Scale Figure Drawing Exercise

One day for a drawing exercise we did scale figures.  All the students were put into groups and each group took turns either sketching or posing for the sketches.  Each group rotated around the room so that everyone had the chance to draw and be drawn.  It was a fun activity to see the different drawings and how different people have many techniques with their drawings.  There was also a kind of mini critique afterwards.  We all posted our drawings on the wall around the room.  There was then a list of numbers and categories put on the chalkboard.  We all were to walk around the room and observe everyones drawings and then write in a number for which category we thought whichever picture deserved.  Some of the categories were most surreal, most crazy, most maximal and most minimal to name a few.  We then had a peer critique lesson, in which students were to go around the room and take down the drawing that they didn't really care for and explain why.  I have to say that was a tough exercise to do, because none of us want to be overly critical, because we ourselves are still learning.  It was a fun exercise to do the drawings that day. The drawing at the top was one of the girls from class I drew, I chose her pose because it was representive of a more human figure, I tried to maintain that in my drawing be keeping the shoulders rounded and trying to get the shape of the legs right.  I felt doing and kind of loose sketching would make it look better that trying to be too detail oriented because we were timed on each drawing.   The bottom drawing I decided to try sketching two people in such a short time.  Anna and Randi made good subjects, because they didn't move around too much.

Obersvational sketches

During this fall semester I have learned alot of varieties of drawing techniques and shading.  This has definitely helped me develop my drawing abilities, because before this year I didn't really have much experience with drawing and sketching.  I have to say I have been surprised with myself so far.

For this observational sketch, we were drawing types of food.  Holly my fellow classmate had made these delicious chocolate cupcakes with white icing and green sprinkles.  Before consuming such a yummy treat, I sketched it, to add a sense of scale to the drawing I positioned my boot in the picture.  No worries though, I was very careful not to get any dirt on my cupcake.

With this sketch, we were to do self portraits and sketches of ourselves, so I played around with shading and was trying too hard to focus in the mirror, overall I did ok, I can see where I could use improvement in drawing features, because they are so complex.  I felt my sketch was stronger without doing and actual face outline and angling my head differently.

This sketch was just something for fun, I had just been introduced with charcoal and drawing with it.  So I did this tape dispenser.  I tried to capture the lighter parts where the light hit and tried to go darker with tones in the more shaded areas.  I feel overall pretty good about this sketch, considering I was just doing this for fun.  After I had done this sketch I actually learned about tonal drawing and how to capture the dark and light tones in a drawing to help create a more 3-D effect

 This is actually apart of choosing a two pages from another classmate that we find interesting.  I chose Paige, because I have observed throughout the semester she is a really good drawer.  She pays attention to detail and shading.  From this picture you can tell she picks all kinds of subjects to draw in a variety of ways.  I found this drawing fascinating, because of the composition.  When you first glance at it, you are not quite sure what you are seeing but you eyes are drawn all around the page by the repetitive lines, the diagonals within the drawing and just the shapes.  The second drawing is just very interesting because it is a very animated picture with exaggerated features that keep the viewers eye.  her use of shading and definition are very good and she payed alot of attention to details.

Critique Day 4

Being first year students, we are so new to everything.  critiques especially for me are one of those things.  Throughout the semester I learned all about what a critique was about and how it was conducted.  For finals all Iarc students go through a critique rather than a written exam like most students.  We are able to present what we have been working on and get constructive criticism as well as praise that will help us along with the learning process.  On Monday, December 16th, all of us first year students got the opportunity to attend critiques for 2nd, 3rd, and 4th year critiques.  I found this fascinating, because I love to see new things and get new ideas and draw inspiration from things I find remarkable or unique.  I was in the group assigned to attend the 2nd year students critiques held in the gallery floor of the Gatewood Building.  I found all of the students projects very interesting and to hear how their creative processes were used into achieving what they had created.  The assignment the students had was a list of lots of words, words that most of them admitted to not knowing.  Which I find interesting, because it is always fun to learn something new especially if it can tie in with creativity and expression.  The students studied the human body and how its connections worked and functioned.  They also talked of folding lots of paper in many different shapes and types of folding.  This exercise was to help expand the students idea of folds, going beyond the basic and thinking of different types (for example crumpling paper).  Eventually they were able to see beyond the folds of the paper and see shapes and figures and look beyond the obvious.  This process helped them with their projects, which were creating a place.  These places were both outdoor as well as indoor models.  One student, Abigail, explained her model, which was an interactive outdoor area.  The model was a tube-like structure made up of triangles.  The triangles were cut from sturdy type of cardboard.  She cut the pieces with a laser cutter, something new to the school that makes very precise cuts on many types of materials.  Abigail then sewed her triangles together with a sturdy type of white thread, in between each triangle was a type of chocolate brown fabric,  in which was used the help the model collapse or be pushed in different shapes.  Abigail made this small scale model to represent an idea of an even larger model.  Something interactive and fun for both adults as well as children.  The Tube structure was very origami-esque, with all kinds of interesting bends.  There were openings on both ends as well as octagonal or hexagonal holes throughout in between joints which helped with function as well as created an interesting light effect on the inside.  I found Abigail's project to be very geometric themed and geared to  something fun for the community to enjoy as well as admire from afar.  I enjoyed the whole critique experience of seeing the different models, new materials students were able to use due to the new laser cutter.  I definitely got alot of good ideas and some helpful tips from different upper level Iarc students.  I also went to check out the 3rd year critique area with large size posters displaying layouts for hospitals, night lounges as well as apartment building designs.  I observed the creativity of the students, who used computer programs to create these design layouts with all different types of color, materials and even furniture ideas.  I think it was a great idea for the 1st year students to be able to see the other critiques, because we can see what we have to look forward to in the coming years, as well as get ideas and compare how our critiques are to theirs including attire.

Successful Leaf

Doing the leaf sketches was a fun experience.  It helped me pay more attention to small details of the subjects I was drawing.  I never realized how many details there are in things we find in nature.  I took this leaf and did the outline first, then did most of the small details I could observe.  My next step was to start on the shading process.  Overall I was pleased with most of my leaf sketches.

Day 2 Luminaire Critiques

Today the luminaire critique was pretty impressive overall.  Some of my favorite works were Christina's luminaire.  It was almost like a cocoon attached to the wall, emiting a very warm light.  The luminaire was constructed with wide strips of textured white paper.  The texture gave a little something extra to the light source itself.  The light projected through the slips of the paper was astonishing.  Christina was able to bend the light the was projected outward and the directions were all around the luminaire itself.  I could definitely vision this light as a sort of sconce in either a nice restaurant or a home space wanting a soft warm light.  The Luminaire was held up on the wall by a piece of balsam wood, which she covered with the same white textured paper.  The bulb itself was concealed just right so it looked like it was a warm light being emitted from the center of the structure.  I feel this piece was very well executed in achieving her inspiration.  The inspiration was a sunrise.

Inspirational light artists

As I was doing research on different light artists I came across the website of Alejandro and Moira Sina.

Electricity, glass and luminous gases are part of the palette they use to create ethereal kinetic works with light and color, exploring art and technology interaction. Their body of work includes the following forms:

• Indoor and outdoor installations
• Large scale suspended clusters
• Kinetic Lightworks
• Interactive Lightworks

I find their works very inspiring. Soap bubble

I Love Love Love anything by Olafur Eliasson, he is a genius and very inspirational. Here are some of his works:

Luminaire Inspiration Light Artist

For our luminaire project each student was given a number.  Each number represents a light artist.  My number was representing James Turrell a famous artist whose specialty is light and space.  This photo was taken in Arizona.  He acquired this land out in Arizona, because of the Roden crater which he found inspiring.  I myself love the american southwest with its beautiful sunsets and the different colors that can be found in the region.  I love this photo, because it captures so much, it's such a peaceful and warm photo.

Parti (Inspiration Board) For Stick Project

For my Parti board I looked for inspiration through magazine ads and editorials.  My inspirations were transcending from darkness to lightness.  I looked for scenes of nature, and anything related to it.  It turned out to be very useful when working on my stick project.

Wood Project

The process of making my wood project.

The process of making my wood project was very much jigsaw puzzlesque.  By sanding down the original pieces and fitting them together in a grid-like form to create one giant structure.

Light Inspiration Board

This was the photograph I originally took as the inspiration for my light board.

Starting the process I went through many ideas of how to create my board, many trials and errors.

Using a glue gun and acrylic paints as well as popsicle sticks I created my light board.

This was the final product of my hard work.  Taking the popsicle sticks I cut the ends off and painted them to look like window blinds.  Then using cotton I created a 3-D effect making my blinds look realistic and project from the board.  I then used a plastic water bottle to do my abstract model of the original glass mosaic container.  Cutting the plastic bottle to create a vortex like appearance that the light gives off within the original photo.  I also painted it with warm colors that were found within the photo.

Stick project

When starting the stick project the class was given instructions for creating a place/container for 12 sticks.  The sticks could be of any variety as long as there were 12.  Each stick could be no longer than 18'' in length.  The materials we could use to create this place for the sticks could be made up of paper, and one fastener.  That day I went out to observe different sticks in nature to see where I could draw my inspiration from and find some sticks I connected with.  I came back to the studio with two hand fulls of many different varieties of sticks ranging from birch, to willow, etc.  Many different sizes from twigs to thicker, longer sticks.  I also went to the local art supplies store and started looking at different types of tissue paper, I knew I wanted to do paper mache as my container for the sticks.  I evenutally came across a very unique paper that caught my eye.  It was a dark smoky paper with pressed dryed leaves made in with the tissue paper.  I thought "wow this paper is amazing, it is very nature oriented, and mysterious."  Later that night I went home and made myself a workspace to start with the paper mache process.  I took a plastic coke bottle, sawed off the top and made my paper mache concoction of flour, salt, water, and some baking soda.  Mixing it all together till it became a thick paste form.  I then dipped strips of newspaper that I cut up forming them around the bottle.  when the base of the paper mache was finished drying I then took the tissue paper and covered the newspaper form with it.  I also created giant loops around the top and braided tissue paper coming from the bottom of the container.  I wanted the project to have a very woodsy smoky almost campfire look to it.  So I took the smaller twigs and burnt the ends of them to give the wood a charring effect.  I then had sticks sticking out both sides of the container.  This would give the container a way to be propped up to give a floating appearance. 

For the project we were instructed to do a Parti, which is a term derived from the french meaning "to make a decision" often referred to as The Big Idea.  The parti is thought to be the chief organizing thought or decision behind an architect's design presented in the form of a basic diagram and/or a simple statement.  For my parti, I did a collage of different magazine cutouts I found to give me inspiration for my project.  I found many things that were very eyecatching, I loved the idea of a dark forest full of mystical things, almost like the Grimm's fairytales.  I also had elements of dark to light, as well as fire, carvings, woods, textures, and colors.

After the first critique, I realized I had way too many ideas going on with my container.  So I went back to simplify my project and concentrate more on this campfire feel it had.  I then removed all the ringlets and braids. I also purchased some bright orange india ink to paint the inside and edges of the newpaper that was showing  to give an inferno-like appearance.  The overall projection was to give the idea that some kind of powerful heat source was building inside the object and the sticks were jutting out the sides to help fuel this energy inside.  I also took a knife and carved some of the sticks to give a chipped effect like firewood that had been gathered from the forest.  My end product went well, but looking back at it, I feel that I should have used a different object rather than the original plastic bottle.  If I had it to do over again I would have used a much larger circular object like a balloon to create the base from paper mache  to give an almost explosive effect.

Leaf Project

When starting the leaf project, our first project of the semester, we were brought the challenge of making a place for a leaf.  Using any kind of leaf that we found interesting we were to create this place using only a 12.5X12.5 in. sheet of white paper and no fasteners.  Thinking of all the possibilities I could do with this paper I had many ideas to work with.  My first thought was to manipulate the paper creatively so that the paper was very abstract and related to the leaf in some way.  My first attempt was cutting the paper into long thin strips and braiding the strips of paper leaving 1/4 of the paper all connected to a solid piece.  I then took the solid end and folded it inward to create a circle with the braided ends sticking up in the air.  I then bent every other braid down into the bottom circular piece.  creating a "nest" for the leaf and bending the other piece above and around the leaf.  After realizing it was too much going on and that it didn't relate completely to the leaf, I needed to go back in and simplify, yet perfect what I had done.  My second attempt I used a thicker stronger piece of watercolor paper.  I then cut the long strips completely separating them.  I then decided to do a basket weave with the strips creating a box with loose straight ends putting the leaf in the middle.  The problem with the box is that it was too large of a space for the leaf, for my leaf was rather small and starting to curl a little at the edges due to drying.  So I needed to scale down my box so that there wasn't so much negative space around the leaf, making the leaf the main focus.  I then deconstructed the box and used only a portion of it and using the loose ends to weave and construct an almost basket-like form for the leaf.  My project was wide at the bottom and then became smaller at the top of the ring-like structure.  I then took the ring and manipulated it in a curved manor to represent the leaf's curvature.  I took the leaf from its stem and fastened in in the top thin part of the structure so that the body of the leaf curved with the paper structure in a fluid motion.  The ending product had texture due to the paper as well as the folds from the weaving.  Some of the holes within the weaving of the paper also help represent some of the holes in the leaf.  The finished product stood very well in its effort to be a place for my leaf that helped relate and represent the leaf as well.

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Where do I find inspiration?

I would say I get inspiration from many different resources and places.  From traveling to a new place, to hearing a song, or reading an article.