Light and Dark Pattern [04/05/11]

2 min

I don't think we are getting any new models since we are repeating the same models. Bonnie is the older Asian woman we had last time. Andrei laughed and pointed out that she was slowly moving little by little in her 2 minute poses. It was the same story last time, but she's still here.

10 minute

I was extremely annoyed that we aren't getting any new models with different body variations. I just wanted to walk out of class, but since Andrei came all the way from SF, I decided to stay and put up with class.

I didn't feel like drawing and the new technique taught didn't feel like it was doing much since there was more dark than light.

Today was an uninspired day.


20 minute

long pose - took 50 minutes

The darker the color, the better contrast it has with the white. I'm pretty pleased with the longer drawings.

Maybe for the next few 2 minute drawings, I'll use the light/dark pattern and see how those turn out. Crayons maybe?

Modeling: Mass [03/29/11]

1 minute


This model was the one from the very first few class sessions. Why is she back with her sameness? We did 20 one minute poses, which went by real quick and concentrated more on getting the structure as quick as possible using gesture drawings.

2 minute

Today was the first day to the introduction of modeling.

We learned about mass, which gives weight to drawings, so we darkened the figure to come up with more 3D shapes since lighting can flatten a drawing.







10 minute

Our first exercise allowed us to use our charcoal sticks to draw the parts furthest away from us the darkest and slowly lighten our way towards the center until we find another edge.

I kept on thinking that mine looked like a cheetah or some sort of cat. Andrei said it looked like reptile skin.



20 minute


This turned out pretty good since I could feel the 3D roundness coming about.










Supposed to be 1 hour, but did two twenties instead

Critique Day [03/24/11]

We had critique today, so we were to bring 3 drawings that we did from this class to have Gordon critique and comment on.

I decided to bring these three out of all of them. It wasn't that hard to choose. I wanted to bring Tyler since he was the best male drawing and I chose Julie because that was my first long pose and it was pretty good overall. The third one was a last minute decision because I didn't want all of them to look finished and this one had pretty good composition with foreshortening and contour lines.

He called my drawings "accomplished", which felt good to hear since that was the first thing that came out of his mouth. Most of the things he said were positive, re-emphasizing the lessons we learned and mentioning future lessons to come.

This was a very good first critique, because I got to experience something different and took lots of mental notes on everyone's critique as well. We have a lot to learn from this critiques.

Critique Week [03/22/11]

2 minute

Today was a review. This model was one we had before. I wonder if we are going through a second round of the same models. Like I mentioned before, there isn't much diversity in the models for this class compared to what Andrei told me about his past classes. Very disappointing to me. I'm bored.

20 minute

I wasn't too pleased with my drawings for the 20 minute drawings.

Too fat, too small. I don't know what was going on with me this class period.








50 minute

I tried something new, which was to shade the background my way.

That dark charcoal is really dark and stains my fingers so easily.

Review [03/17/11]

2 minute

For the second day this week (only two class periods in a week, so all days this week), a model was a no show and another model had to be contacted after class has started and had to wait for that one to show.

I only had time to do the ten 2 minute drawings and left just as she was starting the 20 minute. I hope from now on, we'll have models who will show up.

I know things come up, but please be professional about it, like call if you are not going to show. We waited for the first one, thinking that she was late, but ended up calling someone else assuming she was a no show. It turns out she was a no-show.

This person modeled for us before. Second time for this one.

Review [03/15/11]

2 minute



The model was late and ended up not showing up today, so a student took on a role after 30 minutes into class. Several people left, which is somewhat good since the class was packed.

Andrei planned to drop in to class today and it was an interesting day for him to come. The model didn't show [1st time this semester] and the class was unexpectedly full. I talked more today than all the classes attended combined so far. We drew a skeleton before the student, who was also a professional model, decided to become the model.

20 minute

She was very easy to draw since her body seemed to be proportional and it made sense. It was like the ideal body with no flaws. Those types of bodies are easy to draw compared to others that are out of proportion.

Those are the ones that are challenging, because it questions the mind about the proportions that we really see and the ones that we drew.







50 minute
I didn't need the full hour to do this drawing. When I think the drawing is done, its done. I pretty much finished within the first 20 minutes and the second 20 minutes were the finishing touches, which made the drawing more realistic. For the last ten minutes, I was just making things darker and stopped at the last ten minutes to look around at other people's drawings.


Medium: Charcoal Pencil - 4B

Anatomy [03/10/11]

2 minute

This is another female model but this time with big thighs and smaller mid section. I don't understand why Gordon isn't picking models with different variations in size, gender and race, but rather similar features. I'd like to draw different types of people and not another Caucasian woman. I'm feeling less guilty about not tipping as time goes on especially since the variations seems very limiting.

5 minute

Someone suggested that we do 5 minute poses, which seemed like a bad idea at first, but I realized that if I can't finish the whole body, then I would have to emphasis different segments of the body and then add detail to them.

I find people rushing to draw the whole body, but I just took my time on one or two parts of the body, which reduced the pressure and increased my concentration. It turned out to be a good idea since we are learning about anatomy. Gordon showed my work to the class! This is the 3rd time? or 4th? I'm thinking back and it seems like its the 4th. Yes, 4.



20 minute

Her thighs were huge at my angle and it looked awkward, but it looks okay now online.