This week I think we all made some progress and learned a lot. The week flew by, but we first critiqued our muscle models, which many (mine included) probably needed some revising. It seemed that most people got the anatomy a little off, or needed to refine their craftsmanship. I went home later and fixed my muscles, taking a second closer look at the guidebook. Most of my muscles were made too large and put on incorrectly. It is difficult to work in 3D but I think I enjoy it for the most part.
We got some more gesture drawing in this week. On Tuesday we drew gestures for some time, and then we were asked to gesture draw with our left hand. We were concentrating on the spine and its movement, and with my left hand it was easier to actually focus and look carefully at what I was doing. My right handed gestures had been getting too confident with heavy marks. So that was a fun exercise that showed me how to look better and pay better attention to my marks.
We learned this week about the ribcage. It was actually really cool to learn how the ribs come together and form the chest, the chest we see on the outside. Once we learned all of the parts and how the were shaped (in whole like an egg!) we were able to do more gestures, focusing on getting the form of the ribcage first and how everything worked with it. These were very good exercises and helped me to figure out how to see proportions, angles and balance. It was tricky to draw the form of the ribcage when the model was bending at extreme angles. But overall I am getting much more comfortable with gestures and how to show the entire feel of the model's positioning without using all outline or too much detail. I still mess up the balance sometimes, like when the model is leaning slighty or bending slightly and I draw her too straight up. It's been challenging to really see and draw how the model is shifting her weight ever so slightly. Hopefully soon I will get in the habit of looking for those small things every time.
About this week in general, I am very excited to continue learning anatomy and how the body works so we can draw it better. I love drawing from life. It is very relaxing and although that much focusing can wipe me out, it's neat to see how each member of our class interprets the same model in different ways, each interesting and unique. Drawing natural forms is very nice and refreshing for me, like breathing, and it hits me sometimes how truly beautiful and awe-inspiring the human form is. I think about the creator I believe in and how amazing God must be to have formed such a thing as a human being. I will be pondering this for awhile...
