Analysis of Form

Well school is officially out until the end of January. What an incredible semester I had. I finally started learning how to draw. I'm just glowing with anticipation for my next drawing classes. I learned so much. To be honest, I was pretty skeptical about taking my first foundation drawing class online. How was I supposed to do life drawing for this class when I lived nine hours away from campus? How could I get the hands on experience I would need, the instructors help, etc? Well part of the supply list was a selection of plaster cast statues from learntosee.com. They cost an arm and a leg but were worth every penny! I got all the basic shapes as well as two full size heads and a torso to draw from.

We started out with all the basic shapes, and gradually progressed. We always used one light source so we could simplify our study of light and shadow. Every assignment was done in charcoal, 18x24. Here's some of the first assignments (Due to the size of the assignments, I had to use my crappy digital camera, so the quality is mediocre at best):


After that we moved onto drapery and further studied light and shadow.


Next was the torso, a chance to simplify a complex object into the basic shapes. I was quite happy with the result, the photo here doesn't do it justice.


Finally the plaster heads were drawn. This was definately a challenge for me. We continued our study of heads by drawing from a photograph. We drew upside so we wouldn't focus on the details, we would just draw what we saw.


We moved onto pen and ink, very intimidating but by far the most rewarding. Although this drawing is not up to par with some of the previous ones I did in the class, it's one of my favorites simply because it's in pen. No messing around with erasing, what you put down stays down!



The final assignment called for a bit of everything. Five objects, drapery, one of the objects being eliptical, and another being a forshortened head. This was done on storm gray paper. Charcoal, 18x24.


I have a heck of a long way to go, but I'm pretty happy with what I achieved this semester as far as drawing goes. Especially considering I've never drawn before.

I'm in the process of ripping a full resolution version of the Michael Caine acting video for everyone, so that will be my next post. Stay tuned!

Michael Caine Acting in Film Part 6

Here's the final part. Unfortunately, the series has a little lag in audio. I've decided to post the full video up on ftp, full resolution for people to download if they wish. If you're interested, give me a shout. I'm not sure if it's aloud or not, but the program is currently out of print on VHS, and not available to purchase on DVD. If I get in hot water I'll simply take it down.