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!

It's "BEAUTIFUL"

I started the 4th week of my drawing class today and I turned in my final bathroom composition for classroom critique.

Our first week in the class we had to do 3 ink-mark making compositions. I wasn't exactly sure of the expectations of the assignment and things didn't go so well for me (worst grade in the class so far). My paintings were pinned next to another painting where the artist/student went above and beyond. He actually took the time to get his work framed.

Our teacher grades us on our participation during the critiquing process and so I figured it would be wise to say at least one thing about each painting. I used the word "beautiful" to describe the work that was framed.

Last week, Doug (the artist who frames his work), talked to me during class. He told me that he told his family about me. He told them, "There is this girl in my class that says my work is beautiful. I always aim to get a beautiful critique from her." I told him that I will always give him a beautiful critique. So that same day when we critiqued our work, I gave him another beautiful rating. Some of our classmates overheard us talking about it before class and yelled that he was paying me to say that (meant to be a joke of course) ;-p

Now everyone in the class aims to get a "Beautiful" critique from me.

Today we turned in our bathroom compositions and critiqued them. I added a few more artists to my beautiful category, which made them very proud. Well guess what? My composition received a mutual "Beautiful" critique from the teacher and the class. Everyone was so shocked with my work. I thought my lost and found edges was good but this one received the best critique. I'm so proud that I actually got added to the "beautiful" rating today. I couldn't be happier.

Every one thought I captured the texture of the rug and towel PERFECTLY!!!

My professor was exceptionally pleased with how much hard work and detail was put into my work.

*Slightly different lighting for the same piece*

Bathroom Composition

I'm working on my 5th out of 7 Compositions for my drawing class. Our assignment is to compose a 19"x25" charcoal and graphite drawing of a bathroom from the point of view from the floor. My professor wants us to include at least 4 preliminary (5 minute) sketches of the bathroom so she can see where we got our final inspiration. I've been working on this assignment for the past two days and I'm still not done. Luckily it isn't due until Monday morning and I have some time to continue working on it. This is Preliminary Bathroom Sketch #3

(I've left out the first two sketches since I was just trying to figure out how much I wanted to zoom into the scene)

I was focusing on how I was going to bring in the texture of the bathroom rug.

Preliminary Bathroom Sketch #4

Our final composition will be on light grayish brown paper (not white) and so I wanted to get an idea of what it will be like adding shading and detail to my final compo with the darker background. I took the charcoal stick and rubbed it all over the paper and blended it smooth to get the gray you see. (Keep in mind that these are supposed to be 5 minute sketches)

Preliminary Bathroom Sketch #5

As I was adding the highlight and low light on my 4th sketch I noticed that the tub was shaped wrong. This 5th sketch is me correcting the shape of the tub and rug. I think it looks a little more realistic now.

After the sketches were done I decided to dig into the final composition. That paper is huge and it doesn't fit on my Masonite board very well. It's been quite a conflict since I'm drawing in a bathroom (which isn't very big) and the board alone is about as big as the area I'm drawing in. I'm making due with what I have and the assignment is coming along. I worked on the outline of my final composition all day Wednesday night.

It's really hard to see because I drew the outline very lightly and the paper is gray which doesn't help. I worked on adding the charcoal and graphite to the composition all day yesterday. I'll be sure to post a picture of the finished drawing as soon as it's done. I'm really proud with how well it's looking!!

*Funny Story*

I was scared to add the required charcoal and graphite elements to my page after I finished the outline so I decided to ask my teacher for another piece of gray paper to practice on. So in class yesterday I asked her if I could have another piece and her response, "Oh I see! Well this paper is very expensive...it's about $5 a piece. If you make a mistake you just have to deal with it. That's what being an artist is all about." My response to that, "So I can't have another sheet?" Her, "No!" It was funny you just had to be there. She's this tiny old Japanese lady with a cute accent.

Lost And Found Edges

I'm taking this drawing class over the summer that is unfortunately required for my Interior Design degree. I've never been good at drawing, nor have I ever enjoyed drawing other than some simple doodles. Luckily this class is only 6 weeks and I have 2 weeks done....only 4 more to go. I've really struggled in this class and I'm by far the worst. Most of the students in the class have been drawing for years and taken art classes in Middle School and High School. There is definitely some real talent in the class. It's hard for me not to compare my work with these real artists but I just keep trying to do my best. Luckily the teacher grades us on our individual progress. So far my favorite medium we've used in the class is charcoal. My last assignment was to do a lost and found edges drawing using charcoal and eraser. I shocked myself when I was done with this assignment. I was actually worried that the class and the teacher would think that someone else did the drawing for me. Every time we turn in a homework assignment we critique the work as a class. After the critique of the drawing we reveal who the artist was.

My critique was awesome! Everyone thought my shading was amazing and that the cup looked like they could actually pick it up and use it. I couldn't have been more proud with the results of this assignment. When I revealed myself as the artist the teacher was amazed. She told me that this drawing was truly my best work in this class so far. I just wish some of my other work would turn out this well.

August It Is

Brandon and I spoke today and I was FINALLY able to get that boy to give me an idea of when he'll come down to Houston.

"It'll have to be August," was his response!

So now I can stop stressing about an unexpected visit and start planning for a great time.