Learning Art

I am working on the structure of the human anatomy. Our teacher wants us to feel
the structure through gestures and get the proportions correct. We have just
finished working on the Human skull, have worked with the whole figure, and now
we are moving on towards the hands and feet. The fine detail, of course, can not
be captured exactly as is, but the objective of our assignment is to make the
figure appear as human like as possible. I have a technique that has made me
improve my work. I draw as if I have never seen what I am drawing and I have to
present the work I do before a queen or someone of a high rank. It also helps to
get total determination before you start your assignment to think you will do
well. Be clam and relaxed to a point where you are comfy yet still alert for
your work. Your drawings should have a guesture that is almost equivalent to the
movement of your subject that you are drawing. I found out the easiest materials
to work with are the most simple. Instead of newsprint paper, which is more
soft, and harder to work with, I use sketch paper. The sketch paper is more
rugged. I use a pencil instead of charcoal. The pencil gives you the advantage
to get a more fine point as well to make your lines lighter if necessary. It is
also easier to erase. In class, we usually either have a model to draw, or work
with each other’s figure. I feel it is better to work with our classmates
rather than the model because we have gotten use to each others appearance’s
which makes it easier to draw. For our homework this week, we are assigned to
draw the foot three or four times on the same sheet of paper, life size. I feel
that my class and myself has an easier time doing the hands and feet than the
human skull because if you slightly are incorrect on your drawing it doesn’t
make the drawing unrecognizable. With the face, you can be off in the slightest
of ways and everything else will be thrown out of proportion. It is a well
concentrated assignment. Before I came to Montserrat I had no experience
whatsoever in drawing, so when I started in on this, it was a real challenge. I
felt that I have been able to keep up and have learned more quicker than I
thought I would. I adapted fast to what she was teaching to our class, and I
must say I am proud of myself for that. The only experience I have had was art
class in junior high, and even then it wasn’t drawing the human figure, it was
more like painting and ceramics. The previous summer, my grandfather who is an
artist, brushed me up on some work that he knew I would be doing that has also
helped. I have still a lot to learn, but I am patient about it.