Week 13 - Life Drawing - Faces

This session we looked at faces as that is also what we were modelling in 3D.

I hadn't drawn in a while so beginning with the quick sketches were especially useful.

Using charcoal we did a large, loose drawing. I wasn't feeling very motivated to draw so I spent very little time worrying about accuracy and used the charcoal very roughly, as well as using it sideways o get certain textures in without putting too much thought into it. I think this absentmindedness actually helped in this particular drawing.

Next we changed media. After the previous drawing I was feeling more motivated so got pencils as they are what I prefer using. I still wanted to draw roughly so the drawing is very sketchy and there are some very hard lines.

I really enjoyed this next pose as the position and composition looked much more interesting. I spent longer focusing on accuracy and details in this one so the marks are softer and shadows more accurate.

One part that really interested me was the hair as the highlights and lighting made it more complex than just lines.

The model turned round for the next drawing so that the half of the room that had her back in the previous pose could focus on the face in this one.

I had a straight on view so I really enjoyed getting in all the details I could see, although I would have preferred a bit longer to add the correct shading and maybe work on the hair.

Next the model turned round a little to the right. I also really liked how this pose looked because of the fringe to the curve of the back. This was only a quick drawing but I think I got the outline and shape accurate.

The model had a very fun face to draw as parts like the lips and chin are not typical and what I am used to drawing.

She then turned back round the other way meaning I had a better view of the full side of the face. This one was very rushed so I didn't get as much detail and accuracy as I would have liked.

Week 13 - Modeling a Face

In this weeks 3D lesson we looked at modeling a face using reference as we will soon be making a character statue.

We imported images into Maya, one on the side view and one on the front view. Using this I aligned the vertices in all directions. There was no reference for the back so there was a lot of guesswork involved and it took a while but this was good practice for my statue.

Week 13 - Speedpaint

We started this terms visual design lessons with another speedpaint.

We looked at Sam Nielson's "Stealing Apples".

We didn't have very long and were told to work in layers, starting with the background and blocking in the colours. As last time I had trouble drawing quickly and so roughly as I usually spend my time adding detail. This is what I ended up with by the end of the lesson and although it is not finished, it was very good painting and colour practice (though the colours look different as I was looking at a printed copy instead).

Week 12 - Anatomy Study - Bones

Over the break our assignment was to research human bone anatomy. I draw humans often but almost never use any reference so this activity was very useful for me.

I looked at lots of different images as each one was slightly different. I found pictures of real bones more useful as I could see every indent. I also found an app which allowed me to move around the bone and get a better image of it. I tried sketching the more important and detailed parts.

Drawing the full skeleton was difficult as there are many very small bones and everything has very specific measurements.

After this assignment I found sketching people easier as I now have a basic understanding of proportions and structure.