Week Eleven: Hands

This week we worked on the hands. Monday, we began drawing right away and completed several gesture drawings, once again, focusing on drawing the entire form in only a short segment. I am getting a lot better at this task. In almost every one of my gestures I was able to draw the whole body. Its getting a lot easier to complete the form in only 30 seconds or so.
Wednesday we had a lecture on the bones of the hands. We were also assigned the muscles of the hand to complete on our manikins by Friday. On Wednesday, we had several different drawing stations set up around the room. In one area, our model posed her hands for students to draw, in two other areas, skeletal hands were staged on black sheets for students to also draw. We were instructed complete both an hour drawing of the model's hand, and an hour drawing of the skeletal hand. I decided to draw the skeleton's hand on Wednesday.

On Friday I drew from the model's hand. It was helpful because we had two models that day so I had good hand positions to choose from. It was difficult at first to draw the hand.  I think this is because it is such a small area with so much detail; it's easy to get lost. However, as I continued to draw it came easier to me. I did two different poses. To the left are pictures of my skeletal drawing and the drawing of the model's hand.

Week Ten: Muscles of the Arm Continued

This week we continued to work on the muscles of the arm. On Monday we began the class with gesture drawings. Amy did a short demo on drawing the entire figure in only 30 seconds. A lot of the class (including me) was struggling with this concept so Amy did a front view and side view example of what our gesture drawings should look like. It was nice to be reminded of what was important in a good gesture drawing. Amy reminded us that adding more motion to our arms would give our drawings a lot more energy. She also reminded us that getting the proportions and placements correct was not as important as completing the whole figure in the allowed time.
On Monday, besides gestures and long poses, we also were assigned more muscles in the arm to build on our manikin. Then on Wednesday we drew gestures for the first half of class, and drew a long pose for the second half. While students were drawing, Amy went around and checked everyone's manikins to make sure they were done correctly. There were only a couple minor problems with mine that I fixed pretty easily. On Wednesday were assigned more muscles since we didn't have class on Friday due to Mid Program Review. It was 8 muscles that began in the hand and extended into the arm. After completing my muscles this is what my manikin looks like:

Week Nine: Muscles of the Arm

This week we continued to work on the muscles of the back and the clavicle. However, we also added the muscles that make up the armpit, along with a couple muscles on the arm. During Monday's class we took a break from drawing and worked with clay the whole class period. These were the muscles that made up the back and clavicles. I enjoyed working with the clay. It always helps me understand the way the muscles are positioned and what their purpose is.
Wednesday we drew the entire two hours of class. We started by doing several gesture poses, putting everything we've learned so far together. I mentioned in my last post that drawing all the things we've learned was a little difficult for me to do in 30 seconds. However, this week it was a lot easier. I was able to include all everything in almost every one of my drawings.
After completing many 30 second, 1 minute, 2 minute, and 3 minute gesture drawings, we then continued to do an hour long drawing. The drawing below is my finished drawing. I was pretty pleased with how mine turned out. We were told to include the muscles that made up the armpit. The view at which I drew my drawing, gave me a very good idea of exactly what those muscles were doing. I was able to see them clearly enough to include them in my drawing.