Lesson 5 - 27/02/17

In this week's lesson, we were drawing the model again but this time with props of three dimensional shapes. This was a good practice lesson for me as I want to get better at tonal work as well as drawing the space around the model. The first few warm ups were alright as I was attempting to not only draw the people but the space around them, which was tricky at first but I did get the hang of it. We then moved onto the model and the objects around her. My first attempt was successful aside from her facial expression and the proportions are actually on point which was pleasing. However, my next attempt wasn't as the head was bigger than the whole body itself. I did keep it though as the shading was good and it shows my development for my portfolio. The last drawing on here is probably the best one that I've done as the shading is excellent but the whole image does look slightly cropped which is something I could work on. 

Lesson 4 - 26/02/17 (Homework)

This week's homework was really fun to do as this is something that I like to do. With all of the interesting textures and shapes I used, I really felt as if I created an accurate image of what was in front of me. It was also nice to be rough with the cut outs and drawings, rather than keeping to the lines and cutting out perfectly. If I was to do this again, I may do a scene outside or with people and also to use more kinds of textures. I could use leaves to print on paper as well as bubble wrap, pebbles, foil etc. Some mixed colours or separate colours would also have a nice effect for an image too. I also did two extra ones while using Mel and the animals as a reference. 

Lesson 4 - 20/02/17

In this week's lesson, we were drawing the model again but not nude this time. Instead, we were drawing her with animals, which was an interesting choice. It mostly consisted of birds, which was a shame since I would have like to have a wider variety of animals. Anyway, after some warm up speed drawings, which turned out very well in my favour for a change, we then did some large portraits of all the animals and the model together. It was a bit difficult for me as a little of the view was blocked due to people in front of me and the fact that I had no other space to move to. I did very good proportions this lesson as well as a good sized drawings, which isn't what I usually do since I don't always think before I draw. It was a big improvement for me and I am very pleased to see that I am making goo progress. Finally, we made four sheets with different textures; wet and dry, which we then used as silhouettes to make the image we saw in front of us. I added pen detail on mine which made a big improvement to my work.

Lesson 3 - 16/0217 (Homework)

This is my homework from the previous lesson. I used the charcoal background like we did in lesson and I found that I am quite good at doing this technique. I think the tree is my favourite done due to the light coming off the branches. The church is a good attempt at being three dimensional and does have a realistic effect to it. I like the fact that I had used a different observational point of view for this one and I think I should do it more often. I think the brick walls could be a bit more rugged next time though but they all still look good. 

Lesson 3 - 13/02/17

This week's lesson was incredibly fun for me as I really enjoyed the model and skeleton poses. Plus I enjoyed it because I actually did some good drawings this week. I think that my shading is the best part of my drawings as it makes the drawing three dimensional. In addition to that, my proportions are a lot better this week so I am definitely making progress, Here are my drawings:

Lesson 2 - 06/02/17 (Homework)

This is my homework from the previous lesson. I drew a woman from a magazine, my friend, Courtney Act and Oliver Hardy. I think the overall results were good but of course there are room for improvements, such as the eye and mouth details. I feel that the shading and colouring have gotten a lot better though. There is annotation for each drawing in my sketchbook.

WOMAN FROM MAGAZINE: 10 MINUTES

OLIVER HARDY: 45 MINUTES

COURTNEY ACT: 30 MINUTES

A FRIEND: 20 MINUTES

THIS IS MY OWN INDIVIDUAL PRACTICE DRAWINGS ON HANDS AND FACES:

Elizabeth Peyton

Elizabeth Peyton is an American painter who is best known for portraits of her close friends and boyfriends. Her celebrations of youth, beauty and fame are note table for their brilliant colour and graphic sense. She has also got celebrity subjects included in her work such as David Bowie, Kanye West, Keith Richards, John Lennon and members of the Kennedy family.

This is her drawing of Keith Richards:

She has really achieved the life like quality in her work as she has captured all of his facial features without going into much detail, yet keeping very accurate shading for the shadows and light. She hasn't tightened up on the details and has let it loose quite a bit. I really like how she has drawn his eyes as they look really effective and I would love to learn from this as my eyes don't look as realistic or as good as these do. She hasn't spent loads of time on it as the lines are quite rushed but that shows how she observes him and isn't over-working herself. Although I haven't done anything like this with colour yet, she keeps the colour palette very limited. She might have done this in order not to take attention away from the simplistic features on him ,like his face and joints. I need to work on my work to make it more three dimensional like Peyton's work. 

Here are more examples of her work: 

Jackie and John Kennedy

Kanye West

John Lennon

• Peyton, Elizabeth. (2017) Artsy, Available online at https://www.artsy.net/artist/elizabeth-peyton (DATE ACCESSED - 06/02/17)

Lesson 2 - 06/02/17

In today's lesson we were drawing the model's head and hands. I got quite frustrated with this lesson as I couldn't seem to get anything right. The face angle that I had was hard to draw so it was hard to get certain features on point like the eyes and chin. I tried to do it in charcoal but then it ended up looking messy so pencil was my safer alternative. I think the best part of my drawings this week was my silhouette drawings as they were very accurate to the head. The hands were okay at some points but they were too tight sometimes when they should have been looser. I think that I am going to practice this issue I have with detail in my sketchbook.

Tableaux Vivant (Personal Study)

This is some of our own interpretations of Tableaux Vivant images. This were very fun to do but next time, we could add some effects to it, like a gray scale effect.