Love the process in my drawing class -
We lost two days of class, so the first project was really shortened. My second effort using an easel.
I've been doing the process somewhat intuitively, but this gives me a bit more formal structure.
We use our pencils at arm's length to measure maximum height and width of each object, then place it on the paper in its location relative to everything else by putting a proportional box for each item in the proper locaiton relative to all of the other objects. I'm really process oriented. I loved the very specific process for balancing whites and blacks in photography, and I love this process for laying out a still life drawing.
You can see the boxes around each item in my sketching. I've also included a photo of the setup (although the easels moved between when I was drawing and the photo, since I had to go back after the second class to take the picture).
Alas, we won't be finishing this project - since we have to move on in order to complete the course after losing so much time. But I'm happy so far!
Obviously, I didn't get the overall ratios quite right, since I had to crop the outside edges of the foundation block (and lost an object on each side). I also notice I left an egg off (in the lower right corner). I may spend a bit more time on this. The course progress is 3 foundation classes (3D, drawing, and color (?)). In order to progress toward a degree, at the end of the "first semester" I have to pass a portfolio review - and this is one of the drawings I need for this class. It probably needs to be a bit farther along for that purpose.
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The process we are using really helps with depth perception - since the goal is to view the whole thing as flat, partly by closing one eye (which removes everyone's depth perception - so we're working purely on ratios, and the sense of depth is created because things farther back are smaller than the same size thing closer up).
I updated the drawing so it is good enough to use for one of the line drawings in the 1st year portfolio:
We're trying new techniques at a rapid pace (since we're a week behind due to snow days). We did gestural drawing, contour, and modified contour drawings yesterday. Here's a gestural drawing of a vase of flowers, a bust of a female, a gourd, and a shoe. The first two took one minute each; the shoe and gourd took 30 seconds each. (We also did some with our non-dominant arm.)
Nothing worth showing from the contour drawings. The technique is to pick a point on an object and follow the contour with your eyes as you draw **without looking at the paper** The results are about what you would imagine - open and distorted figures. In modified contour you get to look about 10% of the time. The modified contour is relatively close to how I actually draw.
And - here's my actual first sketchbook pages - I tried to vary attention to detail (cecropia caterpillar) with quick sketches (the bee), as well as varying medium (pencil, ebony, conte crayon, CharKole pastels - I did a seahorse in pencil and also in conte crayon)
(The professor suggested changing the orientation between sketches and trying to put them randomly on the paper).
We're having our first class display of our work tomorrow - probalby not much of a critique. It is odd going back to first year classes after starting in advanced classes (photography). I'm used to real critiques in which I learn stuff I can use to improve my work. The 3D foundation critiquest were mostly nothing but the instructor. We'll see how tomorrow goes! In the mean time, I have to draw a bunch of food. (Two assignments due this week, since we lost a week - normally we won't have more than one.)