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growyourwingsOkay, so I've decided a need an icon for drawing. *puts on to-do list*
I think I mentioned in an earlier post that I'm less than happy with my results from yesterday's class. However, the results are exactly as they should be. I just think my result looks like I was "too tight" and constrained last night.
I didn't feel exactly that way when I was actually drawing last night. I was enjoying myself. In retrospect however I do recall having more of an "intent" last night. Like I wanted to "produce" something.
That wasn't the purpose of last night's class (again)--but I think my own intent caused me to tighten up.
We worked in various forms of charcoal last night--first time. We used the following materials:
General's Charcoal Pencil
Willow Vine Stick Charcoal (very brittle!)
Compressed Charcoal - specifically Quartet Char-Kole Brand - These were my favorite. They had such a rich, luxurious depth to them!
Charcoal Peel and Sketch Pencils - I didn't much care for these.
And our handy-dandy white plastic erasers.
The point of yesterday's class was to get it drilled into our heads that there is no such thing as a mistake nor does any artist draw perfectly no matter how many years or how famous they are/were.
Phil had us draw on the same sheet of paper all night. We started out with scribbling to get used to the materials. Then he had us fill the whole sheet in with a medium covering of charcoal and then had us draw a cartoon face of our own creation to fill up the sheet.
Then he had us draw over the face with add-on's of our choosing--cigarettes, eye patches, glasses, earings, whatever.
Then he had us do a major change to one of the features. For example, make the mouth 5 times larger. And then adjust the rest of the face accordingly. So we would be completely drawing over the former face, eyes, nose, whatever.
Then he had us take different photos of faces and choose one feature from different photos and put that feature on our face. So we would have one eye from one photo, another eye from a different photo, a nose from a third photo, a chin, a mouth, a cheek, etc from different photos.
The overall point was that all artists draw things over and over again, moving, erasing, adjusting. He showed us photos of works by famous artists, including Michelangelo where it was obvious where you could see legs, arms, whatever, drawn, erased, redrawn, over-drawn, etc.
Phil said he's known of some art teachers that have their students use the same piece of paper for the duration of the all the classes--to prove this point.
So again, my result was not supposed to look like anything. The features were not supposed to match, align, be in proportion, etc.
And when I look at the drawing close up, in pieces, I really like parts of it. But i don't like looking at it from a distance.
Plus I saw some of the other results of last night--and they seemed freer to me--I think I was trying to hard, even though I was enjoying myself.
Boy is working with charcoal a mess, though. I thought the graphite was messy (and fun). We were drawing as much with our hands and erasures as we were with the charcoal. I still have charcoal under my fingernails and I can't get it off some of my fingers. I actually like this alot. I don't garden a lot--but when I do I love having dirt on my hands. Yeah, weird.
We had to vacuum up the studio floor though because the erased charcoal got everywhere! I want/need to work with charcoal at home--but this is not like graphite work--I won't be able to do it in my livingroom! I guess perhaps this will be motivation to finally clean out our extra room upstairs.
I love the feel of the charcoal--especially the compressed charcoal. It's so rich. I love the way it looks as well. I love the iris's I drew with it.
So for Project 365--photos of my drawing of yesterday..
1) This is what I mean by how I like pieces of the drawing. Above is a close-up of a cheek area that I really like the result of. My original cartoon face drawing was a cross between a human and a cat. Above you can make out some of the original cat-like aspects under this cheek. Some whiskers.
2) And I liked this eye (above).
3) And the other eye as well (above). But if you look at the two eyes together-they suck because they are from two different photos. You may be able to see underneath the results of one of my earlier drawings--the one where we were to draw a cartoon face from our imagination. Mine ended up being a cross between a human and cat face. You can see a bushy eyebrow and some cat-like features underneath this eye.
4) And the drawing as a whole. I do love the richness of the medium. But the overall gestalt of the drawing grates on me. It looks too constrained to me--not to mention the way it's not proportioned. The photo I picked for the mouth was one of a child grinning--I can't draw teeth and I wanted to try. Which was what Phil was stressing, try, try, try. You won't get it right at first or even at 20th. And yup, I still can't draw teeth!
I think I mentioned in an earlier post that I'm less than happy with my results from yesterday's class. However, the results are exactly as they should be. I just think my result looks like I was "too tight" and constrained last night.
I didn't feel exactly that way when I was actually drawing last night. I was enjoying myself. In retrospect however I do recall having more of an "intent" last night. Like I wanted to "produce" something.
That wasn't the purpose of last night's class (again)--but I think my own intent caused me to tighten up.
We worked in various forms of charcoal last night--first time. We used the following materials:
General's Charcoal Pencil
Willow Vine Stick Charcoal (very brittle!)
Compressed Charcoal - specifically Quartet Char-Kole Brand - These were my favorite. They had such a rich, luxurious depth to them!
Charcoal Peel and Sketch Pencils - I didn't much care for these.
And our handy-dandy white plastic erasers.
The point of yesterday's class was to get it drilled into our heads that there is no such thing as a mistake nor does any artist draw perfectly no matter how many years or how famous they are/were.
Phil had us draw on the same sheet of paper all night. We started out with scribbling to get used to the materials. Then he had us fill the whole sheet in with a medium covering of charcoal and then had us draw a cartoon face of our own creation to fill up the sheet.
Then he had us draw over the face with add-on's of our choosing--cigarettes, eye patches, glasses, earings, whatever.
Then he had us do a major change to one of the features. For example, make the mouth 5 times larger. And then adjust the rest of the face accordingly. So we would be completely drawing over the former face, eyes, nose, whatever.
Then he had us take different photos of faces and choose one feature from different photos and put that feature on our face. So we would have one eye from one photo, another eye from a different photo, a nose from a third photo, a chin, a mouth, a cheek, etc from different photos.
The overall point was that all artists draw things over and over again, moving, erasing, adjusting. He showed us photos of works by famous artists, including Michelangelo where it was obvious where you could see legs, arms, whatever, drawn, erased, redrawn, over-drawn, etc.
Phil said he's known of some art teachers that have their students use the same piece of paper for the duration of the all the classes--to prove this point.
So again, my result was not supposed to look like anything. The features were not supposed to match, align, be in proportion, etc.
And when I look at the drawing close up, in pieces, I really like parts of it. But i don't like looking at it from a distance.
Plus I saw some of the other results of last night--and they seemed freer to me--I think I was trying to hard, even though I was enjoying myself.
Boy is working with charcoal a mess, though. I thought the graphite was messy (and fun). We were drawing as much with our hands and erasures as we were with the charcoal. I still have charcoal under my fingernails and I can't get it off some of my fingers. I actually like this alot. I don't garden a lot--but when I do I love having dirt on my hands. Yeah, weird.
We had to vacuum up the studio floor though because the erased charcoal got everywhere! I want/need to work with charcoal at home--but this is not like graphite work--I won't be able to do it in my livingroom! I guess perhaps this will be motivation to finally clean out our extra room upstairs.
I love the feel of the charcoal--especially the compressed charcoal. It's so rich. I love the way it looks as well. I love the iris's I drew with it.
So for Project 365--photos of my drawing of yesterday..
1) This is what I mean by how I like pieces of the drawing. Above is a close-up of a cheek area that I really like the result of. My original cartoon face drawing was a cross between a human and a cat. Above you can make out some of the original cat-like aspects under this cheek. Some whiskers.
2) And I liked this eye (above).
3) And the other eye as well (above). But if you look at the two eyes together-they suck because they are from two different photos. You may be able to see underneath the results of one of my earlier drawings--the one where we were to draw a cartoon face from our imagination. Mine ended up being a cross between a human and cat face. You can see a bushy eyebrow and some cat-like features underneath this eye.
4) And the drawing as a whole. I do love the richness of the medium. But the overall gestalt of the drawing grates on me. It looks too constrained to me--not to mention the way it's not proportioned. The photo I picked for the mouth was one of a child grinning--I can't draw teeth and I wanted to try. Which was what Phil was stressing, try, try, try. You won't get it right at first or even at 20th. And yup, I still can't draw teeth!
