haroshi x Nike Dunk

   I've always been the sneaker head and love Nike Dunks, so when I came across this pair I was amazed. This specially made pair of Nike Dunks, made by artist Haroshi is actually made from decks belonging to skaters from Nike's own pro skate team. The sculpture is detailed down to the creases, crimps, and even the knotted laces.

Final Reflection

Shell Drawing IV

   The end of the semester is finally here, it went by fast, but looking back I feel I have came a long way from the beginning. Looking back at the semester I've learned many things. Starting with the basic gesture drawings. I have come a long way from the first day of 30 second gestures. At first it was really difficult to be able to look at the live model and transfer that image onto the paper in 30 seconds. I am now more confident in being able to identify the anatomical landmarks, to help express quick gesture drawings. I think that learning about the different anatomical landmarks and the anatomy really helped me understand the way the body is shaped, how it works, and different things you can look for to help when drawing the human figure.
  
    Another thing I really thought helped me with my drawings this semester was the four shell drawing assignments. I have made big improvements since my first shell drawing. At first it was hard for me to use cross-contour lines to show the form of my shell. I thought my shell in particular had a rather difficult and unique shape. When we were introduced to ink in our shell drawing I think I got more into them. I've always like working with ink, so I was excited to see were I could push my drawing. I feel that both my shell ink drawings are pretty successful. I think the added element of ink help me push my forms, much better than just the charcoal and cross counter lines of the first two drawings. I think this would have to be my favorite part of the class, with the manikin my least. Although I did learn a lot from the Manikin assignments, I just didn't really think the modeling clay was my thing.

    After taking this class I realized how much life drawing can help with many of my other classes. For example this semester I was in Digital Narrative II, in which I was working on an entire long semester animation project, in which I titled "The Little Spaceman". I applied what I learned in life drawing when approaching my character drawings for my animation. Taking life drawing gave me a better understanding of the human form, and actually drawing it. When I designed my two main characters of my story, I tried to apply what I had learned in class. I learned a lot this semester and am very glad I took life drawing, it really got me back into drawing, having taken a long break from it since drawing II. I am much more confident with my human form and overall line drawing techniques. I had a great time drawing this semester.

Portfolio Link

Charles Clay - Paper Extravaganza

This doesn't really have to do with drawing, but I stumbled upon this great work by Charles Clay. It's titled 'Paper Extravaganza'. These amazing paper installations are all hand cut out of paper. I really enjoy the bright colors and the cocoon like forms. In the blog people were questioning why this considered art, I found this to be very interesting, one comment I liked was someone said, 'this installation could be viewed as Contemporary, Concept, and Craft; an tangible idea to be sensed, experienced, shared, and appreciated. Mind Candy.' I felt the same way, this piece looks like tasty candy with the bright colors he used.

 

The Little Spaceman

For my Digital Narrative II class, I made a 2D animation called, "The Little Spaceman." It is the story of a young alien who is on a journey back to his home planet, but when his space ship breaks down, he crash lands in the tree house of a young 10 year old boy Harry. Harry hears the Little Space man's ship crash in his backyard late at night, and goes outside to see what happened. He is surprised to discover a ship stuck in the side of his tree house. He will soon be even more surprised to discover it's captain, the Little Space Man. Will he choose to help this young alien? You'll have
to see the animation to see what happens.

Skull

 

This week in class we learned about the skull. The First thing we learned was that the skull is made up of two parts, the Cranium and the face portions of the head. The Cranium is actually larger than the face, something I didn't know. As you may see in my drawings I was having some trouble drawing the overall size of the skull, especially the back of the head. I never realized the actually size of the whole skull, I mainly would focus on the face portion. While that is important knowing the right size to make the skull is very beneficial when drawings the face and head.

Shell Drawing III

Shell Drawing III

Practice ink

For our third shell drawing we were instructed to use ink. I feel my drawing came out fairly well, I wasn't sure about the green ink at first, but after working a bit, I liked the bright green drips of the ink. In our group critique people said they liked ink work, they thought it had good variation in shading. Also I had good form and line changes. My long axis however could of been a bit better, but overall I felt that this was my best shell drawing so far. I'm excited to try ink again for my final drawing.

Shell Drawing II

   My second shell drawing turned out much better than my previous one. For this drawing I wanted to make sure I had a good long axis diagonal. I think this turned out very successful compared to my first drawing. I thing that I still need to work on is my line variation and outlining. In both my drawings I seem to use just about the same line weight, and outlines. With this drawing I had better line variation, but no dark and light. I feel that I did a better job of showing plane change. I still was having some trouble showing all the bumps of the shell. Overall I think this drawing was much more successful than my first.

Midterm Reflection

    We're half way through the semester and  I feel my drawing skills have slightly increased. I'm starting to fell more confident in gesture drawings and the form in general. I feel that my drawing speed and content have improved. 30 second gesture drawings are starting to come much easier than they first did at the beginning of the semester. However, I feel my proportion and form can use some improvements. After learning about the muscles then applying it to our manikins, I found this to be very helpful in being able to actually picture what they look like on the body and what they actually do. I'm excited to see what's the next thing we learn about and then apply to the manikin. Another thing I feel I could work on is my cross contour drawings. After doing the shell homework, I felt that my drawing wasn't bad, but could defiantly use some fine tuning. After having a critique I learned I really need to work on not outlining my forms as much, also I need to work on my long axis and show better plan change. I am excited to have another go at the shell drawings. I will try my best to improve on the things we talked about during the critique, as well as pushing form and details of my shell. I'm excited to see what the rest of the semester will bring, I know that with more practice and time my drawing will improve.

Portfolio link

Week 6

    We were assigned to do cross contour drawing of our shells. When doing these drawings we were instructed to consider a number of things. First was to make sure your drawing had a good long axis. Next was the placement and size of your shell compared to the paper. This is one thing I could of done better, my shell was a little small compared to the paper. We were instructed to try to not use outlines, and only use implied edges. I found this to be harder than I thought. It was hard to show an edge and have it not look like an outline. Another thing we were told to consider was to make every line different, and are the plane changes evident. I thought that my lines on my drawing all seemed to be different, however I had some trouble showing plane change. Overall I thought this was a good experience, I learned some good things and will try to use them in my next drawing.

Week 4

    In the fourth week of class we were working on the Abdominal muscles. We were instructed to build the lumborum, obiquus extenus abdominis, and the rectus abdominis on our manikins. This was much easier compared to what we built last time. We also were assignment our first shell drawing homework. We are suppose to draw are shell using cross contour. We must draw the entire shell use cross contour lines and make sure each line is different from one another. I am excited to get started on this project, I think my shell is going to somewhat challenging due to it's odd shape. However if draw properly I feel that it could make a very interesting piece. I'll have to see what I've learned so far can help me for this project.

Week 3

   In the third week of class, we began to learn about the rib cage and spinal column. Once again we began doing 30 second gesture drawings, in which we were suppose to first draw the front or back spinal column. We learned this is very important to get right, when it comes to proportion. At first this was a bit challenging, but after a few quick drawings, I was able to see it right away on the model. Next we learned about the rib cage. We learned all different parts and how to look for it on the model. We were instructed to draw the rib cage, in the shape of an egg. At first this concept was a little difficult for me, after observing the model I began to see the bottom ribs, which helped me draw the egg like shape. Drawing in the manner of spinal column lines and the rib cage as an egg is very new to me, but I can see how once you understand the concept, it really helps you draw the figure properly.

Reflection 2

  For the 2nd week of class, we were once again drawing from a live model. I felt that my knowledge of the form is beginning to improve. I am getting faster with my gesture drawings, and I've noticed a slight improvement just going through my sketchpad. We also were assigned skeleton models, in which we are suppose to apply clay muscles. I think this is going to be some what of a challenge, but we be very beneficial when it comes to knowing all the muscles and how to draw them properly. I'm excited to see where this takes me.

Week 1 drawing

  So, it's been a while since my last drawing class, I felt a little bit rusty when we first started our gesture drawings. I think the overall speed we were going at was a bit hard at first, but as time moved on I began to get back into the groove of the charcoal and drawings seemed to slightly improve. This is my first time really studying the figure, I am very excited to learn and improve on my figure skills. I think this will really help me with character drawing, which I can use in my other classes. 

A little about myself

  I am senior here at UW-Stout. Majoring in Multimedia design. I really enjoy graphic design type work, as well as video editing and effects. I enjoy drawing characters, and thought that Life drawing would really help me enhance my ability to draw the figure as well proper proportion.  I am excited to see what this class will bring me and my drawing skills.