Mid-Semester: The Reflection

Woah, so I actually used my own work in the title graphic this week! Things are definitely a changing! Speaking of which, Change is going to be the theme of this week's post.

Before anything though:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/49562926@N08/sets/72157626066606805/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/49562926@N08/sets/72157626191919406/


Now I won't bother what nearly everyone and their dog is probably saying, "Wow the Semester went by fast". I feel I've heard that so much and so many times I'm not going to use that phrase even if it is true. Things go quickly when you're busy, and enjoying what you're doing. Things drag on when you're stuck in specific classes doing things that you'd rather not do.

While my life drawing class was definitely one if not the most enjoyable class I've had this semester, I'd hardly say the semester went by too fast. I'd say this pace has been pretty decent. I kind of wish we had more time to draw in class, and less time to learn about anatomy.

I'm not saying these things aren't important, and the way our professor explains them is exemplary, but I feel like the best learning is done when you get down and dirty and work on the drawings themselves. I think the best method to learn in Life Drawing or Human Figure drawing is to just draw something, be told what's wrong, and draw it again. Rinse and repeat as many times as needed until you get something right. That is why my lack of interest in the manakins is exemplified.

I can hardly fault the class for trying to cover all the relevant materials though, especially when there are other avenues open for drawing. If there's one thing I've felt throughout the semester, its that you can never draw enough. Practice makes perfect, and practice needs to be increased 10 fold for me.

I do feel I've gotten better, and the knowledge I've gained is going to be very useful, but I feel like I just need a class that requires me to spend time drawing and some professor that constantly checks what I'm doing wrong and tells me to fix it, or tells me HOW to fix it. One teacher for around 20 students can only do so much.

Another interesting thing is that unlike in my other classes, there is no real expert student in this class. Everyone is learning as they go, so a lot of the times, you can't ask someone for help, because honestly, they may be doing it totally wrong too.

A lot of this class is about learning and feeling your way through and getting the drawing down correctly. I feel like I just need to do stuff outside of class and learn more. Its the same with anything, you've got to devote that extra time to get good at anything.

I do feel I've learned quite a bit though, and if anything, my drawing is virtues above what I learned at first. I don't know if progress is considered, but I think there's been some fairly noticeable progress for my figure drawings. At first I don't even remember being able to draw figures, so this is a huge step up for me. Another big thing that I've gotten slightly better at is foreshortening. I'm no expert obviously, but I've gotten loads better than before.

To be more specific, I feel like in my "second long drawing", you can  really see how it looks in perspective, and how the figure gets better as it gets closer to you. Consciously drawing that is quite difficult,  and well, I can say that trying to make that look semi-right is definitely helping my drawing.

A big part of why my foreshortening and drawing in general is getting better is because one thing kinda echoes in my head: "Don't draw straight lines". This concept, which has been taught to us, is golden. The more everything is at an angle, the more dynamic everything looks.

With all that "looking back" at stuff, I think its worth thinking about the future. I think what I want out of the second half of this is simply more time and practice drawing, as well as the current tips we've been getting to draw. I personally don't want to do the manakin as much, even if it is neccecary. I feel like I'm more motivaated to draw and learn from crtique, trial, error and using my instincts.

Here's to an awesome second semester!