My Grades

This is more for my records than anything else but I wanted to share my grades from my drawing class!

• Mark Making with India Ink: 3 Compositions - 75
• Toby Topek Panorama Extra Credit Paper - +10 pts.
• Open Drawer and Contents Contour Drawing (pencil) - 80
• Shape and Volume Study: White Still Life in charcoal - 88
• Chiaroscuro :Pear and Tennis Ball (graphite) - 85
• Lost and Found Edges: Pots and Pans (charcoal and eraser) - 95
• Bathroom from P.O.V. of Floor (charcoal and graphite) - 100
• Still Life Composition: Happy Snowman (acrylic paint) - 95
• Composite Drawing (conte crayon) - 83
• Self-Expressed Through Objects (conte crayon) - 88
• Chapter Presentation: Chapter 15 The Portrait - 98
• Italy Project with class - 95
• Museum Report Paper - 90
• Skeleton Drawing (pencil and graphite) - 80
• Hat Construction for Self-Portrait - 90
• Psychological Self-Portrait (Mixed Media/Graphite and Conte Crayon) - 93
• Sketchbook - Unknown grade :-( Probably a high "B"
• Class Participation in Critiques - Unknown grade :-( Probably a high "A"
• Zero Absences and Zero Tardies - Extra Points :-)

Final Grade: A

"A" is for Awesome

The Grades have been posted and I'm delighted to share that all my hard work and dedication paid off in my drawing class.

I got an "A"

"There is no charge for awesomeness or attractiveness!"

Whoop Whoop!!

It's Over and I Conquered

Today was the last day of my drawing class at college.

6 weeks ago when this class started I thought there was no possible way that I could get through this course. The class was full of amazing artists and I....well....am not a great artist! The class was required for my degree and so I couldn't just drop it like I wanted to. All six weeks of this course have been very demanding of my time and I had to drop my hours at work drastically so I could get my assignments done on time. Plus, I've spent roughly $295.18 on the art supplies alone. Tackle on the cost of the book and the class tuition and you get about $547.93!!

Ouch!! Man I'm broke now!!

I spent an average of 4+ hours on each assignment. The earlier assignments were closer to 4 while my more recent assignments took about 12! I have done nothing but DRAW for the past 6 weeks....literally.

I was very excited to end this class because I could definitely take a break from drawing....for the rest of my life (which would be awesome but very unlikely).

However, as excited as I was to conquer this course, I was very sad to say good bye to the majority of my classmates. They've all been a blast to work with and I couldn't have asked for a better group of people. I don't think I have ever, EVER been surrounded by so many people (in a class room setting) that I was so comfortable with. I had a blast talking with these people and I feel like we all became one happy family.

Doug, Mr. Beautiful, (I've talked about him in previous posts...framed his work), bought this doughnut especially for me. He handed it to me and told me that I was a delight to have in the class and that the sparkles reminded him of my glowing and happy personality. The majority of the class agreed with Doug in telling me that the class wouldn't have been the same without me and that I brought a certain charm to the classes environment. ;-)

Our final project of the semester was to draw a Psychological Self-Portrait. The requirements were for us to construct a wearable hat that reflected our personalities and to wear it in our portrait. We could use any media (graphite, charcoal, conte crayon, ink etc.) that was introduced to us during the semester but the required size of the portrait was to be either 18"x48" or 24"x36".

Here's the Kitty Hat that I made for my portrait. I ended up getting a 90 on my hat construction. She took off some points since I used a real hat as my base. Apparently she wanted us to be more creative and construct the actual hat. Either way I'm proud of my cute, furry hat.

This was my first attempt at self portraiture. It was really late at night and I was really tired but I felt I needed the practice before I started the real thing. I was leaning on my hand which I chose not to draw. I also forgot my eraser and didn't feel like going to the other room to get it...so some of my features look a little odd.

This was my second attempt at self portraiture. I decided to add the hat (drawn by memory cause I was too lazy to run up the stairs to get it) and I think my features got a little better from the first sketch. There's not much of a likeness and I was really beginning to freak out over this assignment. I've NEVER been good at drawing people.

Here is the beginning of my outline for the final project. I was relieved that I was able to make my facial features a little more like they really are. I think it is a better likeness than the two preliminary sketches.

It's hard to see but this is more of the outline including my shoulders and upper torso.

*Drum Roll*

Are you ready to see the final and finished drawing?

Tah Dah!!!

My Psychological Self-Portriat

19"x50"

Graphite and Conte Crayon

Completed 7/11/2010

Total hours: 11-12

Here's a close up of the face!

I couldn't be happier with this assignment. It came out looking exactly the way I had pictured it in my mind. The class loved it and I received my last "Beautiful" critique on it. The teacher gave me a 93 on this drawing which I think is pretty impressive.

Overall I'm excited to be done with this class and I'm extremely proud of all the hard work I put into it and I think it will be all worth while in the end. However, I will miss my classmates very much!!

Self-Expressed Through Objects

My most recent homework assignment for my drawing class was a

"Self-Expressed Through Objects"

drawing using Conte Crayons.

Conte Crayons are nothing like Crayola/Wax crayons, in fact they are more like chalk. They were different than anything I have ever colored with before in my life and they usually only come in packs of black, white, gray and some neutrals. I was wishing that I could use Crayola instead.

As always I was scared to death that this assignment wouldn't come out looking right. I spent all of my 4th of July weekend working on this drawing. I believe I started working on it last Sunday (July 4th) at 11:00 am and I didn't stop working until 9:30 pm (only taking a 30 minute lunch and a 30 minute dinner break that whole day).

I was able to finish drawing and coloring all of my objects but the background was void of any excitement. Too tired to deal with the dang thing any longer I went to bed. Monday morning I woke up and decided to do something with the background. Being extremely lazy I only shaded the back of the page with the side of one of the crayons. I was very happy with the final composition of the page...after all I wanted the objects to be the focus of the page and not the wood grain of the table they were standing on.

The class loved it and it received a "Beautiful" critique! I was so proud to raise my hand and reveal myself as the artist. Everyone said that my drawing put a smile on their faces. Even the teacher seemed to really like it. I was really hoping....and kinda expecting to get another "A" on this drawing. The teacher graded them and gave them back to us on Thursday. I was so excited to turn it over and see that beautiful "A".

Nope

I got an 88!! WTF? She said that my objects were flat and lifeless but the piece managed to make people smile. She suggested that I put more in the background like a picture frame or something in the distance. I was so pissed because I thought this was one of my better drawings. She gave a 100 to a guy that didn't put anything in the background...WTF??? I was robbed of a much deserved "A"!!!! Oh well.....at least I'm happy with my drawing and that's all that matters.

Whoop Whoop!!

I have been working my butt off in this drawing class that I'm taking this summer.

My professor told the class on the first day that most of us would get a "C" in the class and that she only gave an "A" to the truly exceptional students.

I received a 75 on my first homework assignment for the class and I was thinking, "She wasn't kidding when she said most of us would get a "C" in this class!"

After that I decided that I was really going to have to work hard to pass this class. To my surprise, I've been doing an outstanding job. My three assignments given after that first one received an 80, 88, and 85!!

I was super stoked to get some "B's" in this kick butt drawing class.

I have done two pieces of work this semester (My lost and found edges piece and the bathroom composition) that have gotten great critiques from the teacher and the class. I was crossing my fingers and just hoping that I would get at least a 90 on one of them. To my great astonishment, I received a 95 on my lost and found edges assignment and.....get this......a

100

on my bathroom composition!!

Outstanding!!!

I hope I can keep up on this "A" streak. I don't think I will but I don't think I'll get anything less than an 80 from this point on.

Whoop Whoop!