Crazy Friday Update

Hi everyone! This week turned out to be extra crazy. I did manage to draw and paint a little bit. My goal was to draw 6 to 10 muscle figures to catch up on the last week on Analytical Figure drawing which I've missed.

I managed to draw 2 figures, 6 thumbnail paint studies and started working my way through the 1out of 4 Scott Robertson DVDs. The Robertson stuff is perspective drills (cubes, cylinders and perspective grids), so I'm not going to show them this time.

I'll try to draw 4 more figures next week. That should give me some sense of closure.

I'm trying to simplify my thumbnails where the final image looks like an abstract construct with impressionist colors, but when shrunk, it should feel like a photograph. It's getting there. Controlling values, temperature and saturation all at once is quite hard, but should allow me to makes some cool work when I get the process down.

End of Spring Quarter 2013

Spring quarter is over. Made some solid improvements across the board.

Learned a lot in Michael Hampton's anatomy drawing class and Derek Kosol helped me figure out some of the bigger problems I had with design and painting. Found out what I need to improve, so I will dedicate the next quarter to perspective, value and painting. I'm also taking the next Michael Hampton class.

Here are the 2 portfolio pieces for my Principle of Design Process class with Derek Kosol. I used a piece from week 1 and week 6 to show my overall progression.

I made some more improvements to the demon at the end of week 8. My painting is still slow, but at least it's beginning to make more sense now.

Weeks 6 and 7 of 2013 CGMA Spring Quarter

The more I learn and the further into the quarter I progress, the more unsatisfied I become with my drawings.

But I did learn to stop criticizing my art while I'm working on it. That was a huge breakthrough for me. I finally freed up huge amounts of energy which I now use for work and creativity, rather than personal drama and self-bashing.


Now I spend my days patting myself on the back when I sit down and work, and spend the rest of my time trying to find fault with any and all of my completed projects.

So far, this new approach has been bringing good results. Yeah, I'm a bit too complicated and quite an asshole. I know.

Derek Kosol explained to me, and I finally understood, why it's important to keep values close together in a painting - it's to keep the underlying compositional value framework intact. Woot!

I also learned that the most important thing in anatomical drawings is to memorize and understand the points where each muscle inserts into the skeleton. Once that part is handled, a relaxed muscle can be rendered as a surface with minimal curvature (flat), while a flexed muscle can be rendered as a blob (sphere).

Michael Hampton (my analytical figure drawing instructor) is brilliant: his artwork and his teaching method are equally amazing.

So that's my batch of good news for this update :)

Here's some new stuff for my CGMA classes:

Halfway Through 2013 Spring Quarter

Hi everyone. Sorry I went AWOL for a while. I'm still recovering from the winter quarter and my spring classes are kicking my butt. But no worries - I'm watching lectures and doing my homework between those pesky blackout spells :)

On a related note, one of my pieces from last quarter's Life Drawing class took 3rd place in a local Art Show in the Figure Drawing category. So, woot!

Here's some of the stuff I've been working on since my last update. Nowhere near stellar, but at least I'm keeping up, more or less. This is homework from the last couple of weeks.

Drawing those figures is painfully slow. I watch Michael sketch his examples and get inspired to do 5 or 10 per session. A few hours later I'm lucky to end up with 2. And now I'm cringing as I'm waiting for Derek's critique of my color "weapon" designs.

I'm whining again. I'm shutting up. Enjoy the pics.

CGMA Principles of Design Process Stuff

I'm taking Principles of Design Process at CGMA with Derek Kosol. This is my 3rd class with Derek. He ended up subbing Perspective Fundamentals and Digital Painting when I was taking those.

After 3 quarters studying with Derek, I was fortunate to have him pinpoint and fix some serious design issues I've been having. My flaws have been affecting my work for years. Now I'm making designs I never dreamed I could generate and produce.

Derek is awesome!

And on a personal note, Derek's Principles of Design Process class is constantly overlooked by students, which is a bummer. I have to say, it's the most important class I took after Peter Han's Dynamic Sketching 1&2 ( VisCom) and Perspective Fundamentals.

Before I get all opinionated, here are a few images of designs I did for Derek's class.

More Analytical Figure Drawing Week 3 Stuff

It's that time of the week when I wrap up everything I managed to do for the AFD class and start my Principles of Design assignment. Here's the second part of this week's homework for Michael Hampton:

Analytical Figure Drawing Doodles

Studying analytical figure drawing with Michael Hampton. It's an amazing class! For years, I've been studying design of the human form using Bridgman and then Michael Hampton when his "Figure Drawing Design And Invention" book came out. And now I'm learning directly from Michael.

The only thing that sucks is that our live Q&As are broadcast when I'm at work :( I end up watching recordings, so I guess it's not too bad.

But enough words, here are some pictures for week 3.