*This work has already been submitted on blackboard in a Microsoft Word PDF Document it also includes images that can be found throughout my blog.Unfortunately they are unable to be uploaded here but I’ll keep trying.
Life Drawing Week 10 Assignment
Starting the University of Ulster in 2016 I was given the chance to explore life drawing in my foundation year. As I’ve never drawn from a life model before it provided me with a new experience that I learned a lot from and having kept my work from the previous year I was able to compare the work to this year. What I learned from this was seeing the development from one year to the next was actually surprising in relation to how far I have come in terms of growth in my drawing.
Over the past 11 weeks working on life drawing has had its ups and downs for me personally as at first I was very nervous in my ability to draw the life models and in getting perspective and proportions correct as it is very important. As I knew these areas were my weaknesses I realized the next 11 weeks would be a struggle for me but I wanted to focus on the new strengths that I will acquire instead of the problems that I might face. I have previously had problems in these areas and I always used different techniques to perfect these complications to get the effect I wanted however I could not apply these techniques as it did not suit the new way we had to approach drawing (Look, See, Think, and Draw) which became a metaphor to me throughout the weeks I really like the saying and tried to use it as frequently as I could in and out of the class.
My methods of approach mainly originated in-class as I’m an audio learner and always have been. To me I like to learn through listening to others especially my peers when doing one to ones as it gives me confidence in working within a team. When Thursday’s class arrives it’s a chance to learn more for you and also for others as over the past 11 weeks I’ve asked other members of the group to show me techniques I don’t understand and vice versa and I think this to me is the way forward in my learning for the course as it is important to pass on the knowledge you acquire. As the course involves continuous independent learning which I think is very important in terms of self-growth and also a need to understand what you do not know and wanting to get that knowledge for yourself “Proficiency is achieved only by total involvement” (D’Amelio, J. 2004. P.8).
The book list we were given at the start of semester was very resourceful in terms of getting a better understanding of perspective in and out of the class. What I enjoyed about the Perspective Drawing Handbook was the descriptive text with suitable diagrams to understand the meaning. To me seeing it visually helped me in understanding perspective than reading just text as to me reading something and actually visualising the words could be completely different and in practice might not translate onto the paper. One of the sections on overlapping was very useful I tried to practice this technique in the animation studio section of the course as we were creating are worlds depth to me was very hard to translate on paper and I know this section of the book really helped me in developing my understanding of depth and space in relation to the size the object would be that I was drawing. Also the section on drawing cubes was very helpful to me as this was our first drawing task to draw the cube above and below the horizon line and this section of the book was resourceful in viewing the cube at different angles and how the lines of perspective will change depending on your view of the cube and with the examples provided it was clear to see what the text was describing.
The Theory and Practice of Perspective to me was bombarded with text which of course was very relatable to our topic I just preferred the previous book as it had more imagery used which I think helped me more in being able to see the techniques in practice. This book did have some visual representation but I would have wanted more to get a better understanding of what I was attempting to learn as it was hard to visualize, although the drawings that were represented were very helpful I just wish there was just more off them.
Starting from week 1-11 I can diffidently see improvement within my work through the homework and within the class. To me I practiced each homework assignment we were given every week because I felt that if I didn’t practice each assignment over again I wouldn’t know if I was getting any better which I think I did especially looking back through the work that I did I can see slight improvements from week to week especially with Winnie the Pooh and the squares.
Within the life drawing class to me I didn’t see a drastic improvement from week to week but I feel as if my in class confidence has risen from week 1-11. When we started doing the life classes I was very anxious of having to work in front of my other classmates as having seen their work through presentations I didn’t feel as if I was artistically as strong as them, so to me it was daunting having to do this but as the weeks went on I started to feel more confident in what I was trying to achieve and hopefully it can be seen though my work which you can see below I have chosen the best sketches I think I have from week to week to see more of my in-class work and homework click on the link at the bottom of the document for more in-depth explanations of each week and also more images of in-class work and homework.
Week 1:
This week we were focused on practising perspective with using items that could be located within the animation room this task was fun to do but my outcome was horrible. But overall it was a learning curve for what perspective was and how it plays a role in creating accurate pieces of work. I think I learned a lot from this exercise as it proved I know nothing of getting the correct perspective.
Week 2:
This week we focused on Look, See, Think and Draw this to me became my metaphor in and out of class. As it made me more aware of actually looking and thinking about what I am seeing and how I can translate this onto paper. This method really helped me in creating my work from week 1 as it made me more aware of the technical side to drawing.
Week 3:
This week we were unfortunate and were unable to use the life drawing room so we used students from the class to assist us in drawing form. We were focused on using are hand to find the horizon line and placing the person within a box again focusing on perspective. What I learned from this technique was how perspective changes how I view the body when the horizon line has been set it makes drawing the model easier and you are able to get the correct perspective.
Week 4:
This week we are able to attend the life drawing class with the official models. What we were focused on here was the gesture poses that the model was providing us. As this was our first class we did a 5 minute poses of the model sitting on a chair which to me is the best piece that I’ve done all semester as I think I captured the model correctly within the perspective.
Week 5:
This week was the same method only with a different life drawing model however I preferred drawing the women in this case as proportionally I struggled drawing the male model sitting in the chair but I think this week’s gesture drawings have improved slightly, however I feel that the gestures look like puppets which is something I need to improve on in the future.
Week 6:
This week we focused on how light travels around the body which to me I found this class extremely difficult. I think this is why my sketches are of a bad standard because I didn’t understand what I was attempting to do and I think that is obvious on paper, I think for future improvement I could ask more questions and be confident in doing so because I believe if you don’t ask you won’t know and I think that’s apparent here.
Week 7:
This week we went back to focusing on gesture and drawing the model within the chair. This week I felt more confident in what I was doing and I felt that I’m starting to capture the model in more free poses in some sketches and not being hung up on getting the model in a perfect position as there is no time for this when you have only one minute to get a gesture drawings done.
Week 8:
This week we were focused on the character Madam Mim which I found extremely hard to draw in and out of the class. But I focused more on what pose the model was in and how I could make that pose into something I imagined that character to be doing as she is a witch I imagined her with a broomstick sweeping instead of the model holding a pole. Overall the class was the most enjoyable throughout the semester as you were able to enjoy the class more.
Week 9:
This week however we were drawing the character Dirk who was harder to draw than Mim for me personally, I think it was due to how this character was designed it was to me technically challenging to draw in and out of the class so I think that is apparent when it came to my in class sketches they look incorrect and out of proportion. Overall I really struggled through this class and it made me feel dishearten and left me in a worried state of how I’ve progressed.
Week 10:
This week we got to design are own character which to me was a new experience for as I’ve never drawn my own character before so I focused on a real life model and decided to use my dog which was a fun experience in trying to get different poses from my dog and also having to capture those poses in a matter of seconds before he moved again. When it came to draw the life model as my own character I forgot about the properties within my character in relation to the life model as can be seen from above.
Week 11:
This week we focused on hands and feet which was the hardest week yet as I just couldn’t draw the model correctly and due to this frustration and annoyance I think it affected my work as this is the worst sketches I have done all semester. Which is heart breaking as it was the last week of class and I will not be able to attempt this week again.
Overall life drawing has been fun of course people have good and bad days but to me coming away from the class having enjoyed it is something I’ve never experienced before and hope this trend continues on in the second semester. To me life drawing is the part of the week I look forward to the most due to the relaxed atmosphere and the teaching methods used within the class is really enjoyable as it is straight forward and to the point as well as the homework assignments that are set.
Shannon Murray - University of Ulster Animation 