For my self-portrait I tried to experiment with a facial expression that is not typical. This forced me to pay closer attention to proportions and the shifting of forms from the relaxed pose. I added the drawing of my face to the right to show the shape mapping in a generalized way.

This is an example of what I'd consider to be one of my gestures that best met the teacher's objective to focus on the true axis direction of the form rather than simply the outlines.

Final manikin project in full frontal view. The project involved paying a lot of detailed attention to layering of muscles in real space where proportions must be correct in order to proper build the whole form.

View of the back of the final manikin model

This is the final rendition of the manikin project depicting all of the muscles

This drawing is part of an observation session focused on drawing the human skull.

This is an observational drawing of a skull that was on display during class.

This is an observational drawing of hands made during class as we switched off between having classmates model and draw each other's hands

This is an older drawing that combines some of the observations of the skull with the life pose of the figure

This is a close up of the all session drawing of Lindsay described below

This drawing was done for an all class session right before Thanksgiving break. I was surprised by how many times I re-drew the crossed legs, but I feel that I had plenty of time to double check proportions.

Summing up what I feel I've learned and improved upon during the semester, I think that I have learned to not rely so much on the use of outlines in drawing and be more aware of secondary contours. I have also become more aware of noticing how dramatic the curves of the body can be, especially the spine. I think that earlier in the semester I would assume that certain lines or shapes of the body were straighter or more generalized than they really are. I distinctly remember noticing how dramatic the curve of the spine is in a lot of basic poses. I realized just how much life it adds to a drawing if I make sure to dramatize those line.

I also learned how line variation is really helpful in gesture drawings. Using unique and dynamic line quality during gestures really helps to make the sketches energetic, rather than plain and flat looking. Looking back at a lot of my first gestures, I realize how basic I was being when using line and how little I used line variation to create emphasis. I feel that by continuously practicing the gesture drawings I am able to evaluate the true direction and shape of the body parts, rather than just trying to lay down the primary outlines. I feel that doing this has helped me to make less mistakes with proportion. This has also helped me to generally draw faster.

The manikin exercise has helped me to be more considerate of the internal muscle structure and how it effects the outer muscle structure. I feel that I was already well acquainted with the outer muscle structure, but not so much with the foundational lay out of the inner muscles. Being aware of that helps me to know how the muscles will logically behave in different positions. I feel that being aware of the inner muscle structure also allows me to have a better understanding of how to make drawings more lively, since by knowing what the muscles are shaped like I can be aware of how the skin will bulge or be depressed in certain areas. I'm also more aware of how the overlapping of muscles makes sense when I observe them creating shapes on the body of a model. Knowing the under-structure makes drawing the muscle bulges or boney regions on a live model more intuitive since I have a better understanding of the mechanics of the muscles.

This is the backside of the revision I made on my manikin depicting the muscular structure. I have removed the outer muscle structure and began to work on the deeper structure.

This is a revision of my previous work on the manikin. I have stripped off the clay from before and remade the individual muscles that lie underneath the outer muscles I made earlier.

This is a gesture drawing that I feel does a fair job at capturing the quick and basic lines of the body structure. As with the other gestures, this one was done in 30 seconds.

This is a gesture drawing of a suspended upright skeleton drawn during class during roughly a 30 second time frame.

These are examples of gesture drawings from class that are done rapidly at about 30 seconds each.

This is my colored sketch of my final idea for my Painting II class assignment of a landscape. I want to have the right side be a photo-real rendering of a tree stump and as the painting moves to the left I want to increase the amount of dramatic mark making and color use. An artist by the name of Eric Aho inspired me to try this technique in what will be the majority of the painting apart from the stump on the right side.

These are sketches from my Painting II sketchbook with added Guash coloring. They are early ideas for our new landscape assignment that needs to be uniquely different from the typical landscape where there is the basic rendering of the sky, background, and foreground.

This drawing is of a model who posed for us during class. I feel that finished the main subject matter, but I did not finish the details on the stick that he is holding.