Midterm Already??

First off, here is the link to my Flickr page:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/60230915@N05/

Alright, now to the post.

I definitely can't believe how fast this semester has been going, but I don't think I'd have it any other way. It would be one thing if I didn't feel like I was learning anything, however I think this has already been one my most productive semesters so far here at Stout. I've really been enjoying Life Drawing, as well as my 3D animation and Digital Narrative classes. I even like my Sociology class, although that is mostly due to the awesome teacher, haha. I definitely have learned a ton already thus far.

Specifically in Life Drawing, I've seen my skills progress far quicker than I first anticipated. I've always been a decent drawer, but have always struggled with charcoal, making this class quite intimidating at first. However, through sheer repetition I have slowly started to gain some confidence with charcoal, and I'm even starting to enjoy using it. It really has made me focus on line weight and how that affects the subject matter of the drawings. You can really see an improvement from some of my earlier sketches (Drawings 2 and 6 on my Flickr page) where my line weight was pretty similar and thick throughout, whereas some of my more recent drawings I've been able to strengthen my variety of line (Drawings 3 and 7). I'm definitely happy with my improvements overall so far, and hope to continue this trend in the second half of the semester.

I've really started to gain a strong understanding of the human body as well. It took me a while to get the hang of looking at the entire body rather than spending time on one specific part, but I'm so glad I've been able to break that habit. Drawing becomes so much easier when I'm able to see large shapes instead of getting stuck on details, which I would normally try to do too much of. Much of this understanding has come from both the gesture drawings we've done so many of, as well as from the Manikens. By actually sculpting the muscles, I have been able to truly feel how thick muscles might be, and how the work in large groups rather than separately. I definitely can't wait to see the Manikens when they're finished!

Finally, looking forward to the rest of the semester, I hope to mainly just get even more comfortable with charcoal and the human form. It might seem like those are pretty obvious skills to gain from Life Drawing, but I really have been benefitting in other classes because of how much my drawing have been improving. I definitely want to do more of the longer poses, because I have been really happy with those have been turning out for me recently, but the gestures definitely keep the mind working at a very rapid and exciting pace. Overall, I'm just pumped to keep drawing and keep improving!