Tag Archives: drawing classes

Artistic Anatomy

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During spring quarter 2012 at Gage I took a class called Artistic Anatomy. In this class you literally study anatomy as far as it applies to drawing (and consequently also to painting and sculpting). In other words you study the skeleton, muscles, etc. – even hair (direction of hair growth, beard) – you get the idea. However this class was an advanced class for students who already had taken part 1 and part 2 in fall and winter, so I got a little in over my head. It was expected that one already knows most of the anatomy and applies it to life drawing. Thankfully I was not the only one who misjudged the class content and the instructor adjusted his curriculum taking the time at the beginning of each session repeating the material in an abbreviated form and explaining once more the specific parts of the body before we started drawing from the life model.

It was quite a ride, I have to say. The upside is, I tend to work harder when I feel that I’m behind. Also, the instructor did not exactly cut me (or anyone else for that matter) any slack. He was not pleased that he had so many people in class that had not already studied the subject. He was very critical and, without any mercy, took every one of my drawings apart. Sometimes it was hard to take it all in but it helped me to get better. One certainly learns through failure. Towards the end of the quarter I even received an approving nod here or there. During the last session we worked completely independent on a drawing of a man. When the session was over I asked him to tell me what he thought was good or bad about it. He pointed to the knee area of one leg and said, “this area here, that’s actually not bad, well defined,” …and nodding his head in thought, said again, “not bad.”   I know that doesn’t sound like much but coming from him (and considering where I had started 12 weeks earlier) it felt really good to hear 🙂

Here are a couple of my drawings/studies from that class: legs, knee, feet, female full body and a portrait.

Following a construction drawing/study of the knee (my knee in the mirror actually).

The next one is one of my favorites. I had a good session that day and although the arms are not that well defined (ran out of time) I was happy with the result.

And last but not least, a portrait.

 

 

Portrait Drawing

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As a follow-up to the blogs about “drawing and sculpting” (posted June and July) here is a portrait that I drew during the last class session of “Beginning Portrait – Drawing and Sculpting”. Remember the point of the class was to enhance your drawing skills through sculpting.

Pencil on Paper, May 2012

Now, in comparison look at the following portrait that I drew during my “Beginning Drawing” class during March 2012 (just a couple of months earlier). The nose and in particular the ear in this drawing are not as well developed as in the above drawing. Partly it was a lack of skill but also a lack of “seeing” things and being able to translate it into 2D. The sculpting truly helped to understand the form better and become better at drawing.   🙂

Charcoal on Paper, March 2012

Portrait – Drawing and Sculpting (Mouth)

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On June 26th and 27th I posted sculptures of the nose and ear. Here comes the mouth.

As a reminder: the purpose of sculpting parts of the face (in this exercise) is to understand their shape better – the plane breaks, the volume, the relationships of the parts of the face to each other – consequently it helps to become better at drawing (the face). In addition one can practice drawing from the sculptures – drawing from a 3-D model – e.g. the following photos show how the shape of the mouth can create shadows on the face, it also shows the “hills” and “valleys” of this part of the face quite well. You could also draw the feature from different angles – e.g. practicing drawing a foreshortened view etc.

The following photo shows well that it’s really only a sculpture of the mouth. Neighboring features of the mouth are only developed as much as necessary to understand the relationship hence the nose in this sculpture is really a rather undefined lump of plasticine serving as the “boarder” to the north (casting a shadow) and showing that the philtrum groove of the mouth connects to the nose – although it doesn’t show the details of how exactly it connects to the nose as this information is not needed for drawing the mouth.

 

Portrait – Drawing and Sculpting (Ear)

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As a follow-up to yesterday’s post – a few construction drawings of the ear and a photo of the sculpted ear:

BTW – the lines around the ear are not supposed to be earrings, they are construction lines demonstrating the shape of the object – and the plane changes,  they show how the form turns in space.

Portrait – Drawing and Sculpting (Nose)

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Last quarter (Spring 2012) I took “Beginning Portrait – Drawing and Sculpting” at Gage (instructor: Suzanne Brooker). One week we drew (from the life model) and the next week we sculpted (from the same model) one particular feature of the head.

The point is to understand the plane breaks, dimensions and relations (of the features) of the face/head. To achieve this we drew so-called construction drawings that show the breaks and then sculpted this part. Sculpting (since it is 3-D) really enhances one’s understanding of the plane breaks and relations of the features to each other and as a result improves one’s drawing skills.

To illustrate here an example of a simple construction drawing from an artistic anatomy book:

And here are a few of my construction drawings of the model’s nose:

DSC_0037

And the sculpture – the focus is on the nose, the other features are not really developed, only as much as needed for reference.

I’ll post other features of the head in the next few days.

Thanks for stopping by.

Drawing from a Life Model

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Last winter quarter I took Beginning Figure Drawing at Gage. One of the great things about classes at Gage is that you have the opportunity to draw from life models. It’s quite different from copying another artist’s painting or drawing from a photo – challenging in many ways and rewarding at the same time. To really study the figure and learn to draw and paint it correctly you have to draw from a life model as often as possible. Here my first long-pose-drawing that I did during a class session in January 2012.

Charcoal on Paper | January 2012

Block In

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During winter quarter I attended a Figure Drawing class at Gage Academy. One of the methods to create a quick figure sketch we’ve talked about was “block in”. It’s good to have a good light source to create strong shadows – and then you quickly block in the dark areas and thereby create a first sketch of the figure. Following are two sketches I did in class.

The first one (woman standing) literally took only a couple of minutes. The second one (man sitting) took a little longer, may be 10 to 15 minutes. I find it fascinating what one can create with only a few strokes and capture/express so much.

 

 

Simple (?) Line

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Starting in January (winter quarter) I’ve been taking art classes at Gage Academy in Seattle. One of them was Beginning Drawing. Although I had some crash course in drawing basics by another instructor earlier last year, I signed up for this class in the hope that I could fill in any blanks. Overall I did not learn a lot that I didn’t know already, still it was a good experience and I got more practice. One exercise that we did very early on was a great eye opener regarding space and composition.

The instructor asked us to draw an exciting line and then draw a boring line. The point was to be emotional and spontaneous. Here is what I drew.

Charcoal on paper – guess the exciting line is obvious, the boring line is the little one in the upper right corner. Note not only the wave (or lack thereof) but also the thickness of the line.

He then asked us to draw a line that stays inside the edges of the paper. In doing so we were asked to make it more dramatic, may be using the length of the charcoal (not the tip) or whatever else we could think of to achieve the look of movement and drama.

DSC_0002Charcoal on paper

Next he instructed us to draw another line just like the first one (exciting and lively) but this time going off the edges of the paper at least once.

Charcoal on paper

Now observe how the dynamic of the drawing changes. The drawing where the line goes off the paper seems to be more interactive. It seems to suggest something happening outside the “frame”. Is that fascinating or what? I certainly thought so. I also was very impressed with the fact that one can express so much with a “simple” line. It seems so emotional, deliberate and artful (especially the first one that stays in the “frame”, my personal favorite) and yet it’s just random, coming out of a more or less emotional movement of the arm/body. I was super fascinated with this exercise.

Gage Academy – Seattle

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The Gage Academy in Seattle is a school of fine arts. They focus “on classical training for contemporary artists”. All classes are taught by working artists. In many classes students work from a live model. Gage is a non-profit, classes are quite affordable or sometimes even free, e.g. the Art Talk Series. They focus on their mission to make high quality art education accessible to everyone (young or old) who is willing to learn, in many ways similar to the Art Students League in New York. Besides classes, workshops and lectures for adults and youth they offer Atelier for “the serious artist in training”. Atelier students study every day for many months (or even years) with a specific professional artist in a studio setting. Working side by side with an established artist in the atelier is how aspiring artists used to learn needed skills (and develop as artists) for many centuries. Another outstanding program they offer is Teen Art Studio, completely free art instruction (including material) for teens between 13 and 18 years of age. Gage Academy is located in Capitol Hill (on 10th Avenue) right next to St. Marks Cathedral. If you live in the Seattle area and you are interested in fine art drop by one of these days. It is a wonderful old brick building with just the right vibes. Sign in with the front office, walk up to the third floor and view the periodically changing exhibitions in the Entry, Rosen and Steel Gallery. May be you even get a peek in one of the studio classrooms. Get inspired – enjoy!