The Best of 2009: Clothed Figure Drawing

Last but certainly not least is what ended up being my favorite and most successful class, Clothed Figure Drawing. This class was a six-hour Illustration class, where we had three hours of 20-minute poses and another three hours for a long pose. Perhaps due mostly to the vast quantity of work that I produced in this class, it is here where I can see my most progress as an artist. Below are what I consider to be my best pieces, which is why they're what I put into my portfolio:

Still room for growth, of course. On a side-note, I forgot to photograph the final drawing for this class, so I'll have to make a separate post later.

The Best of 2009: Head Drawing

Next up is my Head Drawing class, which was a Fine Arts class. I definitely had a solid progression of talent and skill in this class...that is, I did until we switched from charcoal drawing to oil painting. Let's just say that none of those oil paintings will be found posted here. The class was six hours, and we drew one portrait per class; below are the last three weeks of drawing with charcoal:

We also had homework, including this replication of a Rembrandt painting. This was also done in charcoal. For the final, we had to produce the same illustration in oil paint, but again, no oil paintings will be posted here.

The Best of 2009: Drawing From the Imagination

Mostly due to laziness, I didn't end up posting all my drawings after each week's classes as I intended to do. Therefore, I've assembled the best drawings I created over my Fall 2009 Semester at the Academy of Art University and will be posting them by class.

First up, Drawing From the Imagination. This class was an Illustration class, largely about proper use of perspective and anatomy when drawing your own creations from your imagination (hence the name). I can truly say that I learned a lot from this class, but I don't think any of my artwork was that great. Lots of flaws and just a general lack of passion. So, the only think I'll be posting from that class is the final project. We had to illustrate a scene from Beauty and the Beast (the scene where Beast asks Beauty if she could ever love a hideous beast) and show all the things we learned from the class (perspective, reflection, plotted lighting, etc.). My initial concept art, I feel, turned out much better than the final piece. As I get older, I find myself drawn to more organic and fluid art than the tight, precise art that used to be my trademark...but maybe I'm just getting worse at what I do. Either way, here's the final piece:

How the West was Fun!

For the past three weeks, my homework in my "Head Drawing" class has been to copy an old black & white photograph onto 18x24" paper using charcoal. The teacher generously let me borrow a page from his book (literally) and below is the result:

It's John Wayne. Again, I get horrible lighting in my student housing apartment, so I had to do some adjustments in Photoshop and I think the quality is lost. You get the idea, though.

The Clothed Figure Drawing Head Drawing

So lately, with the last half of my Clothed Figure Drawing class, the teacher has been having us drawing the human head. Which is weird, because I'm pretty sure I'm also taking a class called "Head Drawing." Even weirder? I'm also drawing heads in my "Drawing from Imagination" class. Anywho, here's the head I drew tonight. I think it turned out pretty good (unfortunately, the photo is not the best quality, so there is some detail lost):

Don't Turn Your Back on Taylor Swift

So, I was working on some homework where I had to draw five clothed, full-figure females. Naturally, I gathered my Miley Cyrus and Taylor Swift photo collection and started drawing. These were done on 18 x 24" newsprint with compressed charcoal:

I know...this page is right from my dreams. I thought the Taylor drawing (right) turned out rather well, so I decided to color it in using Photoshop:
That was sure fun, but now I have to get back to my "actual" schoolwork. *sigh.*

Clothed Figure Drawing - Week 2

Week 2 of my Clothed Figure Drawing class. I switched back to what may be my favorite figure drawing medium: conte. Used both black and the brown/umber color. Really cool model this week with a western theme. Good week, I think...

Clothed Figure Drawing - Week 1

Here are the first week's drawings from my ILL 610 - Clothed Figure Drawing class. Let me say that this is the single worst model I have ever had. Breaking a pose due to your body giving out is one thing, but breaking it to change the song on your iPod? Not cool. Also, I tried using compressed charcoal, which is apparently not my best medium--hard for me to keep things light...