This semester was a good one. In life drawing, I learned how to do a proper gesture drawing, I learned how to do a proper cross contour drawing, I learned how to do an ink wash, and I learned about all of the main muscles and bones in the human body. This class was very focused, and tightly scheduled. In the beginning I had trouble with the rib cage, and I thought I wanted more time to work on it, however, I feel that as I did more and more advanced drawings, I was still able to practice the ribs. because of this, I would have liked to see the class move faster. We were unable to do the self portrait because of timing issues, and we only spent one day on the skull, and no time at all on the face. this was a major disappointment for me because I would really like to get better at these things. If I were to take the class again, I would have liked less in class time to work on the mannequins, and more in class time to do gestures, and face/skull studies.
to see my work please go here:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/imhumble/
Now I will discuss the successes and failures of my last shell drawing (Shell 4, Sorry about the poor quality pic.) I approached this drawing with a lot of confidence. I had done three successful cross contours of this shell before, and I now had some experience with the ink. My line work turned out really good. I was very pleased with how the contours described the shell without getting too crowded. When I went to ink it, I got cocky, and because of this it did not turn out the way I had hoped. Although there are some elements that I am pleased with (Leaving some white hi-lights, getting the curve of the shell rendered nicely, and a softer background) I am sorry that I was not able to get the same mood from this drawing. In the middle area, I got lost, and was unable to make the correct shades of pink and white, which gave the shell a very flat and ambiguous feel. If I could take off the ink, I would.
Tuesday, December 21, 2010
Tuesday, December 7, 2010
Ink
(pictures to come)
So today the first inked shell drawing was due. I had started my shell drawing during class one day because I was unwilling to cut up my $7.60 piece of paper. I had done a very careful and light contour drawing to start with, and I was pleased with the way it had turned out so I decided to move onto ink. I started to ink on Saturday. I started by wetting my whole page with clean water. Then I got two cups of water, and very slowly add just a few drops of ink to each one keeping the colors (black and sepia) separate. I began to add very light colors to the drawing, and was very careful not to go to dark too soon (later I wish I would have gone faster). As the ink began to sink into the paper, the fact that the whole page was wet really made the first dozen coats of ink became very soft. The water allowed the ink to spread, and flow and when I stood back to take a look, the ink looked like a very soft cloth. I liked this for the first coat, but I decided to let it dry and so when I had another go at it, it would look stronger and sharper.
I let it sit for a day actually, and resumed inking on Monday night. I tried to move a little more decisively, and make a stronger contrast in my piece. I learned many techniques very specific to ink wash during this process:
1. Once you start inking, its not that hard to lighten wet ink with clean water.
2. If there is a drip of water on your page, you can remove it with a dry brush.
3. Watering down your ink is sometimes unnecessary.
4. You can control the flow of ink on the page with how you wet the page prior to inking.
5. if you apply straight ink to the page, it will spread to the wet places.
also I must note, that because my charcoal was so light on my first time arround, I waited till it was dry again, and darkened my lines after the ink.
I also used the color ink on the shell, and the black ink on the background, but I also used black ink on the underside or more shadowy pars of the shell to add weight and shadow.
I regret loosing the white of the paper on the highlights but it was not working well with the painting I had.
The next one will be better.
So today the first inked shell drawing was due. I had started my shell drawing during class one day because I was unwilling to cut up my $7.60 piece of paper. I had done a very careful and light contour drawing to start with, and I was pleased with the way it had turned out so I decided to move onto ink. I started to ink on Saturday. I started by wetting my whole page with clean water. Then I got two cups of water, and very slowly add just a few drops of ink to each one keeping the colors (black and sepia) separate. I began to add very light colors to the drawing, and was very careful not to go to dark too soon (later I wish I would have gone faster). As the ink began to sink into the paper, the fact that the whole page was wet really made the first dozen coats of ink became very soft. The water allowed the ink to spread, and flow and when I stood back to take a look, the ink looked like a very soft cloth. I liked this for the first coat, but I decided to let it dry and so when I had another go at it, it would look stronger and sharper.
I let it sit for a day actually, and resumed inking on Monday night. I tried to move a little more decisively, and make a stronger contrast in my piece. I learned many techniques very specific to ink wash during this process:
1. Once you start inking, its not that hard to lighten wet ink with clean water.
2. If there is a drip of water on your page, you can remove it with a dry brush.
3. Watering down your ink is sometimes unnecessary.
4. You can control the flow of ink on the page with how you wet the page prior to inking.
5. if you apply straight ink to the page, it will spread to the wet places.
also I must note, that because my charcoal was so light on my first time arround, I waited till it was dry again, and darkened my lines after the ink.
I also used the color ink on the shell, and the black ink on the background, but I also used black ink on the underside or more shadowy pars of the shell to add weight and shadow.
I regret loosing the white of the paper on the highlights but it was not working well with the painting I had.
The next one will be better.
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