Figure Drawing Part 2

The point of today's class was to draw not only the figure but also the objects around her. It is very important to have more than just the figure because the entire scene is what makes up the drawing. The objects in the drawing give a better perspective of where the model is in relation their surroundings. The proportions of every object becomes easier and easier to determine the more objects that are drawn and so because of this I enjoyed doing this, to some extent, more than the more simplified figure drawings that we did 2 weeks ago. I found that shading was very important in this not only for the model but also for the objects around her. Shadows and different textures help make the image pop out more.

Figure Drawing

Today was my first time drawing the figure of a person and it was interesting to say the least. We began by drawing very basic sketches of the model in various poses in order to practice drawing the main components of the human body in the right poses. The ribs, hips, arms, legs, neck and head are all the most important body parts and so I drew those, with lines for the table when necessary. Next we began to add more of the body to the frame to begin making the drawings look a bit more realistic. Professor Rifka then showed us how to do blocking which basically we would create sections within the human body in order to show how they connect with one another. Finally, we were allowed to attempt to draw the figure of the model completely. This was fun because there was less restrictions. I think these last two drawings are my favorite however I did not feel comfortable adding in detail to the face because of how small I made the drawing. I think it would have been better to use another sheet of paper for my last drawing and add as much detail as possible.

Profile Portraits

While it is exciting doing drawings of friends, it can also be nerve wracking because you don't want to make your friend look bad in the event that they get upset with you. Today in drawing we had to do profile portraits of either googled images or of people in the classroom. I chose to attempt to draw one of my friends and so I first took a photo of him sitting and facing perpendicular to me and took my photo to use as my reference to draw him since he would be looking down to do his own drawing. 

Drawing portraits always comes with A LOT of erasing as you have to constantly adjust proportions as you draw more and more of the person's features. I began with drawing the basic shape of his head and then added in the nose, lips, eyes, and ears. I had A LOT of problems drawing the lips properly and had to enlist in the help of Professor Rifka in order to get them to look how they do now. The ears were actually my favorite part and I like how they came out with the shading. At first it seemed weird drawing the cheekbone so high but looking at his face, that seems to be the right location. After shading in the skin and drawing the hair as best as i could, it became clear to me that I may have made his head a little to wide. I fixed it as best I could in the short amount of time I had left while still managing to maintain the basic shape of his head. Overall, I think I could have made a few more changes to make the drawing fit proportionally but I enjoyed drawing this side profile than the entire face.

Vanishing Points and Horizon Lines

Today in class we learned more about vanishing points and horizon lines. A vanishing point is important because it gives the artist a point to refer back to when drawing each line. The vanishing point is what is actually there when looking down a block in the city. Horizon lines are more obvious when looking at a landscape and are equally important as it stands as a reference line for the rest of the drawing. 

For my drawing I chose to draw a street with a myriad of stores and buildings on one side and one large building on the left side. My drawing is supposed to show how all these different small family owned stores and businesses are slowly going out of business due to the constant rise of large corporations. I wanted to portray this thought while using the vanishing point to my advantage. It clear the more buildings I drew that I originally had not done my lines properly and so I had to erase them and fix them accordingly so that the various shapes and sizes were still obvious as well as the distance between some of the buildings. While this drawing is not completed with signs to show the purpose of the variety of buildings, I think my use of the vanishing point is clear in the drawing. 

Trompe-l'oeil

Today in drawing 1 we learned about Trompe-l'oeil style drawings. Trompe l'oeil in English, stands for "deceive the eye" and many of these style drawings can be seen in street art where the artist will attempt to create a three dimensional drawing on a sidewalk. This is an example of such a drawing: http://www.brothersbychoice.net/blog/wp-content/uploads/2011/11/jux_leg.jpeg

For my attempt at a similar styled drawing I tried to set up this board in a way that it had shadows and objects that would show where each object is in relation to one another. The shadows in this type of drawing are especially important because they give that type of effect when done properly. I feel that I should have added a more three dimensional feel to this drawing and after viewing various examples like the one in the link above, I have a better understanding of how to go about this.

Snow Day Blog Assignment

BLOG Assignment,

Choose a painting, or drawing for each :

Use of Triangular Composition

In this piece, the artist uses triangular composition for the correlation between the globe and the model. It seems that the background objects do not follow the triangular composition so this emphasizes the relationship between the man in the drawing and the globe he is touching. The two triangles are co-linear with their right sides and it seems that the left most triangle's base is at at the vertical midpoint of the right most triangle.

Use of Circle in Composition

This work of art has a very clear circular composition to it based on the vanishing point. Instead of the usual straight lines meeting at a vanishing point, the shape of the objects in this drawing all have a circular shape and the would be center point of each is around the same area which gives it that circular feel. This composition also makes it more obvious the perspective of each object in relation to one another.  

Use of Negative Space

Negative space can be helpful in many types of art as it allows for the subject to be emphasized to a greater extent. While it can be very important to draw the background and things surrounding the object, sometimes the use of negative space can still provide a similar effect. In this drawing, the artist draw the two stools intertwined with one another and used negative space to fill in the spaces surrounding the stools. It would seem that the way that the artist used the negative space made it possible to not even draw or shade in the stools and so only an outline of the stool was probably necessary to draw in the beginning and then the artist could have shaded around the stools.

Use of Contrast

Contrast is a very important tool that can be used in drawing to make certain features pop out more in relation to others. Contrast can also show color variations in a black and white photos as it indicates the various colors with different shades of gray. The artist used a large amount of contrast between the subject's skin, glasses, violin, and clothing. The various shades distinctly show each object clearly and nothing is left for a viewer to guess. The contrast and shading also adds a more realistic feel to the drawing.

Creating Depth

Depth is a nice way of showing perspective and realism in a drawing or work of art. Drawing objects in the foreground and background shows how they relate to each other and the distance between them. In this drawing the blocks are very clearly shown at different distances because of the way they were drawn. One can assume they are all the same size and so the smaller the blocks with more parts being covered by the blocks in the foreground simulate that they are much further back and in some cases, higher up. 

Shapes, Contrast and Lines

For my second drawing class I was able to practice my shading a lot more. For this class we learned more about using various shapes in our drawings and were told to find objects to draw that had certain shapes to it. I chose to draw this bench which  is similar to the bench I sat on while doing this drawing because of its shapes. It was hard to get the lines right because of the angle that I was sitting at and the angle of the bench in relation to me. Once again, after a lot of erasing I was able to to get my lines better but I didn't until I began shading that they still were off. Overall, I like the way the shading looks a lot. I think it creates a more realistic drawing.

I also attempted to draw a window and the red fire alarm light to show the contrast between the red of the alarm and the white walls. My final drawing was to attempt to draw my friend's coat which was lying on the bench in the distance. The left side of the coat proved to be a lot easier to draw than the right side. I did not think I would be to draw the lines as well as I did for the left side. In the end I am happy with the end result of all three drawings from the second class. 

My First drawing

Today, I did my first drawing for HAR393. Our assignment was to draw a classmate's face with whatever detail we can incorporate. Before drawing we were taught how to set up vertical and horizontal lines in order to use to draw certain features such as the eyes, nose lips and mouth. The eyes are usually draw a lot higher up than they're supposed to be and the ears are usually a bit lower than the eyes. We were taught draw three balls in order to make the lines for the lips. Using this information made it significantly easier to draw the facial features of the model. The final version displayed here came to be after a large amount of erasing and redrawing. For me, the hair was the most distinguishing feature which made it easier for my peers to recognize who the person I drew was.