March 21st - Classwork

Posting a little late, last Thursday was my first ever lesson in portraiture/head drawing. Back to charcoal... definitely not my strong suit. Also, I am terrible at drawing people's likenesses, probably because I'm moderately faceblind. As always, any progress is good progress, I keep on telling myself. Bleh. Post, post post... 2 hours, done in the same Sustained Figurative Concepts class. Zin stepped in at the end and fixed the hair and the corner of the mouth a bit.

I got slammed on the last full figure nupaste I did...man everyone in the class is getting so good! I need to pay more attention to plane detail. Realism is really really tough. What is the best way to train your own eyes and brain to "see"? I plan on fixing her up for our end of year review to see if I can raise my grade a bit.

March 10 - Homework pt.1

I'm really enjoying pastels and want to be doing more on my own, if only I could find the time.

Blurry WIP homework done using one of the photos that the instructor provided us for this assignment. I'll be bringing it to class this Thursday and getting feedback to fix it up for next week's grade. I really miss the cool yellow color I had been using before and will probably bring it back by next week, regardless of what colors we're supposed to use. Zin doesn't seem to mind. 2hr, Nupastel.

March 07th class

More nupastel. From last time Zin wanted me to be more careful of my shadow shapes, accentuate plane changes more sharply, and have more contrast in the figure. Also, he suggested that I try just working just in one shade to concentrate purely on value, so I took out the yellow that I've been enjoying so much. eh. 4hr pose, done during studio class.

Feb 21 & 28th - First Brush with NuPastel

The 3rd week of class on Feb 21st Zin had us break out the nupastels and toned paper for the first time. We attempted a ~2hr figure study. If I thought I was discouraged last week...well, at least I was prepared. New paper, new medium, new struggles on so many fronts. I was *really* disappointed with the results.

This was not going to do. I resolved to do more gesture exercises at home and noodled around with the nupastels some more. It was getting a little bit better, but it still wasn't quite clicking, so I asked around work for a little bit of help. My friend Albert showed me some of his stuff when he was at the academy, and pointed me toward a tutorial from William Maughan. My 2nd study was much better, a 2.5hr study done during Tuesday night workshop for homework.

By the time class rolled around on the 28th I was gaining confidence and am now feeling much better about nupastels. Here is my 3rd attempt at nupastels, a 3hr study done during class.

From despair to progress, so visible in just 3 attempts. It's quite strange how the brain learns. Must keep at it, and not give up. My motto for 2013, and what keeps on repeating in my head: Any progress is good progress. Cheers.