Final blog... or is it?

 So basically we were instructed to review ourselves, which entailed a basic evaluation of our performance in the class regarding in class assignments and homework.

 As far as class assignments are concerned, I always put forth the effort in trying to understand the assignment. I mean, why not? It would only help me understand my homework assignment more than it would hurt me.  Pertaining to homework, I spent more time at home than I did in class (which I hope would be a given since we are only in class for roughly two and a half hours) working on assignments. I participated in virtually every critique. Although I may not have always had something to say about everyones work, I always tried to give constructive criticism and/ or give a smart ass remark here and there.

Despite a few failed attempts at the homework, overall, I feel I have been pretty consistent, and made improvements over time.

 All I can really say is, although I know they are useful, I can't wait until next semester where I do my final foundation course: Drawing 2. Yippie.

 After using a variety of materials in this class, I have to say my favorite thus far is graphite pencil. It is just a much easier material to use. And by easier, I mean easier to sharpen, easier to erase, easier to work from light to dark, and it really allows for really sharp, crisp, clean lines. Granted, it is slightly more work to get great line variation, but not much more than that of charcoal or conte crayon.

The End.

So, about the homework...

 So I came to the understanding as I was doing the homework what a complete disaster I was making of it! I knew everything was all off, but I had no clue how to even go about fixing it since I was drawing from inside my aartment where the most I could see was the building in front of me, which hardly constitutes as an environment. I i had to look over and see what was to the side of me, completely throwing me off perspective wise. Shameful I tell you!

 Alas the sketchbook review day has snuck up on me. Perhaps another all nighter is in session?

 I found the blind contour homework assignment fairly easy, especially since it is a loose drawing and it not meant to look like what it is intended to be. Despite how distorted the images are, it actually made for an interesting self-portrait. Sometimes I ended up with duplicate noses, or my lips were where my neck typically is. I found the outcome humorous every time. I definitely had fun with the assignment. It was the most enjoyable home work we have done thus far. I say we do more like it, but that's just me.

 An artist I was recommended to look up was Tom Wesselman. I find similarities in our work. He likes to make his figures very pop art esque, as do I. However, some of the figures he does are doing raunchy activities. With his figures, he also tends to draw their tan lines, which I find quite humorous.

Nothing but C's

How annoying. Let's see how keeping up my gpa goes. This semester isn't very promising and because I'm a junior I have to keep up a 2.7, eventhough I am trying for better and failing miserably. I don't know how this is going to work out. 2-D is killing me. All I want is sleep...

I understand that I should be posting in this blog more frequently. However, as with other online writings  that I have done, I always made sure I had something to say and to say it as concise as I possible can. The english language is a terrible thing to waste with needless words.

I've actually looked up a few artists it what little spare time I have, and I came across some work I actually find interesting to talk about.

I was in the school library not oo long ago, and I was looking for an interesting photography book to look at. I Found this one book by Robert Polidori titled After the Flood. It is basically a documentation of the Aftermath after Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans. As I was flipping through his book, I took note of several things I noticed about his book. It appeared as though he had taken hundreds of images, and decided that all the images worked for the project. It seems as if he had absolutely no editing skills. True that each image worked for the project, but majority of them were not self standing images that would portray the message he is trying to send.  They appeared as if they could have been taken anywhere, not necessarily in new orleans. I also noticed that some of the images that he has online from that book, are very centered.

Granted, he did have some strong compositions in sme of the photograps through out the book, but I feel that perhaps he could have narrowed it down to atleast 100 strong images and edited the rest out. Afterall, isn't an important part of art creating a  strong portfolio (in his case a book)?

A few weeks ago, my boyfriend checked out a book from the Library of the artist Ivan Albright,  since he was recommended to look at his work due to the similarities in style and to get some sort of inspiration to try something new.  So he shared the book with me in amazement of how incredible his work was. Ivan had a way of making something uncomfortable to look at, but you just couldn't look away since his work is strangely beautiful. Perhaps it the way he knew how to make skin, really look like skin, and not some glorified rendering of it. The dark backgrounds and the tone range that he used made everything seem morbid and in some pieces, he made skin look like it was rotting. Most of the work he did was extremely intricate as well. Each time you view at his work, you find something you didn't notice before. Apparently, towards the end of his life he became blind, but he never saw it as a hinderance. I think his work only became more intricate as he became blind.

I promise I won't take up too much more of your time, as I am wraping up this entry. The final artist my friend actually showed me today as I was taken back by her graphite drawings with which I thought were black and white photographs at first. But then you see the subtle odditities in the drawings and that's what really made me notice that it was graphite.

 

Why are these people sitting around watching the tornado coming after them instead of seeking shelter?

Looks like a flaming cup of coffee...

The insinuation of flying

This is one the the first immages of hers that I saw that made be believe this is a photograph. both the leg and the wooden pole to the left of the body have roundness to it makes it realistic.

Alas, I am drawing this entry to a close. As I stated before, just becasue I am not updating on the regular, does not mean I am not doing research. This is some of the research I have done over the course of three weeks, but I am finally getting around to writing as I sit here at school at 1:20 a.m. trying to fulfill the blog requirements for this class. I understand one would be needed in an art school to pssibly post one's work and to discuss their own work, but to be graded on lbog usage when there are other tasks for other classes to be done, is slightly annoying since I can not be in my pajamas and in bed as I write this, but instead, in the mac lab...

Sigh and Sigh Again

 This assignment has been interesting for me, for lack of a better word. Not that the content is interesting, but how the final product came to be is interesting.

 When I started the project, I did just as instructed. I put a non-printed sheet on a chair and I placed that chair in my bedroom. I started the drawing and everything was coming out fine. The proportions were right on, and I was no a role. I had to take a break and run to Walmart to find a charger and USB plug for my camera so i could upload the required pictures onto the blog. I get back home, and my boyfriend, out of old habits that I have been trying to break him from, threw his shirt onto the chair where I had the sheet. Once the shirt was removed, the sheet did not look the same, making it impossible to figure out where I had left off. Needless to say, I was livid to the point where I was on the verge of tears.

 I had no other choice but to start the assignment all over. As I started it all over again, my proportions were all off and I had to erase, and erase, and erase again. Now, the assignment I had originally started on, to what the finished product is, is completely different.

 No point in dwelling on what could have or should have been. So I completed the assignment half-heartedly and completely discouraged. but I completed it. I'm a bit disappointed in the outcome, but there will be better days. And hopefully, there will be a day where I can break my boyfriend out of the habit of throwing his clothes on the first thing he deems as a convenient location to put something, other than the dirty clothes or the closet.

Soooo....

 Yeah, it's been a while. It sucks when you borrow your neighbor's internet and it magically stops working, leaving you without your daily dose of facebook... and blogspot of course!

 I find myself extremely frustrated with all my classes. Me and my half-ass perfectionism isn't as perfect as she would like to be. I think a melt down might be in order. Art school: survival of the fittest.


Any who, enough rambling about life and its relevance and irrelevance, let's get serious. Let's talk about art!


 I know it doesn't pertain much to the class, or drawing in general, but it is my medium of choice: Photography.


There are several photographers of which I have learned about their work over time, and I am always equally as fascinated every time I come across their images. These people are the masters in composition and content. Some are primarily black and white, and others specialize in color photography.

Lee Friedlander

I love studying his nudes, since I, myself, do nude photography.

Content is great. This image makes you focus on the body language of the two people. What were they doing before?

The tree casts an interesting shape. not his most interesting photograph, but it is a play on nature, which he doesn't do very often. the true master at nature would be Ansel Adams.

This photograph has a very stalkeresque quality to it. Kind of eery isn't it?

I know the picture is small, but the composition in this image is amazing. It has an approximate symmetry to it. There is so much going on in the photograph that it creates visual movement. It's just simply amazing.

This image is intriguing to me. It's simple, yet powerful to me. There's this image of this blown up face in   a television with a shirt hanging next to it. Who does that shirt belong to? Why is it hanging on the door next to the television, with this face looking at the viewer with this ridiculously huge grin on her face. Why is that face there in the television? What is the viewer watching?

Unfortunetly time is not on my side today. However, there are a few other people I would love to post on here. I.E. Henri Cartier Bresson, Tina Barney, Garry Winogrand, William Eggleston, and Diane Arbus. I'll just have to do it when time allows. Until then...

One, Two, and Three-Point Perspective

  
                                                                        One-Point Perspective

                                                           
                                                                        Leonardo Da Vinci

 Two-Point Perspective

Giovanni Piranesi

Three-Point Perspective

M.C. Escher

My exciting first homework. Sense the sarcasm?

 So basically, my first homework assignment is the GREATEST! So get this, we have to draw 8 horizontal lines, with vertical lines within it. The lines may never cross though. Sounds exciting right?

 Despite my sarcasm, the assignment in itself required more thought than I ever intended to put into lines. But I guess that's just the point. Anyone can do lines, but not everyone knows REALLY knows how to lines. Each and every line should have a reason behind it, logic. It really makes you think about what you are doing, and how to execute it properly.

 Was I confused? Maybe at first. But as I really took the time to think about it, it made perfect sense. Afterall, I am taking a drawing class, and what is the foundation of all good drawings? Lines!