Taking Life-drawing over the last couple months has taught me many things. I have learned the importance of understanding the human shape and form, I have learned to combine what I know and what I see to complete drawings, and most importantly I have learned how to accurately draw the human body.
As the semester came to an end I began to see changes in my drawings. In the beginning of the class I had a hard time drawing only what we told to draw. I always wanted to get ahead of myself and just draw the whole form. However, as the semester continued, I learned to draw a lot slower and only focus on what we were learning at the time. I think my biggest weakness when drawing was the speed. I drew way too fast at the start of the class, but then I really tried hard to slow down and get all the proportions and placements accurate. I think my biggest strength when drawing is my delicate style and precision. A lot of my drawings look very clean and meticulous. My style of drawing definitely developed throughout the semester as we began to draw to my complicated forms.
Using the manikin definitely helped when trying to draw the human body. Spending hours forming each of the muscles in the body forced me to remember how those muscles look, act, and work with each other. Therefore, when I was drawing in class I would draw a part of the body and quickly remember where those muscles where on my manikin. This helped me to give my drawings dimension and form where it needed it.
I think what I will use the most from this class was the act of looking and understanding. Not only were we told to draw what we see, but we were also taught what goes on underneath the body. Knowing that helped me understand how to draw the forms every better.
