1. Figure Drawing
I really enjoyed the class time where we would have live models to draw from. We can draw from photographs and other forms of replicated images, but there is nothing like drawing from life itself, where we have all the light, shadow, edges and textures of the subject right in front of us. The process included examining the subject from our perceived eye – all of their angles, proportions, human subtleties – and then transferring that onto the paper in front of us, which involved a lot of scrutiny, close observing and back-and-forth transitioning. Something I love about figure drawing from a real-life subject is that we practice the art of close observation. I don’t like the idea of everything being so fast-paced and full of constant movement where we forget to just stop sometimes, be still, and enjoy what is around us. I like how it allows for us to see people in all their raw humanness, as well as celebrate the human form in all its variation and beauty.
Step-by-step of Photoshop/Montage
1. While drawing the apple, I studied the streaks of yellow and red on the skin, and the sheen from the light.
1. When painting the hand, I looked for the different shades and tones of my skin. There are red/pink undertones, there are green veins, there are streaks of dark shadow, and I tried to capture all of that in this simplistic watercolor.
When creating my photo montage, I took one of the background images provided and put a photo effect on it to transform it into a deeper, blood red to suit one of my favorite colors.
I added a few images (including a moth, a female-anatomical painting by Louise Bourgeois, and a black and white manga illustration by Junji Ito), all elements that pertain to my interests and who I am as a person. I used the opacity tool to blend the images in with the background, and added an effect ontop so that the images flowed together in a smoother composition. The end product looks like this, and while I believe I could have added more to it, I am satisfied with the dark color palette and the tools I used to obtain the transparencies and deep shades.
