May 16th Sustained Figurative Concepts FInal Project

My last piece for the Sustained Figurative concept class was a picture of my boyfriend that I had taken wearing my favorite scarf and holding my cat in his PJ's. Done in Nupastel, 5 or 6 hours.

The posting is a month late because I left the last class of the spring semester early to rush home to Texas for a wedding, then rushed off to vacation in Belize the week after for 10 days. I've been back and thrust back into the crazy fast SFBay Area lifestyle and crunch time at work for almost a week now. Deadlines deadlines...

April 18th - May 9th - Clothed Figure

Hello, I'm lagging a bit behind on the posting...these are my first attempts at clothed figure drawing in class over the last couple of weeks. Definitely a two steps forward, one step back thing.

It's been an experience, learning how to draw and render and use the medium, all at the same time. I've been quickly learning not to compare myself to others in the class; many did fine arts or illustration for their undergraduate. As they say, "comparison is the thief of joy." It is neat, seeing what some of the really talented folks produce, and getting to ask them about the way they approach our weekly assignments. I am better now at just enjoying the rhythm of the process now, and being less critical of myself. I might not be proud of these, but I am proud of my efforts and tenacity. I'll just keep on practicing until I understand drapery and clothing. Although it's not required, Clothed Figure drawing will mostly likely be my next class.

My First Bonsai-style Kokedama

I love plants and sculpture and have been planning and researching this project for a little while. This is my first bonsai-style kokedama: a mini-tree rooted in a ball of living moss. It's been doing surprisingly well at my work desk, considering that the air is quite dry and there is no sunlight! The leaf imprint dish was made by a co-worker's late wife and fits it quite nicely.

I'll be making more and more of these over the next couple weeks after work crunch is over and my final is finished. Thanks for looking!

March 28th - April 17th

I've been falling behind in posting my studies, so here is a catch-up post. 2 done in class, and 2 homeworks. All nupastel, and in chronological order. 

I'm growing in the understanding of how to better block in shapes and to step away from the easel when working on a large scale (these are all 19x25's) so that the features are less derpy. Also I'm finally getting down both the technique in the medium and blocking out large shapes since that is what the teacher firmly wants us to focus on. Plane change, edge control, form value. Drill drill drill, I wish I could be doing this every day. Progress might be a bit slow, but at least I feel encouraged by the fact that it is coming at a steady pace. 

I really want to understand texture, rhythm and color, because I'm understanding that is where I will eventually find an individual voice. These will be my next goals in addition to growing my fledgeling foundation in technique. 

Thanks again, to those who are following my beginning journey in the fine arts! To my surprise, this blog just came up on 1200 views around my birthday this month. I enjoy seeing visitors and knowing that much of it comes from other people who are fighting to learn and find the time to do what they love, just like me. Peace. :)

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.

Tuesday Long Pose Workshop

Today I went by Jun's Tuesday night long pose workshop. Maybe it was the fact that I had been crazy busy with working all day, or gotten worked up by missed phone calls. Not excuses, just musings. But I did *horribly.* Was it that I didn't do any warm ups? I certainly didn't take enough time blocking out my figure. I did so bad, that I'm not going to post my drawing. What if I fail out of the class? Could I just be not cut out for this? What am I doing, spending money and time in art school, anyways? I'm an adult with a steady job!

I'm sharing my self doubt and anxiety here with anonymous others and my future self as a promise to myself to keep on going and work hard, even if I am feeling foolish and discouraged. One day I'd like to look back on this post and be proud that I had faith and kept on moving forward, even through the setbacks and bad days/weeks. Peace.

Charcoal Practice

Been so productive tonight for my lady night in. I've been struggling with charcoal a lot during my semester at AAU. Since I work full time and can't make most of the workshops, I figure I should try to understand it on my own time.

~45min 3x6'' combination of vine and charcoal pencil, using a Henry Yan pic as reference.

Intestinal Fortitude Recovery Week

I was super sick with some sort of violent stomach flu this week. :( So I missed about 3 and a half days of work, most of my 2nd day of class, and Valentine's Day, boo! Luckily, I'm back on the upswing for the weekend, although still trying to take it easy and gain back my intestinal fortitude. So here are some substitute sketches for what I normally would post for my new figurative concepts class.

I doodled a bunch of ladies here, just to be doing something while I'm waiting for dinner to cook or the energy to recharge on my stupid free-to-play game, haha. I feel like it's good for learning proportion consistency, and lets me crank out quick cute outfit ideas.

Also as kind of a daily vitamin, I'm trying to work in a couple of pages of gesture drawings every week. I've gotten really rusty over the long break that the Academy has, and I want to regain the momentum that I had fought so hard for last semester. I have a feeling that this semester is going to be tough for me, unless I work hard to study up on my own time. These are 1's.

wip - coffee slump

i've been starting several different things, but then not finishing...here's the wip for the previous sketch.

4pm at work on a Tuesday

I've been trying to cut down on the amount of coffee I drink everyday. Sometimes this is the result.