I have been incredibly busy this term, I mean like... zero time. The term is closing in on finished, and I haven't even posted one thing from the current roster of classes. Not only that, but I still have a self portrait from my summer drawing class to post.
I will post soon enough, I just have to finish the time lapse of the self portrait
well shit... maybe Ill just post it now, and then do the time lapse of the drawing later.
hhmmmmm can you call it time lapse if its just pictures of the drawing in progress at random points? Or does time lapse speak directly to the idea that you are seeing actual time tick away albeit in a sped up format?
Well these questions should be left to scientists because I havent an answer.
Here it is, with a slight blue cast to it!
19 x 24 charcoal on bristol
oh wow look at that! its one day before its been a month since my last post!
This drawing started out as just a posed model who was lit. We were asked to take the drawing and transform him into an android of some kind, and whenever I think of androids I think of C3PO, and Star Wars. I decided I wanted to have a whole android scrap yard environment.
The Scrap Yard 18 x 24 Graphite on Bristol
There are some issues with light, but for a first attempt at an environment with multiple light sources I think I did alright. I like the idea of all these small pools of light in a large room.
I think one of the coolest things was the amount of detail I found myself adding to the robots.
This wheel guy was pretty fun to come up with, at first he was suppose to be sitting on a scooter or something, but I couldn't draw that, or I was just too lazy.
I chopped off his feet because I didn't want to deal with them.
Look at all the inner workings of this fine machine!!! Why would anyone just let this thing rot on some strings?
Look at that cool looking robot behind that big thing! He has shades on!...but he is obsolete so he is worthless.
Is that a star wars-ish door or what?
I love the hanging figures and the doctors and stuff in the window. But what I love more is that the stairs are like five hundred times the size of the doctors. And why are there doctors? I mean its suppose to be a scrap yard, why do we need doctors hanging around?
Well because they are scientists who just happen to look like doctors of course!
which, I guess leads me to the next question: Why are scientists spending any sort of time doing anything with old scrap?
Here are a few drawings of Laura from my Summer drawing class.
19 x 24 charcoal on Bristol
who knows how big this is, I jacked this drawing up by placing her too low on the paper. So I cut her out and added a black boarder because I thought that would detract from my poor choices...
This drawing is on blue paper with a light charcoal and white chalk and pencil. I have experimented in the past with white on toned paper and it always turns into a giant mess. This however, turned out to be fairly successful. I actually really like it. I don't know if it comes across as well in a picture than in real life, but I feel good having accomplished a decent drawing with toned paper, charcoal, and chalk.
22 x 24 Light Blue paper, Medium Charcoal, white chalk, Graphite, and White Color Pencil.
A couple of close ups of the body, it is slightly blurry, but I love the way her breast looks in this with that light just ever so slightly catching the top of it. I think I drew her legs pretty well, I also like the way the foot digs into the folds of the cloth
There is something to be said about the texture of skin as it ages. This lady was incredibly fun to draw. I tried to capture the smoothness as well as the thinness of her skin.
19 x 24 Charcoal on Bristol
CU of the face
Here is another study of the lady. Once again I was fascinated with her skin, and the textures on her coat and shirt. There was some sort of fabric with flowers on it, I decided to leave the print pattern but remove the folds and texture of the fabric. I sort of like the smoothness of the flowers coupled with the roughness of her clothes.
Well it is official, I am done with school for the summer! The drawing class ended yesterday and now I get to sit back and enjoy life before the craziness starts all over again. In the meantime here are a few more drawings.
Foreshortened Bill
19 x 24 charcoal on bristol
Value & Contour Self Portraits
24 x 19 charcoal and graphite on bristol
For this drawing I covered my paper in a dark charcoal and then used my eraser to extract and lighten the forms. This technique seems to be a bit more like painting than drawing. I was fairly surprised how much variety in value you could get through erasing. You seem to be able to form shapes in a more fluid manner (hence why its more like painting). There are places where I erased too much and had to go back over and darken and try it again but over all this was done in one hour long sitting.
Neanderbill (because the head is a bit big looking, my fault not his, although I sort of like it):
19 x 24 charcoal
I finally have some stuff to post from my summer drawing class. These aren't the most exciting pieces but I figure I'll start with the worst of the lot and move up from there.
This was from the first day of class, the instructor wanted us to take our drawings and start drawing circles over the areas that were circles. I liked my drawing too much to just start circling crap on it so I thought I would do an overlay on top of this drawing to get the same effect. Turns out the instructor hated this idea and she gave me an F. I was slightly shocked to get an F, but whatever, at least I didn't ruin a drawing for circles.
Here is the circle drawing
and here they are combined
so you can see the effect of the overlay
some plane studies
this class was pretty weird. We drew a model and then after we were done we were told to go add a skeletal structure underneath it. I found this difficult because the model is slightly in a sitting position. I felt that perhaps we should have had two class periods to work on this project. One of the model, and then one with a skeleton propped up in a similar position. Anyway, the hip is totally out of whack, but perhaps correctness wasn't the main purpose of the project as I didn't fail this one even though it is kind of wonky.
Liked this one, there was no time to plan a composition we were just suppose to see how it turned out and I think it works for the most part.
Hands, I really hate that super dark hand, don't ask what I was thinking....
It has been a little slow in terms of drawing and getting stuff done. I have a process post in the works, and it seems to have stalled and is currently dead. I will finish it, but it requires a few tasks for me to do and to be honest, I am completely lazy. I do however have a few drawings in the works, one of which I think is turning out really well and I even took pictures every half hour so I can put together some sort of time lapse thing.
So since I have nothing really to post I thought I would post some music that I usually listen to while drawing.
In no particular order
Pinback: I've loved rob crowe and his bands for ever, but pinback is probably the best of all his bands. I love how busy the music is, all the instruments and vocals seem to compete by doing their own thing, and yet the result is a perfectly blended chaos. This clash of all instruments and sweet melodic vocals are simply incredible, and this style of music is something I am drawn to again and again. As you will see if you listen to any of this stuff.
Phoenix: whats not to like? Who wants to buy or drive a Volkswagen?
The Black Keys: Probably the best rock band I have heard in years. These two guys are just simply incredible. They have like six or seven albums and if you like one you'll like them all. They have such a distinct bluesy sound...it is incredible, RUSH OUT AND BUY THEIR ALBUMS RIGHT NOW!!! Some of their earlier stuff actually reminds me a bit of Hendrix (not a Hendrix fanatic so dont write me letters it just reminds me of Hendrix)... Seriously stop reading this blog and go out and buy an album by the black keys, you wont be disappointed!
Blackroc: The Black Keys team up with well known rappers to make a pretty hot little album
Passion Pit: a great mix of electronic 80s and rock, plus the hot use of falsetto.
Broken Social Scene: Apparently they have been around forever, but I learned about them on Jimmy Fallon. This is Isaacs new favorite song. He sings along to the high pitch little scream the guy does and will sit there and watch the video over and over again, he even recognizes it if you just put it on without telling him. He loves it! Good thing his favorite song has the word bitches in the title...
Broken Bells: James Mercer lead singer from the shins and Brian Burton (danger mouse) collaborate for this pretty cool band
Dr. Dog: Great Band ever with the worst band name ever! sound a bit like "the Band" at times, with some great bass lines, second only to the black keys.
MGMT: Similar to passion pit and phoenix in the electronic 80s, techno dance music.
I am currently working as an intern for Salem Art Association, and we are throwing a benefit for all those oil covered animals that are stricken by the greed and malice of a corporation that feels they are above law and punishment.
So finally I am posting the finale project from my drawing class. In this project we were asked to draw ourselves as a literary character. I chose Jack the Ripper, and I am fairly proud of it. I think I accomplished the mood and atmosphere I was going for. I like it so much (and in an attempt to draw this whole thing out) I will follow this small update with some images from the process and the background of the story.
19x24 Graphite on Bristol "Would you like a grape?"
Here are the rest of the finished full body poses from last terms drawing class. All are done in about an hour.
I like this one a lot, at first I didn't care about it, but I think I handled the jeans pretty well.
19x24 charcoal on bristol
This lady was our model for several of our classes, I got a few good portraits out of her too. I like this image because of all the wrapping and drapery. I probably made the shadow too dark, but whatever.
18x24 charcoal on newsprint
We had to do a master study I chose Paul Cadmus, Untitled Nude, 1945
Here is the original
And mine
20x28 Charcoal and Graphite on blue paper
This was our first in class model. It turned out well enough, I could have spent another hour on the drapery, but the whole piece was done in 2 hours I think.
After a week in California without internet I am anxious to finish posting all the pieces from my figure drawing class. This was done on the first and second class periods and took somewhere around 4 or 5 hours. The background was shaded at a later date and probably added another hour or two, I have been liking the use of small straight lines going in different directions to create not only the tone, but also some texture. I think it turned out well, and gave me confidence in my drawing ability, of which I was worried about not being able to compete with the rest of the intermediate drawing students. I think I held my own.
Today was my last finale, and I picked up all my portfolios. Yay for spring break!
Here are my two finale paintings.
The first painting was a study for the finale project and was finished in two hours. I learned a lot by doing this project. I am usually a pretty slow painter, mostly because I don't feel entirely confident in my abilities. This helped me to make decisions quickly and mix colors quickly.
