Final Reflection!!!

So ends another exciting semester at UW-Stout. By exciting of course I mean moderately amusing, but I'll take what I can get. Looking back on life-drawing two specifically, I'd say that it was ultimately a success.
LD2 was a great class, I felt that it was more enjoyable than LD1. It seemed to have a different atmosphere, mainly because people who were there wanted to be there. For the majority of the semester, we focused on skulls and faces. I thought this was a good thing, because drawing the human skull and face is very difficult. I now feel I have a much better grasp, especially of the the 3D qualities and planes, of the face/head. Drawing the classmates was also very fun and interesting,as it gave true measure of our drawing skills.
Our final project, being the skeleton, was a challenge. Drawing correct proportions and working at such such a large scale was no easy task. In the end, I felt that it turned out pretty well. My favorite thing about life life drawing is drawing without a grid. This forces the artist to truly see and understand the form, with limited focus to light and dark. It is a great way to vary from the typical drawing style, and combined with other styles, will help to make me a more well-rounded artist.

More Metal!! \m/

i believe i have now found my favorite thing to do. that thing i is speaking of is forging! We did a forging project in Metals class, and it was bomb. I started by making a wrist piece, but after hours of frustration i decided to make a set of ear-rings. The strange thing is that i was not distraught with making the project. I even took my failed pieces and used them to make into a neck piece!
Making metal art has really been a great experience for me. I'll be doing an independent study next semester in order to keep learning, and perhaps even the blacksmith course this summer.

Metal!!!

As much as i love listening to metal, i also love working with it. One of the projects we did in Art Metals was casting rings. Below you will see a silver ring that i made. The was no simple task. First we started by carving the ring out of wax. After cleaning it to near perfection, we had to invest it in plaster. After cooking it for a while, it was time to cast it with silver. Cleaning and sanding came after, followed by buffing.
I really enjoyed doing this project, and i found the long process with many steps to be almost therapeutic. I was really happy with how the ring turned oput and hope to make more in the future.

Skellies!!!

For a few weeks now, we have been working on full, life-size skeletons. It has been quite the difficult task. One of the hardest parts has been getting the proportions done. Up close it is easy to see it as correct, when really its totally off. In fact when i first drew the head, it was nearly 50% too big. It would only make sense as Minnie Driver's head. The leg was also too short, fixing these mistakes was not awful, except it left some nasty eraser marks.
I felt the picture itself turned out as a success, though. It stand over 6 feet tall, and is proportionally accurate. The spine is also done to completion (although if i had more time i would probably keep working on it).
It was amazing to see how the different bones had different contours and planes. It was difficult to capture on paper, but in the end, it really all came together.

Turkey!!!!

This week we basically just set up for the big ol' skeleton project. At Thanksgiving I participaed in the sin of gluttony with much joy and enthusiasm. I was going to take a picture of my protruding gut, but decided that would be cruel and usual.

Critique!!!

This week we had our critique of our classmate drawings. It was very exciting to see all of the finished products from everyone in the class. We each had a fair amount of time to have our pieces evaluated, which is always helpful when planning for what to improve on next time.
Wednesday we spent most of the class critiquing the work in progress of an advanced student. This was very interesting because the nature of the piece had many of us wondering what it was trying to convey. Being a work in progress, the advance student will have the oppurtnity to make adjustments, something an artist doesnt always have. Later in class we had discussed our game plan for the rest of the semester, which will mainly include drawing a life size human skeleton. This will be quite the task, and not an easy one at that. Nevertheless, I am excited to get started on it.

This is me being awesome:

Drawing Classmates!!!!

This week in my exciting life, we drew classmates as a follow up to our skull studies. In all, we will draw three, and two are basically completed. It is very difficult, especially because of how hard it is for a model to remain in the same position for such a long period of time. Also, no pressure drawing someone who will draw you, it definitely has no potential for possible awkward situation. These are pictures of Nathan and Brandon, and the next victim will be Jordan.
In other news, I spent the weekend painting some friends' basement in an "artistic" fashion, have wicked a capella jam sessions, and filing a ring out of wax. I also made some wicked music contacts, and will soon start a synth-driven power-pop band.
I wish.