Midterm Reflection

I missed a couple weeks on my blog... whoops.... I've been having kind of a weird semester with all the things that have been going on in my life... Anyway...

Here is the location of my gallery sets for my portfolio.

I have learned so much this quarter already! I can really tell that my drawing skills have improved and my attention to detail is higher. I'm rather proud of some of the drawings I've done of the model, they actually look pretty good and the contours look good too. My proportions are still a bit off but they are much better than they were when I started. I do know that I really really need to improve on my muscle maniken and my shell drawings. My muscles have more to be desired and I really need to spend more time working on it. I really just need to redo all of them.... I'll get to it eventually...



And my shell drawing... I just really need to focus on the shell as a whole and not each individual bump on it. When I first did my shell drawing I focused too much on all the tiny bumps on it and my drawing just came out as a bunch of scribbles. When I do my next one I need to look more at just the basic shapes and getting the base down first before I try to do more of the details.



I have a hard time trying to get these blogs done... I -do- understand the reasoning behind them, I just always forget to get them done on time and I feel really bad about it...my goal for the second part of the semester is to get a blog done every week so I don't fail the class...

Rib Cage fun!!! -.-

Last week we learned more about body structure and mostly the Rib Cage. I've gotten better at my cross-contour drawings, I've even gotten compliments from a couple of my peers. So that was mood-boosting. I honestly can't remember all of what we did on Tuesday... I just remember doing cross-contour and more short exercises with the model. Below is my cross-contour from that day.


On Thursday we went over the rib cage. In concept it seemed not that difficult. Make an egg shape where the ribcage sits in the body. Holy cow it was a -lot- hard than I anticipated! I had an extremely hard time trying to get the shape down right and the perpective down on which way it was sitting in the chest! I learned a lot in this class period but it is definitely something I really need to work on. We did many 30 second sketches and a few longer ones. We had 30 minutes to work on a cross contour. I don't have a lot to show for it because I spent almost all of that time just trying to get the perspective down. I almost got it on the 4th try when Amy came over to my rescue!


I'm have a heck of a time trying to produce 300 words for each blog... I'll just end it with this I guess: I'm really enjoying this class and am getting a lot out of it for it being only the first month. I can't wait to learn more! My cross-contours are getting better but I need to work a lot on the ribcage now!

Human Form

Second week of classes got more interesting for me. I had a crash-course on life drawing when Amy taught my Digital Narrative class last spring. I learned a lot about how the body moves and perception and anatomy.

First we did 30 second exercises which I found very helpful. Got a good chance to work on anatomy and body movement. Amy also showed us where the pelvic bone should properly end on the spinal column so it's correctly proportional. These exercises also showed us to not focus so much on the nitty gritty details and just try to get in the form correctly.


We then did contour drawings for a longer period of time. This time we were supposed to get into more of the nitty gritty details. I'm actually rather pleased with how mine turned out. It's fairly proportionate and detailed. I just wish I had more time to work on the hands or spent more time doing that then something else. I need a lot of work but I'm still pleased with what I did.


After we did contour drawings we went back to short drawings. But this time we had 15-10 minutes to work on them. It was informational to get the movement quick then add in some of the details. I learned a lot from this exercise and I think I enjoyed this one the most.

The first week of classes

So far my semester has not been a good one at all...I got into an accident and lost my boyfriend among a few other things I don't want to share publicly. So sadly I really needed a mental break and didn't attend class on Thursday. So I will share with what I learned at Tuesday's class.

Tuesday was spent working on blind-contour drawings; something I'm not good at at all. We were given shells to draw from and were told to draw our first one for 30 minutes without looking at the paper. This seemed very daunting to me, especially since I haven't taken a drawing class for 4 years and I have a short attention span. I know I have a lot to work on that's for sure.

I ended up drawing three different blind contour drawings. I was actually rather pleased with how the second one turned out. Amy said to really work on pressure with the charcoal so I really focused on doing that this time around. We were divided into small groups and I was happily surprised that my group rather enjoyed mine. I really learned a lot from this piece and know that I really need to slow down and pay attention to details. I also need to get used to working with an object moving slightly instead of a still-life.


The second drawing we were actually allowed to look at the drawing but still trying to use the same techniques from the first one. I also did three or so drawings this time around. I was actually unhappy with my results. My shells looked deformed and unrealistic. I admit I was trying to draw without looking at it so my results look like they might've been done half-blindly. But still, I really need to work on my drawing skills and need to practice outside of class on my own time doing my own motives. Even though we weren't supposed to I drew the same angle twice to see how they compared from viewing and not viewing the drawing.

Introduction

My name is Sharon Stickney and I'm a design student at University of Wisconsin - Stout. I chose to be in the art field because for a job I really wanted to express myself creatively rather than sit behind a desk and punch letters all day. I graduated fall 2009 with a concentration in Graphic Design and a minor in Business Administration. I re-enrolled last spring to start a concentration in Multimedia Design and I also took up the Photography minor. I hope to gain more experience so I'm more sellable as an artist.

The work I'm most proud of is a majority of my photography as well as my Senior Show I did for graphic design last fall. You can visit my DeviantArt account to view some samples of my work: http://lady-draco.deviantart.com/ I have a good mix of digital, traditional and photo works that I've done.

I think my most favorite course I've taken at Stout would have to be Children's Literature. It was such a fascinating class and it was a topic that I really enjoyed. I also got to make my own children's book for my final project. Dr. Levy is an amazing professor.

I'm taking Life Drawing 1 because I really want to understand the human form better so I'm not so embarrassed to draw people all the time. I really am looking forward to getting a lot out of this class.

When I graduate (for good) I hope to get a job related to what I'm doing for design. I'm really not picky, I just want it to be in my area of study.