Shoulder

The majority of my time last week was spent learning about the shoulders.  At first glance they appear to be relatively simple but upon further investigation I found the bones and muscles to be very complex.  It’s interesting how the clavicle and scapula work together to support and attach the arm.  I find the human body impressive when I think about all the components working together to create a simple movement.  The idea of being able to move is often taken for granted.  If you take time to think about the components like bones, muscles, and tendons that work together you soon notice that the human body is an impressive machine.

The clavicle is often referred to as the collarbone and serves as a support beam between the scapula and the sternum.  It’s an interesting bone because it lies horizontally.  It makes up part of the shoulder and is often visible because it creates a bulge under the skin.  It’s arrangement keeps the upper limb away from the thorax and this allows the arm to have a wide range of movement.  It also allows the scapula to move freely and transmit physical impacts from the upper limb to the axial skeleton.

The scapula is commonly referred to as the shoulder blade, and connects the upper arm to the clavicle.  This bone is relatively flat and roughly triangular in shape.  The scapula is an important bone that allows upper limb movement and stability.  This bone is sturdy and well protected by muscles so it is rarely broken.  It serves as a broad plate and helps with the anchoring of muscles of the upper body.

These bones are the foundation to my manikin’s clay muscles.   Aside from drawing and learning the function of the scapula and clavicle, a lot of my time was spent creating clay muscles.  It’s interesting to see how all the muscles are beginning to overlap each other.  Some of the muscles in the back are almost like sheets that overlap muscles that I constructed earlier in the semester.

Feet

 My main focus last week was learning how to draw feet.  Like most aspects of the human form, it’s vastly important to learn about the bones within a feature prior to your first attempt of drawing it.  I found it interesting that the bones in a foot are very similar to those in the hand.  It makes sense, but I just figured since the physical appearance is different the bones must also be different.  The main difference between the hand and the foot is the length of the metatarsal and phalangeal bones.  Prior to learning the basic components of the feet, I didn’t know how to draw a foot without it appearing like Fred Flintstone’s. The main reasons why my feet didn’t appear real was that my toes always looked like tubes and I didn’t understand how to create the proper arch within a foot.

One of the challenges I have when drawing feet is achieving a three-dimensional heel.  During one of my drawings, I noticed that the heel looked flat.  I then created the back portion of the heel and leg to give it a more three dimensional appearance.  My drawing appeared somewhat geometric, but it was a good learning experience for me to discover the proper perspective of the front, back, and side of the foot and calf. 
My goal for the rest of the semester is to work on creating contour lines.  This way of drawing is challenging and evolves a lot of erasing and reworking.  One of the areas where I’m struggling with contours lines is on the ankle.  I’m having some issues with creating a realistic anklebone that doesn’t appear as if a round golf ball is under the skin.  I find the anklebone to be irregular in shape and thus a challenge to draw.   Overall, I’m begging to understand how to draw feet, but need to work on creating contour lines around the ankle.

Midterm

Midterm Photos: http://www.flickr.com/photos/60133912@N06/sets/ 

It’s officially midterm, and that means it’s time for me to reflect upon the semester.  Life drawing has been a good learning experience; I have experienced both successes and failures.  I’ve noticed a great deal of improvement in my drawing skills and understanding of the human body.  I’m now able to see the curvature of the spine, shape of the rib cage, and placement of the hips in a matter of seconds (Drawing 1).  Prior to this semester, I had very little understanding on how to draw the human body.  This was because I didn’t understanding the basic curvature and shapes that exist throughout the body.  This visualization skill has been the foundation to my learning experience.  Learning and understanding these principles has allowed me to create longer drawings that accurately portray the proportions of a human (Drawing 8).  Aside from my successes, I have also experience several challenges.  I’ve noticed that when I begin a longer drawing, it’s sometimes hard for me to create an accurate perspective.  I have also had some difficultly creating foreshortening within my drawings.  It’s a skill that I’m beginning to understand, but still find very difficult (Drawing 9).  I attended an open life drawing session recently, and found the outside drawing time to be beneficial to my learning experience.  It was nice to be able to work at my own pace and move around the room until I got a good view of the model.  I foresee myself attending these in the near future.

As I look forward to the second half of the semester there are still some things that I want to learn.  I look forward to learning how to draw hands, feet, and the face.  I typical leave these out of my drawings because I don’t feel as though I have the knowledge to accurately depict them.  I believe class lectures and building the manikin will help me develop a better understanding of these features.  Overall I have learned a lot this semester and look forward to what the future has to offer.

This past week, I experienced some struggles and frustration during a hour-long gesture drawing.  I had a strange angle on the model, and with a full classroom space for relocation wasn’t possible.  At the half way mark of my drawing, I decided that it would be beneficial for me to start over.  So I proceeded to erase my entire drawing.  I didn’t want to start on a fresh page because I still wanted to see my pervious mistakes.  I was having some problems with the perspective and foreshortening.  Sometimes being frustrated and trying to figure something out is a good learning experience. Toward the end of my drawing I began to make some progress, but class came to an end.  I would have been able to develop a nice drawing if I had more time to fix my mistakes.  I’m going to try to attend the open life drawing session this week to get some more practice and some longer drawings.  After thinking about my mistakes, I now believe it went into the drawing way to controlled and worried about getting everything perfect.  I should have done some short gesture drawings to get a better idea the models angles.  I also think that I was working to small.  In a way, I sabotaged myself before the drawing even began.  I now know to loosen up, work large, and not be afraid to make mistakes.

Andrea Mantegna: The Lamentation over the Dead Christ 

EXAMPLE OF GOOD FORESHORTENING 

 Its hard for me to believe, but its already midterm time.  I need to start putting together my life drawing portfolio. This is another reason why I need to attend an open drawing session.  For my midterm portfolio I need 10 gesture drawings from a variety to time lengths.  I also need to photography my manikin from different perspectives. This will all be photographed and uploaded to my blog with a written reflection. 

Pelvis

This was a strange week; mostly due to the Wisconsin rally that was based on preserving the rights of public employees.  As an art education major, I attended the rally, and was proud to stand up for what I believe in, however the downside was it conflicted with my class period.  The time that I did have in class was spent learning how to draw the pelvic region.  When I begin to draw the pelvis, I start with a curved triangle shape that begins at the lower portion of the spine.  This shape represents the sacrum and coccyx.  Once I have an accurate depiction of the sacrum and coccyx, I then add the hips.  The hips and the pelvic region create a sort of butterfly shape.  This concept sounds relatively simple but I do find it somewhat tricky.  Depending on how the model is positioned the hips can change drastically.  If the models pelvis is angled, it’s hard for me to see the placement of the hips, so I then work on seeing through the body and imagining where the hips should be placed.  It’s also sometimes hard to judge how much space to leave between the pelvis and the ribs.  I noticed that some of my gesture drawings looked like Parmigianino’s Madonna with the Long Neck.

It has been an interesting learning process this semester.  Focusing on one component of the human form each week has been beneficial to my learning experience of the human figure.  This prevents me from becoming overwhelmed with trying to draw the entire body all at once.  I’m beginning to realize that I knew very little about the human form prior to this class.  The most helpful element I’ve learned thus far is the ability to take the human body and break it into simple shapes.  These simple shapes are helping me build a foundation to work from. 

Ribs and Such

This past week I spent most of my time studying the rib cage and how it aligns with the spine.  When I begin a drawing, the first mark that I make on the page is the shape of the spine.  Once I have an accurate depiction of the spinal curvature, I then draw the ribs and torso.  During gesture drawings I use an egg like shape to capture the volume of the ribs. The top of the egg is where the neck starts and the wider lower portion is beginning of the hips. This shape allows for an accurate depiction of the human form. When I started using this technique it was somewhat strange to me. I would often try and add in the shape of the shoulders, but I learned that the shoulders are something that you add at a later time.

The rib cage surrounds the chest and allows the lungs to expand during breathing.  Ribs serve to protect the heart, lungs and other internal organs  A typical human has 24 total ribs with 12 being on each side.  The first seven are connected to the vertebral column, and are called true ribs. The next three pairs of bones are referred to as false ribs. These bones are slightly shorter then the true ribs and are connected to the spine in back. The last two sets of bones are called floating ribs. Floating ribs are smaller than both the true ribs and the false ribs.

Through the continual practice of gesture drawing, I’m becoming more comfortable with my drawing skills and developing a deeper understanding of the human form.  Aside from drawing, I also have been spending time constructing clay muscles on my manikin.  This has been challenging because the muscle structure of a human is very complex.  Creating these muscles are helping me learn accurate human proportions. 

Vertebral Column

This past week I spent a lot of time focusing on the spinal section of the human body. During class I spent a considerate amount of time drawing the shape of the spine. These were short gesture drawings that were no longer then a minute.  We also did some longer drawings, but still only focused on the shape of the spine.  One component of gesture drawings that I need to work on is economy, otherwise known as the deletion of all unnecessary parts.  I’ve learned that the spine is unique and far more complex then I previous believed.  In a typical standing position the spine is far from straight, but rather a rolling s-shaped curve. The shape of the spine is crucial for an accurate depiction of a human body.  It is the starting point for all life drawings because it leads the rest of the body.  The vertebral column is typically made up of 34 vertebras that are held together by connective tissue.  These separate components allow movement and flexibility.  The spinal cord consists of four main curves. The cervical is the first curve and this occurs the neck region. The second curve is known as the thoracic and this follows the rib cage. The third curve is the lumbar and this is located in the lower proportion of the back.  The last main curve is called the sacrum, and this occurs in lowest portion of the back.  Besides learning about the vertebral column, I also spent some time learning about connective tissue.  The first kind of connective tissue is tendons and these attach muscles to bones. These work in a way that allows or continues motion. The other kind of connective tissue is ligaments and this is bone-to-bone attachment that limits motion.  Overall the human spine is vastly complex and unique in the way that it allows movement.