Life Drawing 1 final blog

Its that time of the year where sleep is the lowest point on my priority list.  In saying this I forewarn you that my sentences may not be all that coherent. But i'll try to be as clear as possible.  

This semester was very beneficial for me. I learned how to use After Effects, explored my conceptual side in screen printing, and most of all I improved my drawing skills.  After drawing for so many years I thought that I may have reached my full potential. After drawing 1 and 2 I put my drawing on the back-burner to make way for learning new skills. In doing this I became very rusty. Life Drawing 1 was a harsh wake-up call.  Although the growing pains were uncomfortable, I grew as an artist.  I learned how to see forms in a new light.

Here is one of my better figure drawings. I think this was done during a two minute time restraint. Some of the difficulties I face with gesture drawings is that I don't trust my eye enough. This results in muddled lines from second guessing each stroke. Another thing that I have trouble with is capturing the whole figure in 30 seconds. I never knew how short of a time span that could be. 

Cross contour drawing was a technique that helped me fully understand the concept of life drawing.  I remember briefly visiting cross contours in my other drawing class but Life Drawing really pushed the importance of it.  It helps define forms more accurately and it also provides the viewer with a hint of the information on the back plane. It helped me see the whole figure without seeing every angle.

Here are two of my long drawings. The first one we were focusing on the thigh muscles. The second long drawing we were focusing on the arm.

This was a half hour drawing in we were to draw the whole body then spend time developing the thigh. At this time, I had just recently finished forming the leg on my clay skeleton so I had some knowledge of the muscle structure. Unfortunately, I spent more time trying to get the proportions of the leg correct before I went on with the cross contour lines. The muscles would have been more defined if I hadn't done this.

In this drawing I had the clay model that the teacher had built as a reference. This helped tremendously. I was able to understand what was happening underneath the skin even if the model wasn't in the same position as the clay skeleton.  I realized something while working on this drawing.  Comic book illustrators spend a lot of time with muscle structures.  I assume that cross contour lines are a common practice of theirs. I also assume that the character spider man's costume was rooted in cross contour lines - haha.

Here is the ever troublesome Clay Model.