Us stop motion lot were very happy in life drawing yesterday as we finally got to do some sculpting! We were all given just plasticine to use to sculpt the figure instead of drawing. Whilst I have used plasticine a lot before I never have in a life drawing class and it was really interesting to work quickly, i'm used to spending hours over one model. These below were all short exercises ranging from 5 to 15 minutes:
The final one was 25 minutes (which is now sitting proudly on my windowsill, probably creeping out my neighbours!)
It was back to drawing for the afternoon session where we looked at using the boundary box technique, I didn't really get it at first, I thought you literally drew the figure in actual shapes, but once I saw the point of it, it actually is a useful way to map out your drawing to get the angle and proportions right.
The rest of the session was a free for all and I got to try out my jumbo tin of watercolor pencils I bought at the weekend, pretty pleased with how it turned out. I really want to start using watercolours more.
Spent the past few weeks learning about walk cycles, which included some homework studying how people walk, pretty hard to sketch when they go by so quickly! I did these whilst waiting for my train from Manchester Piccadilly station, I tried to select 3 very different examples.......
The first walk cycle I tackled was in 2D which was then rendered in Toon Boom, surprisingly I've really enjoyed using this program and I've picked up on how to use it really quickly (wish I could say the same for Maya!) We had to choose a character and I decided on a fox, I still think I could do some more work on this but for now:
Quick life drawing class yesterday, focusing on the skeleton and muscles to help make our drawings look more 'solid'. We were given 3 sheets of paper and the same pose to spend 10 minutes at a time focusing on the figure as we saw it, the skeleton and the muscles.
The figure as we saw it.
The skeleton.
The muscles.
The final drawing we chose to focus on whichever we found most difficult, I chose to look at the muscles again and had a 'happy accident' with the background effect, from where the marks on the board showed up on my paper. I think it gave a really good effect and added to the abstract nature of the drawing.
For our Contextual Study we were asked to come up with a postcard, one side with our chosen question on the topic of 'Objects in Animation' and the other side some images representing the question. I have decided to look at when familiar objects turn against us in animation, and will be looking into why they are portrayed that way.
Last week I went to a free exhibition in Manchester called 'The First Cut', this exhibition featured work by contemporary artists such as Peter Callesen, Rob Ryan, and Sarah Bridgland, that work using only paper, in new and dynamic ways:
This piece by Rob Ryan was very impressive, it was huge and so detailed. I have always admired Rob Ryan's work, particularly how intricate it is. I was really impressed by the landscape, as it has such a variety of patterns to create depth.
Peter Callesen creates expressive scenes using a single sheet of A4 white paper, I loved how fragile these pieces were, yet so simple at the same time.
Sarah Bridgland's 3D cutouts made from collected materials found in junk shops and old magazines, were again tiny, but had a massive impact. Being contained in a matchbox, it created an explosion almost,of brightly colored and nostalgic images and text.
By far my favorite piece in the exhibition was a animation called 'Going West' by Anderson M Studio, who were commissioned by the New Zealand Book Council to animate an extract from a book.
It features a large bound book, from which the animation is cut out of the pages. I love that this was all done by hand with the artist having complete appreciation for the process involved even though it could probably of been done on a computer a lot quicker. I found this piece very inspirational as I always have wanted to explore using paper cutting in my own work.
Accompanying the exhibition are some free workshops and talks that I hope to get tickets for, in the meantime I'm going to practice Paper Cutting. My first attempt is below, which took about 2 hours on black sugar paper which is really hard to cut neatly! (note to self: use card.)
I based it on Castlefield in Manchester, as I love the industrial feel of the area and thought the variety of shapes would lend themselves well to the medium.
A ball bouncing down stairs- The product of last Friday's Maya session.
Not gonna lie, I've found Maya pretty difficult so I'm pleased with this as its the first time I actually really understood what I was doing (rather then just guessing and hoping for the best!!)
Today was a full on day of life drawing! we began with a morning session run by Stuart where we looked at the line of action in a pose and used this in our initial quick sketches. We then went on to look at light and dark, using charcoal and chalk to produce more tonal drawings. The full selection can be found on Flickr.
Below is from a 20 minute pose this afternoon, which I really liked the outcome of, although I could of done with working on the chair a bit more.
The last hour I was really in my element as Laura provided us with poster paints and cardboard sticks to use as brushes. I love using different mediums and getting the chance to be experimental, especially with life drawing as I had never used paint before. I was really pleased with how it turned out, it was great to not over analyse what i was doing and to just have fun with it. I think in the next few weeks I will definitely be bringing in more exciting materials to work with in life drawing
As part of the David Shrigley exhibition at the Cornerhouse gallery in Manchester, I went to a drop in life drawing session, of a huge animatronic figure complete with blinking eyes and bodily functions (well it is Shrigley after all....) During the actual exhibition people will be able to draw their own interpretation of the model, the drop in sessions were held to kick start the artwork in time for the opening.
It felt strangely like any ordinary life drawing class, and I also found my drawing style became very Shrigley inspired through no conscious effort of my own!
This morning was spent at Stoke on Trent train station drawing some observational studies, particularly looking at perspective. It was a cold, challenging but fun few hours, I grew frustrated at times with trying to get the perspective right, and gave up on sketches that probably could of done with more work however I was pleased with my results. I much prefer using other materials to draw with then pencil.
I spent the weekend away in Chester and took a smaller sketchbook with me and found it was easier to do quick sketches on a smaller space (A5) compared to the A3 sketchbook I used this morning. These I did from sitting outside a coffee shop, trying to limit myself from spending no more then 10 minutes per sketch.
Carrying on the Post it note theme for the week, Tuesday was spent doing fast 10 second & 20 second life drawings on Post its, with a variation of techniques including not looking at the paper, drawing without taking the pencil off the paper & a combination of both!
This was rather challenging for me as I like to draw BIG, and also I like to take my time, I was a bit hesitant to begin with which I think is reflected in my first 10 drawings by the light pencil marks but later on I became more confident, I had around 50 drawings in total, the rest can be seen on My Flickr Account .
The afternoon session we spent looking at Squash & Stretch poses, and the comparison between the two extremes as well as a 30 minute pose to music, which helped me a lot with as it let my mind wander and stopped me from over thinking what I was drawing. I was pretty pleased with the result which I did using conte crayons.
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