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/