Q1 Art Portfolio - Figure Drawing

            What you're looking at is something I've been waiting to do here at SLA. Making a mess, being covered in pastel, and just plain ‘old messing everything and anything up. Figure drawing isn’t easy. You have to get the right proportions and stop and step back to look at your work. It gets tedious but the out come of your drawing is worth it. I got into this assignment with out even being in Ms. Hull’s Advanced Art class. As a freshman, I would walk by and just stare at all of the upper classmen draw and think: “Wow, I’m going to sign up for this class one day!” And now, finally, I got to draw this and well, my process wasn’t as easy as I thought. I feel as if I did well because I like what I drew and so does the model. My favorite things about this work is that I had this mental mind set from Ms. Hull, my art teacher, gave us from day one: “Make a MESS. I want you to mess up and treat your artwork like it’s not precious. Don’t be afraid to mess up and rip your pages!” With that, I blocked every one out and got down and dirty in the pastel. Little did I know pastel is really hard to get out?

            My favorite tool to use is my hand because pastel is messy and can add a lot to your drawing if you know how to use it. SMUDGE EVERYTHING TOGETHER! And I just like getting dirty with my projects in art. That is always the best part of this assignment! Wondering my favorite materials? My favorite material to use was this teal color pastel in the mesh of pastel container.

            I bet you’re still wondering what I meant when I said that I thought my piece came out pretty nice and the model liked it. Well, I meant that if I liked it and the model that was staring at me draw it likes it then that’s all that matters. Oh, and I hope Ms. Hull and Emma like it too. I spent like three classes on my drawing so I am very proud of it. Everything from the texture, the light, and everything in between. For the texture, I shaded and made deep lines. For light, I focused her light and thought that it was coming from behind her. For color, I used a variety of colors and pastel pieces.

            Now in every reflection or after you hand in, there is always that feeling you get when you’re like: “UGH, I could have done that differently!” and man did I have those feelings! The first one was with my model’s hand. It’s all misshapen and not clear. Also, I would change the proportions of how I drew my model. When I work with pastel, I am reminded that it looks best when smudged.

             For my process, I started off with a six foot long brown paper and then I picked a lot of colors like blue, green, yellow, and tan to outline and draw out things at different times. I started off with a lot of blobs. Every time I went over my lines of my model, I would use a different color and go over it. I stared off with the head, then moved onto the shoulders, and then took a step back and drew her arms. I got stuck when I was drawing her hands but I didn’t want to spend too much time on that so I moved on to the waist and her slanted legs. I chose to leave out the models arms and just work with the details on her body.