Midterm Madness

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I have been looking forward to life drawing and we’re already halfway through it! Coming into this class I thought I could already draw a decent figure, now I know that I was wrong! At least I came with the determination to improve. The first day’s gesture work was a lot of fun for me as I had done a lot of it in the past but once we moved beyond that it started getting seriously frustrating. This is one of my first gestures link

I always drew quickly and without restriction, so drawing an egg on a stick, even a very specifically curving stick, was infuriating. Drawing only a few parts at a time lacked the instant gratification that I was used to.

I struggled with my motivation through the first weeks, keeping myself going with the knowledge that it was for good reason.  I had already been using the egg and spinal column in my drawings before class so it was when we added the pelvis that I began really seeing the benefits. ­My first attempts at the pelvis had the same problems as most other people- I put it too far away from the ribcage.

Drawing skills was the main thing I wanted to get out of this class but there is another big side to it- the mannequins. linkThey have many benefits. Firstly, though very, very difficult, it helps cement the forms of the muscles and their movements and is very different to anything I have been doing in my other classes. It’s a refreshing change of pace.

I have always had a problem with contour drawings but this class seems to have remedied that. I have seen improvement in the variation of my lines, something that my drawing 1 & 2 professors always stressed. Today we did an extended drawing of just the leg and it is my best contour yet and a good example of this.

As we add more and more muscles to our repertoire I enjoy this class more and more. It’s great to see an improvement in such a short period of time.