Manikin (Posterior, Lateral, Anterior)

Summary of Semester

So there have been many little insights that I have become privy too upon taking life drawing. Most of the shapes and lines seem so obvious now, but I would not have drawn them before had I not taken the class. As you can see in the Lateral view of my manikin, the zig-zag shape that the body uses to stand up, from the cranium going one way, the chest going another, and the upper and lower leg both zig-zagging as well. In addition, The egg shape of the ribcage was immensely helpful to get a starting shape, as was learning the midpoint of the body was the symphesis pubis. The connection points from the femur to the pelvis were also something that I added towards the end of the semester, as well as a bowing out of the upper leg.

Drawing from the live models for extended periods of time forced me to really look at the proportion and relationships between different parts of the body. I've said it before, but getting the pelvis and ribcage closer together helped to fix the error of making the torso much too elongated.  Foreshortening had also been an area of trouble for me, but drawing the negative space and extending lines of the figure  really helped me nail this down by the end of the semester. In my final drawing (3rd one down in "Final Life Drawings") there was a ton of foreshortening going on, and this drawing would have freaked me out at the beginning of the semester. But in using these techniques, as well as going from dark to light as you move away from space, really made the drawing a success in my opinion.

Using the manikin to figure out how all the muscle groups fit together and make up the human form was immensely beneficial. Learning that the biceps are smaller in proportion to the lower arm might not be something I would have implemented at first. The underlying masses of say the quadriceps really helped me get the contours of the leg right, and give it more than just a simple round shape. 

I'd like to continue life drawing, perhaps drawing more of the various bones from the skeletal structure, and getting more oppurtunities to draw the different parts of the face, as well as the hands. But this semester has taught me so much and has improved my quality of lifedrawing tenfold!

Jake

here is a link to my flickr account

http://www.flickr.com/photos/28980962@N04/

Final Life Drawings

The Walker Art Center Visit

I enjoyed being outside on such a beautiful day (although a bit windy). Taking a stroll through the sculpture garden seemed like the perfect thing to do. I had seen the large glass fish inside the garden, but had not really taken the time to truly look at it. The title of the sculpture is Standing Glass Fish, and was constructed by Frank Gehry in 1986.

 I had not known Gehry built such sculptures, although I suppose t makes sense seeing as Gehry has used the fish motif in some of his other work. The way the light bounces of the glass scales is quite magnificent, and there are so many of them! The size of the fish truly inspires awe and fits perfectly among the lily pond and orange trees.

Summary of Semester

I thought I knew a fair bit about gesture drawing before taking this class. But upon reaching the middle of the semester, I realize just how much I have learned. The biggest shift in thinking was imagining all of the long and cross contour lines to express the shape of the body, rather than simply using outlines. Thinking about the egg shape of the ribs also proved to be infinitely useful. THe terminology is also something new to me, from the actual names of the muscles (i.e.lumbodorsal fascia, spinalis cervicis, etc.), to the way in which you view the model (i.e. anterior/posterior.) If you look at my long drawings, you can see that I had made adjustments to the torso, I had been previously making most of my torso's a bit too long, but then adjusted and corrected the proportions accordingly. 

The way in which I stood facing the canvas changed as well, with me gaining a wider stance and standing a bit further back, to allow more use of my entire arm. 

The contour lines in my leg drawing was something a bit foreign to me, but I believe I have honed my skills in making the lines thicker when they are protruding towards the viewer. Also, making the lines darker in some of my gesture and long drawings when the parts of the body are closer was something that I improved upon.

As I progressed with my clay model, I realized that many of my muscles were too flat and needed a rounder shape, so I added some bulk to places like the gluteus maximus and longissimus thoracis. Making the tendons skinnier around the bottom of the leg was also something I came across and fixed.

Long Drawings

Leg Contour Drawing

1 Hour

1 Hour

Gesture Drawings

2 Minutes

2 Minutes

Midterm Maniken

Posterior View

Lateral View

Anterior View

Hour Long Pose

The egg shape that began the torso in this drawing proved to be useful in mapping out the angles of the rest of the body. Normally, I would skip drawing the egg and simply would have made an outline. The placement of the hips was also something to be learned, as I had put them too low, making the torso longer than it should be. But I moved it closer to the ribs and fixed this mistake

Contour Drawing (1-28-09)

I have done a bit of contour drawing here and there, but this still proved to be a challenge. I guess the slower pace of this drawing threw me for a loop. Some of my lines are well thought out, but others appear more random than they should. I was paying attention to the curvatures of the models back, but somehow it did not come out the way I wanted to. Oh well, time to learn and get better!

5 Minutes, 3 Minutes, 30 Seconds

The frantic pace of life drawing is something a bit new to me, and I like it. There is no time to second guess, you just go with it. There is a progression of detail in my drawings, going from 30 seconds to 5 minutes. Perhaps some of the line weight could have become more varied, especially on the 5 minute drawing on the left (the foot should be even darker I think). I am pleased with the general forms and proportions I produced, although not perfect by any means.