So here’s the final critique from my instructor. I got an A- on this, which I’m happy with.

So I’m not going to talk so much about the drawing as to address design concepts as we have not talked at all about them. In this I think that it is pretty good in that you have some things that tie it together. The figures are tied together with lines that are somewhat circular you may or may not have planned this but it is a fact. The eye will always be drawn to faces and the faces are close to one another so it puts the focal point in that area. One face is hidden so the focal point becomes obvious in the other. face. It is human nature that your eye will go there.

I’m pretty happy with my progress in this class. I still have one of two more critiques to post, as I just post them in the order the instructor marks them

I finally got some feedback on my self portrait. I was quite curious as to how my instructor was going critique this one because up until this point he had reference photos to fall back on. He could directly specify certain features that were off, or just drawn completely wrong because he knew exactly what we were duplicating. With this one, we drew them live, and therefore he didn’t have any reference. On top of this, unless we’ve uploaded a student profile picture, and he’s taken the time to check it out (highly doubtful), he has no real idea what I look like beyond my own representation here. So needless to say, I was pretty curious how he was going to tackle this one from a marking standpoint. I should have guess though, seeing as this is an anatomy class, and he’s an expert in anatomy, that he would focus solely on that. He can tell when something is off, or needs more definition, simply through his understanding of the forms. And this is what he did, commented on what looked of, and doesn’t make sense anatomically. This has got to be one of my favorite instructor critiques for this reason. It has taught me that we don’t need to rely on the reference if we have an in depth understanding of the forms. That is where I aspire to be someday.

The face is very good here Dan. It has a bit of a Deco look to it. The hair needs work if only to fine tune the skull a bit. The neck needs some work as well. The face is the strong part. I would look at the upper lip to be darker if the light is coming from from above. Look for specifics of the forms of the features. For this I would recommend further reading into Stephen Pecks anatomy book that gives such a great education about the forms of each. The ear on yours is very good which is rare. Get the Peck book. You deserve the information as you have real ability here and should push it. X is the wide point of the head and the line from the back of the jaw is the wide part in general.The values are quite good. The lips are too pale and the upper is most likely deeper . You can make the lashes a soft tone I would look for a few highlights as they will give you an indication as to the tone of the flesh around it. The red and full part of the lips do not come all the way to the corners of the mouth. I would look for the area immediately above the eyebrows to be thicker. There is an area where a sweat band is worn that is thiner. There is a sort of bump at Z which is the frontal eminence

Grade: A-

Created for my final experimental animation assignment. This was to be the scenery for a short featuring the lion puppet I created earlier. The base is made from balsa wood, the skeleton is aluminum wire, the body is Van Aiken clay, and the foliage is from a local craft store.

My final critiques are upcoming, and I think these are the ones I need the most. I clearly had trouble with the face and skull. I will have to practice lots in the summer. I have Vilppu DVDs, and I’ve also purchased a 3B Skull off of Ebay. I would suggest you do the same if you’re looking to improve. Here’s what my instructor had to say about the ugly face:

You have shrunken the skull as you have been focused on the face. The face will not look right as the skull does not back it up. Look at the areas HL. These are the highlights. In some areas you have made these the whole area. As around the nose and cheek. Look at the highlight and then look around it to see the value that is around the HL. Look at the side of the jaw at I. This area is the square form of the massetter. muscle. It is deeper in value than you have done. The shape is right but the value is off. No amount of fixing the form will change the fact that the value is off. You need to get the values better to have the form right. It is as if the form is turned in the wrong direction.

This week was the final week for Anatomy class. It was a chance for us to show off what we have learned this semester. I think I’ve learned a lot, but there’s so much room for improvement. There were no exercises this week, just one assignment, and a tough one at that. We had to take two different full figure poses and compose them into one drawing.

I chose to work on toned paper, as the module examples used it, and I still had some left over from previous drawing classes. I was pretty excited to use toned paper again, because I really liked the result I got the first time I used it.

There’s a few errors in anatomy, but for the most part I would say it’s pretty accurate. I don’t think I could have done this three months ago, which is a testament to what I learned in the last few months. If I had to guess I would say I spent about 3-4 hours on this. I did it over the course of the day, from early morning to about four o’clock in the afternoon, as I can’t sit still for too long. I could easily spend another 2 or 3 hours on this finishing it up, but I decided to stop here.

This was done on Canson Mi-Teintes Dark Grey #345 paper with black and white charcoal. It’s about 18×24. What an amazing class! I can’t wait to learn more about anatomy and improve on my drawings.

So here’s the much anticipated self-portrait. A much better effort than the previous portraits from this week, and a much more accurate representation of me than I expected to render. This will be the first of many self portraits to come.

It’s the classic 3/4 pose and 3 point lighting setup, so I’d like to experiment with different angles and lighting. I also want to loosen up a lot and have a little more fun with the next ones. This one was ridiculously intense, and I am soooo tired now.

This was done live, as in I setup a mirror, which is what the assignment called for. This was probably one of the most daunting aspects of the assignment. It took me a while to get my pencil moving, but once I realized it was just a picture like all the other assignments I was fine. But for anyone that hasn’t done a self-portrait before, they are HARD. So I thoroughly recommend giving it a try. I can’t wait to do my next one. But for now I need a rest. I did this one over the course of day, but I would guess it took me 3 hours. 18×24, Charcoal.

Here’s today’s effort. This is the first assignment from this module, and I’ve already had three cracks at it. It is such a hard portrait to draw. This is way better than the first two, because I took the time I needed to block it in. I have no idea how long this took me, somewhere around 2 hours is a good guess. It’s pretty off model as you can see.

Portraits are something I’m going to have to put some real work into after school. Right now I just get really intimidated by them. I’ve got high hopes for the self-portrait, which is next.

This week we’re doing the head and neck. Portraits have always killed me. I can’t even block them out correctly. Clearly I need practice in this area. I was planing on doing a lot of self portraits at some point after school ends, but it looks like my first one will be for this week’s homework assignment. I’ll have it up here by Monday. Hopefully I’ll get better at figuring out the anatomy of the head and neck by then.

I shuddered when I finished this assignment tonight (left). After failing miserably three times at the first assignment, I moved onto this one in hopes that I could at least get something done today. And while I’m glad I did just that, I look forward to forgetting all about this one.

But I promised myself I would post everything I produce, no matter how bad it is. How else am I going to prove to myself that I’m getting better?

Here’s the final ecorche assignment. I’m glad we did this on a weekly basis, and not all at once. I really feel like I learned a lot this way.

Ever since I asked my instructor for more critique, I’ve not only been receiving just that, I’ve also been getting graded faster. It just goes to show you have to speak up in classes. If the instructor knows you want it more than the other students, he will devote more attention to you. You gotta be hungry.

Here’s some great instructor critique, with better results than I expected:
(For some reason Blogger is putting a GIANT space at the beginning of this part of the post…)

	See how all the complexity that you see in the ecorche of the flexors and extensors simplify into a cone shape and above that it is rectangular and below it as well. The palm is a pentagon shape and the deltoid is a 3 sided form with small downturn at the end. See at the arrows how they wedge together to give the characteristic look of the arm . If there is a trick to the arm , then this is it. Grade: A-
	See how the rhythmic dotted lines tie the forms together lyrically. It makes the forms beautiful as in art , weather it is forms or colors or tones or words or sounds, it is not the individual thing but the RHYTHMIC relationship between the things that matter so much. Grade: A-
	Look especially at the thumb here , It is really two shapes . There is the form of the knuckle on top and then the nail and the fat pad combine into one form that tilts up. there is a line around it that separates the form facing up from the form facing down. Grade: A
	At A you can see how the fingers curve back in toward the middle finger. They would eventually meet if you extend the lines. Most miss this and it is very important for the sense of elegance to the hand. Also ,everything goes toward the middle finger. It is the longest on each knuckle and the fingers curve toward it. Notice as well that the ends of the finger tips are shaved toward the middle finger. Grade: A
	The palm is a pentagon and then there is a triangle is the base for the thumb. Look for the lower arm to be a rectangular cross section . R is the ramp form that comes off of it and sits on the top of the back of the palm making it a little swelled there. Look for the pattern of the ovoid muscle on the side of the palm. It has a top plane that starts low and rolls over the top and then goes down again. The first row of knuckles is a soft diamond form with a chord running over it. The second is a raised square as is the third but much softer. There are 2 planes on the side plane The bottom of the fingers are rounded, flat and then tapered with a bump. The second digit tends to taper more than the others. Grade: A
	I would look for the pattern of the sole to continue back to the heel. I think of it like it is a little horizontal balcony on the side there that never completely goes away. The arch at A sits on top of the sole. Look at the gulleys that run behind the ankle bones and then sweep forward under the foot. See the little plane at the top at B. If you tie your shoes to tight it will hurt at the plane change at C Grade: A
	The outside ankle bones are diamond shape on the outside with a chord coming off the back of it. It is in the middle of the side profile. The inside ankle bone is flattish and has 3 planes on the bottom and it takes the front half of the inside profile of the ankle Grade: A
	Look at the bottom of the foot. At A you have the arch which is that part which will come off the ground and matches the ball shape at the top . S is the sole of the foot and it makes the foot print and it matches the platform flat shape on top. Look at the big toe to try to see that end form. Grade: A
	The one thing that I would have liked to have seen more clearly was the ball of the foot on top of the sole. It has a ridge on it that runs to the big toe. Look for the knuckles of the big toe to be squares that are raised. The big toe is very similar to the thumb and it tilts up at the end in the same way. The toes goes down. Look at the big forms to make the large value areas. In the toes I would have looked at the changes in value that describe their tilt across the toes Despite the shapes and wrinkles , knuckles often describe them selves as just deeper tones as the blood in the skin there makes it deeper and more red. Grade: A-

These critiques are great for me, and it’s important for me to post them up here, because once the semester is over, they’re gone for good. And the purpose of this blog is for me to share information, and look back on my progress. You know, to actually make sure I’m getting somewhere…

This is another example of getting lost in one area of the figure. As I was studying the muscles of the arm, that’s where I focussed almost all of my attention. Notice how the instructor didn’t comment on the triceps?

By spending too much time in one area, I lost the opportunity to even basically flesh out the major landmarks of the back.

Instructor Feedback
C is the bump on the shoulder which represents the end of the clavicle. A is the flat Acromion which is he extension of the spine of the scapula. D is the deltoid which has a down plane as well. L is the bottom of the trapezius. T is the tube shape of the spinalis. R is the bottom of the ribcage and it segways into the oblique in a u shaped curve. These forms all show up as variations in value. On your piece here you have really just a few tones. I would look at these forms and see if you can pull them out of there.

Grade: B.

18×24, Charcoal, 2 hours
This week were studying the hands and feet. I think it’s insane to clump these two extremely complex forms into one week, but what do I know?

We had a nice change of pace. Instead of doing the same half hour (or in my case one hour) sustained drawings followed by a homework assignment, we did several quick 5 minute studies of the hands and feet. I guess the idea is that we have to simplify them to basic shapes to be able to get a good likeness on the page in five minutes. This results in a better understanding of what shapes both of the forms are composed of. I was pretty excited about this one so I dove right in. I officially suck at 5 minute drawings, but I had so much fun, and I’ll be doing a lot more of this in the summer.

For the homework assignment we had to draw our own hands and feet in the same composition. As you can see I have the ugliest feet in the world (left). What a fun week for anatomy. My goal is to understand these forms (especially hands) well enough to be able to draw them accurately from memory. Then I can focus on cartoon hands.

Here’s my quick 5 minute studies:

These are so valuable to me. I guess my instructor has been getting busy, because his comments aren’t as numerous as they once were. So I asked him to give me more feedback. He suggested I read his feedback of other students work as well, which I haven’t been doing this semester, though I usually do…How did he know!?

I’ve been looking forward to the critiques on these ones.

Well there is nothing here Dan. Actually, I remember critiquing this as few students redo their work like this (and I applaud you for it.) So what I am saying is that I must have somehow erased it as I was putting in the grade. I remember saying that I could not bring up the other image along side it which I tried to do to compare them and so I just have to do it with the model. Sorry. So for here, the angles are better . Use of straights is pretty good as well. The angle of the front leg extends too far and should go down more. There are always 3 angles on the front of the thigh if you count the little down plane to the front of the pelvic box at A. At B on the rear I think that you will see that if you stick to straight lines into the smaller forms that it forces you to see the small variations and to not gloss over the details. This adds to the resonance of the image. That would be a way to push your drawing to a more finished level. If you think that you cannot see anymore then it is perhaps that the rounds are glossing over the little formats that you would see if you forced them in your mind to be flat and straight. The front of the ankle is an example as it is a big curve C. The values are much better and there is another area to push the drawing in. just as the outlines can be more particular , the values can reveal the form inside the outline with more particularity. Look at the large light from below the pectoral to below the knee. There is much more information in there but you have to be able to strike those values with some precision in order for it to work On the backs of the calves you have made these areas too light. What happens often is that you stare at the highlight and make it that. The highlight is just a variation on top of the larger value so look at that. The bent arm is too dark, so the very bright highlight may have made it look darker than it was. I would push these two areas of more particular outlines using straights and pushing the subtlety of the values.

I hate to repeat but so much of the issues with drawing comes down to angle changes and judging the angle correctly that is where you have gone off in areas here in the legs anyway. In the torso I would insist on those planes in the plane chart as they are what gives him his abdominal muscles. The legs are a bit short. I would find the halfway point. Without any perspective it will tend to be around the pubic bone but with perspective it will be slightly different. Measure. The values are better and better. Look from area to area to compare. They are not correct by themselves but only by comparison to other area. for instance look at A and see how it relates to B. I would say that B is deeper. The arm on the left side is lighter as a unit that the other and yet yours are pretty close. The foot on the right descends lower down. so compare with straight line measures

On the first assignment I received a B+, and the second a B. I’m happy with those marks. I’m already looking back on these drawings with disgust. I guess I must be getting better.