A constant struggle

Another week has failed to completely drown me in work. But this one definitely tried.

Drawing wise I don’t feel that I accomplished much. Monday was clay work and Wednesday’s drawing left me frustrated. I was unable to portray the form as I wanted, partially because of the odd views I had, but I shouldn’t blame  that. I need to learn to capture and communicate difficult perspectives. Drawing the thighs was difficult, possibly because of a lack on understanding of how the bone structure works. With Friday’s drawing being cancelled I don’t feel I made any worthwhile works at all this week. I have planned to draw with some people on Sunday so hopefully that will remedy this.

Outside of class I have a few projects on the go. Mostly practices of landscapes and characters using a tablet I’m borrowing. I am determined to keep drawing non-class related things this year, as last year I didn’t do any.

As for the clay I think I’ve figured out the pattern. I always struggle to figure out what it should look like. After ages I decide that I’m completely lost only to come to class and discover that I wasn’t too far off. The quads and adductors were fairly straightforward, in comparison to the hamstrings anyway but after reworking most of them I think they are fairly accurate. For a change.

With midterms coming up we are into the business end of the semester. It has flown by. In preparation for the folio I have been looking over the work I have done in this class and I was very happy to see a marked improvement. It’s always reassuring to see proof, especially in so short a time. Of course I still know that I have a long way to go.

Confused

So far this semester everything has been kind of hunky-dory, but now it seems to be time to get down to business. All my classes are completely nose to the grindstone except this one.

I'm definitely getting more out of the drawing in class but the mannequins are getting harder. Confusing. The more muscles we get on them the harder it is. Its difficult to know what it's supposed to look like when the book doesn't show any muscles other than the one we're working on. Today I made the inner thigh muscles and had to put them on and take them off 3 times. The problem was that the 3 heads of the adductor magnus look exactly like the adductus longus, brevus and the pectineus. I still don't know if it's right.

Anyway I'm glad we've finally added the pelvis to our drawings. It’s a challenge now, far more interesting than an egg on a stick. Adding the spinal erectors the abs and the obliques makes it really begin to look convincing. As we get deeper into the anatomy the drawings and process of making them is getting more and more absorbing. I have been working on capturing the movement of the figure for some time now but this class is the first time that I have focused directly on form. It is fascinating to learn the shapes that will be consistent one everyone. The things that I find most interesting are the landmarks that show important lines. Until now I didn’t feel that I was learning much, but now the class’ worth is becoming obvious. Different angles and perspectives have forced me to rethink what I thought I knew, especially in the extended drawings like these ones.

­I have found my focus and am working on line weight and proportion. Now that my frustration has past I am enthusiastic for what we are going to add next.

Inspiration

This week was an interesting week. First I became completely uninspired and then re-inspired to knew heights. We started off drawing the ribcage. I was trying to get all the ribs where they should go but having problems. Then when I started just trying to get the shape and the foreshortening down I lost patience. The longer drawing of the torso went better as I could focus on details as well and proportion and skeletal placement. It was difficult to 'see through' limbs to determine the ribs.

We were assigned the abs; quadratus lumborum, external obliques and the erectus abdominus, which turned out to be the most difficult set of muscles yet. It should be obvious really, as the abs have no underlying bone structure. They refused to sit right. I guess I thought a sheet of protective muscle would be simpler. It is fun to work on the muscles with friends, helpful too. I would have been lost without Alyssa's help on these. (Thanks :) )
We also did the gluteus medius, the tensor fasciae and the gluteus maximus which are shown above.

Wednesday was the continuation of the ribcage and I grew less and less patient as it went on. I know why we were working the way that we were but I found it hard to stay on topic. Friday was the solution to my lack of focus. We came into class more than a little confused. It was packed with painting students. Turned out that Amy was going to give them a lecture on the structure of the skull and Charlie Lume was going to give us a lecture in exchange. I have had Lume for two classes now and his lecture inspired me yesterday as they always do. He showed us how important line sensitivity is, and how even the masters, like Van Gogh and Rembrandt started out in the pits. I went back to the ribcage with a new determination.

Back in the drawing room, we found that we had a new model. His poses weren't nearly as extreme as hers and I found myself glad of the change. It would be good if we alternate between them, so we can have practice with the unusual and a handle on those we can use everyday. It was also easier to see the muscles on him though it was a challenge to tell where the ribs ended and the abs began.

After our break I found that the spot I had chosen to draw from was both a little close for comfort and exactly straight on. Still I suppose this is a challenge to make that which appears flat show form. I think my contours were fairly accurate but my angles were way off. I need to work on this next time.

Starting the Skeletons

I was pretty excited to start working on these guys and it was pretty fun. I'm glad I did it with other people though, it was confusing enough as it is.  The neck muscles were easier to do than the back muscles, mostly because it was clearer where they are supposed to go.

On Monday we got our manikens and cleaned them which proved harder than expected. Looking back I should have taken this as a warning. We had to build the spinalis erectus muscles. It was very difficult to figure out what it was supposed to look like because the example model and the books were different. In the end we decided to use mainly the model as our guide and I think it is pretty good. I'll find out I guess.

In class on Wednesday we focused on drawing the spinal lines on the front and back. It was difficult to decide where the line should be when drawing the front until it was clarified what we were looking for. It was the line of the skin, not looking through to what the spine would be doing, as I thought.

Friday went better, I had my first real success in contour drawings. I got a handle on drawing the spine and I found thinking of the torso as a volumous shape helped figuring out the direction that the lines should be going in. Originally I drew the contour lines very lightly and then when I was happy with them I went over parts of them with softer charcoal to give line variation. Even with all of these steps I still draw too quickly. I do two or three drawings in the allotted time. I have to work on that. It's hard to make myself to draw slowly. The effort makes my drawings feel awkward. Besides this I feel like I'm improving, if only slowly.