4 hour project

What makes this project so different from the others we have done is that it is so independent. We were required to think deeply not only about what our skills are but what we are passionate about and what has inspired so far this term. Before we were presented with a challenge of some sort and had to work it out ourselves, this time we had the added pressure of choosing a project that would challenge us just enough so we would be pushed to create and showcase our best work. This term the drawing and sketching has been my favorite thing, I look forward to every thursday for drop everything and draw and have practiced sketching in my sketchbook when there was no assignment. So when this project came around I instantly knew I wanted to draw something. Then came the question of whether to draw an inanimate object or a person. As I looked around the class room for inspiration I knew I wanted to draw the sculpture of the hand. This was the perfect compromise. Everyday I have come in to art class I have looked at that hand and wanted to duplicate it. I thought I would put it on the floor to enhance the lost feeling it has. Looking at it alone on the floor I thought it looked too lonely so I decided to add another object that would be symbolic. At first I wanted to draw a pocket watch to show how we have no handle on time but realized that would be to hard of a challenge in our time restraint. After talking about it with Ms. Roberts I decided a light bulb could provide a similar effect. It was not until I finished that I thought of naming the picture mente e manu, hand and mind, the motto of our school. When I was sitting on the floor drawing actually drawing it there were multiple times that I felt stuck, not knowing what to draw next and frustrated it did not look more realistic. It took a while but as it started to take shape I became more confident with shading and it really took off. With helpful tips from Ms. Roberts and Mr. Brooks I am really proud of what I created and I think it shows where I am in learning to sketch so far.

The Book Project: progress and planning

When I first saw my photo I thought about how miserable the man looked, it was not until I picked the second picture I wanted to work with did I decide that one looked like a younger version of the other. I started planning out pictures to highlight times in this persons life that help describe why he is so sad looking in the final picture. In my original sketches I showed different instances where anyone would be miserable but as I am creating those pictures I feel they do not hold together as well as I would have hoped. My biggest problem is where I stop using the young boy and start using the old, I am worried my viewer might not make the connection that they are meant to be the same person only older. What is going well though, is that although I am putting time and energy into each picture I am working efficiently and getting things done.

Drawing the Human Form From Inside Out

I think the goals of todays exercise were to get us to look at the human form as a series of general shapes and less in the hyper-detailed way feel stressed to do. We also heard Ms. Roberts say "draw what you see not what you think is there" so this, like most drop everything and draw exercises, was to reinforce that concept. Also the focus on proportion (one of the principles of design) has been a major topic this week and this class was to drum it harder into our heads. Although I do not particularly like the drawings I created I think I achieved creating the general shape and image of people who are more or less proportionate. For me it was more interesting to see how other people aproached drawing the same subject and how although none were better or worse they were all different. A major challenge I faced, besides my easel breaking then falling on my head and giving a splinter, was drawing from the inside out. Constantly I had the urge to draw something else first, but I think this really made keeping things in proportion easier than if I had started with the head.