company has asked our ID senior class to "re-envision" the groovy girls, and these are some of my first concepts, with refinements to be made by tuesday to be sent off for review by the company.
I think my practice in drawing from live models in class has helped me to learn the basic characteristics of the human form and helped me quite a bit in drawing these little characters. I had quite a blast with these! So, thanks to life drawing one - you have already helped me a ton! Cheers!
p.s. I would love any feedback or ideas on how to improve these "Groovy Girls" - any fun ideas on how to get parents to buy wholesome dolls for their girls would be welcome!

Okay, so not much more improvement after hour #3 of cross-contour drawing!

Well, sadly to say, after hour #3, I still don't feel that I really mastered drawing my shell with cross-contours....or at least I would say this is definitely NOT my best work. But that is to be expected - these ARE my first real attempts at doing this.
I really enjoyed doing the cross-contours with our model in class last week and I seemed to have a better time of catching the contours. I think some of the reason for that was because the human form has much smoother surfaces and not so many ridged edges like the shell. And because I didn't have to try to magnify the object I was looking at by 300 times!

As you can see in my pictures of my shell drawings, I broke quite a few rules - I used an outer edge line to define the outer edges and used some value to create volume. These were my early drawings. By hour #3, however, I did a few drawings without the outer edges, but I think they still look kind of funny. I think I did 7 in all, but most were not worth showing (it's arguable if the ones I am posting are worth showing either, I know!) Anyways, I think I may have gone too fast in my drawings, so I don't have tons of detail. However, I feel that if I didn't go at a steady, faster pace, I would loose perspective of the volume of the whole thing, and I didn't want that to happen wither. So I am hoping to learn some good techniques in class, and practice some more. That's all for now!