Last Drawing Before Midterm

Thursday's class was sort of an 'in-class exam'...but not really. There were new still lives set up with an assortment of objects and knick-knacks to choose to draw. I swear, my drawing teacher knows I love animal skulls. There were a bunch to choose to draw from! Of course, I chose one!

Anyways, for the two and a half hour drawing session, it was our time to put EVERYTHING that we had learned within the first half of this semester into a drawing. So using gestural, fast-moving lines, to contour and line measurement with a viewfinder and sighting stick, to determining hues of light to shadows, and enhancing all aspects of tones through a gray scale. It was great!

I have been really pushing myself to see what my hands can do with charcoal. And at first, this drawing course was really challenging: I had not remembered what to do with charcoal, but throughout the past month and a half, my hands and self have gotten really comfortable with the variety of charcoal supplies and materials. 

The above left image is a picture of the still-life I decided to draw - hence the huge skull in the middle of the picture! And the bottom right image is a picture of the drawing I did within the 2.5-hr drawing class session and maybe about another 2-hours on resolving the piece and detailing it with highlights and small additions.

And I swear, my hands are pretty much permanently engraved with charcoal dust in the fine lines of my fingertips! But I am completely okay with it! This drawing class was exactly what I needed for this semester. It is great to stand or sit there in a quiet studio, place some head phones on, and just draw what I observe. It's beyond what I NEED. This class is also enhancing my scientific observational skills. And I thought my skills were pretty efficient. My instructor has pointed out many things I am missing in the still lives he has us draw. It's been a great eye-opener to perfecting my already acquired skills. I feel my art is going to be much better, beautiful, and more detailed! I cannot wait to put this to the test this summer!

But yes, here is the mid-semester update and my last assignment before Spring Break...next week's classes before break are critique and portfolio submission. So there will be no more drawing until after the break...at least for class. Can't guarantee I won't be drawing during break...in fact, I plan to!

Enjoy.

TheChristyBel

Finished Product