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.

Lesson 1 - 30/01/17

In today's lesson, we were looking at each other's work that we did over the Christmas break. I found my feedback to be very positive from my classmates which was nice to hear as I am not usually that confident in my work. My use of colour was highly praised as well as incorporating my own style into the sketches and drawings.The key aspect that I need to work on is my proportions as that does tend to cause problems with my drawings sometimes.

In the next part of the lesson, we were looking at Tableaux Vivant, which is a picturesque grouping of persons or objects. We got into groups and attempted to pose that told certain stories. In my group, we focused on gossip, where we all looked suspicious of each other and it was very hard to keep the pose for twenty minutes. As we then attempted to draw the other group, the timing tended to be an issue as I can't draw that fast but with some encouragement, I was able to complete the task. The end result was actually good but of course, my proportions were a little off again which I need to work on.

Jeff Wall: I find his photography work to be quite interesting, especially 'The Destroyed Wall' which shows a messy room that has several ways that it could have been destroyed. His work is also considered controversial which also intrigues me. 

Vanessa Beecroft: Her work focuses around the female body and femininity and often has models, clothed or naked to pose in certain ways. I find her work interesting but it isn't something that I would like to draw or study per say. 

Gregory Crewdson: I absolutely love his photography work as they create so many narrative with the elements in the pictures. They create an ominous atmosphere and also an enigma and if I could, I would love to try to duplicate one or more of his pictures as an outcome as I love anything to so with horror.