Drawing from observation skills

We've done a lot of drawing from observation in the past few weeks, and we've needed a variety of skills to complete each artwork. Some overall skills that each of us needed were listening to directions carefully and paying attention in class, working hard and thoroughly on each piece, being able to stand up while drawing for the hour to 2 hours while working, being patient and not judging your art until its complete, and overall staying focused. Other skills we need (art related), are being able to draw with the right spacing/sizing fo objects, adding texture and shading (depending on light) to our picture, and really making the setting look realistic. The hardest thing in the process of our drawings, was getting to the "screaming point," where we would notice something that was completely off about the picture. However, we would use our skills we earned in previous classes and this class, to fix our picture and rearrange objects to correct our mistake.

Collaborate Drawing

I think the assignment we had today, was very fun but also frusterating at times. It was hard to fix other peoples drawings, if they had a lot of work to be done. I felt bad about changing other peoples work, since it's not my own. However, I got used to it and it got much easier as time went on. Also, looking back on my picture after people fixed it, it didn't look much different, so I wasn't exactly sure about what I should work on next time.

-The way I dealt with each drawing I approached was by looking at it, and seeing what main things needed to be corrected on it first. Then, I would try to add to it if only a few small details needed to be added or taken away, or I would simply erase it, and draw it again.
-It was pretty good to go back to my drawing at the end, because there were a few things that were changed, that made it look better. I realized I didn't add the water bottle at first, so someone did that for me. After, I had to finish shading, and overall cleaning the drawing up.

Overall, I thought it was a good assignment that was a lot of fun!

Pre-Assessement

After drawing both, from observation and imagination today, I noticed I was much more confident with drawing from observation. It felt much more natural to me, because I had the actual object/objects in front of me, so I knew exactly what I needed to draw and where each object went. Although it's hard to get the sizing and placing exactly right, it's much easier for me to see what I need to draw, and draw it. It takes much more effort, in my opinion, to draw from imagination.

Final Reflection

I think I reached my three goals for the most part. I got better at drawing from imagination in the last project, because I had to creat a picture without having anything to examine first. I also have been trying to use a lot more imagination in my artwork, as well as drawing from memory. I learned so much this term in art, from the principles of art, learned how to use wire to create wire sculptures, and learned how to use different shapes, color, and sizes in my art.

It took awhile to get into the value drawing, but in the end I think mine came out much better than I thought. I tried to use as many principles of design as i could, including repetition, approximate symmetry, and more. The most successful part was using different shades of gray and texture.


BYYEEE ART CLASSSS.....SMGTS!! :) KCYAA ALL SOOOOONNNNNNNN!

Nighthawks- Art History #1

Nighthawks!

The picture "Nighthawks" by Edward Hopper takes place at a cafe called "Phillies" on the corner of a street. The setting looks dark, but acts as if its the morning at a cafe, and the street is quiet. There's a building on the other side of the street behind the cafe. At the cafe, there's a man and a women sitting next to each other. The man is wearing a black suit and a black and white hat. The women is to the right of him and has red hair and a red dress on. They both have mugs near them, most likely filled with coffee. Inside the bar, bending over a little bit right in front of the man and women is an old guy wearing a white jacket, looking like hes about to serve the couple. Behind him there are two coffee makers. Lastly, a few seats down from the man and women is another man sitting alone wearing a black jacket and a grey hat. On his side of the counter, there are 6 empty seats. The town looks very quiet and lonely.

The painting feels very serene and quiet. It seems like everyone in the picture is deep in thought, and peaceful. The town around them is dead, and no one is walking around or outside at all. I think the painting is showing how small towns can get very quiet and relaxed in a short period of time, and that not every town is packed with people crowding the streets. The painting isn't full of much activity and the colors the artist used are very sad and gloomy. I can't tell if its the morning, and its still a little bit dark, or if its night time. Either way, the painting has a sad feeling to it.

The artist uses a lot of "balance" in his artwork. Balance is when something can be symmetrical, asymmetrical, radial, or approximately symmetrical. The painting uses all of those in certain areas, and it also includes a variety of shapes and colors that add to the picture. Edward Hopper uses more of an asymmetrical balance because the whole picture itself isn't symmetrical. However, the buildings or the windows and other things are symmetrical and approximately symmetrical. He did a good job having a well "balanced" picture.

Blog Post #4-Story Collage Critique

After reading the comments from my classmates, I got some positive and some negative critiques. However, mostly everyone just wrote about the shapes I used and how they could easily tell what my story was. Ben had said that I should have done a better job connecting the the basket and the court, which was a good point because I did a poor job doing that. Other people said they liked the shapes and colors I used, how I showed the basketball in motion, and how the girl was cut out. Unfortunately, there was only one negative critique so I didn't really get a feel of what i could have done better. Because believe me, I have a lot of room for improvement on mine. More advice, would have been helpful but I appreciate what my classmates wrote.

Carly Furr

p.s. I also thought the critique on how my basketballs looked like hot crossed buns was very very helpful. Thanks Mr. Brooks! hahah kbye.

Blog Post #3-Shape Collage Reflection

Hi Art class :)

So I wrote my entire blog last night, but as I pressed publish post it all got deleted. So here goes number two. After completing the most recent project, I learned a lot about how shapes can tell stories and really add to a picture. The story i chose was about how i got the game winning shot in a basketball game, with a second left. Although my picture doesn't show this, the game was a playoff game. I used shapes like circles, squares, triangles, and many other organic, geometric, and anthropormorphic figures. I had my shoes to represent an organic shape and the backboard (rectangle) to show a geometric shape. Lastly, to show an anthropormorphic shape, I used a circle as a face. In my picture, I used a variety of small and large shapes. I used a small circle as my eye, but a big circle as the basketball. Different shape sizes add to the picture. Lastly, I think I made my story pretty clear, but i could have shown how it was a playoff game to get into the championships.

Carly Furr

Wire Sculpture Reflection

In my opinion, the wire sculpture project has been the hardest, most stressful, and time-managing project we've had. It took a lot of hard work and patients to complete the wire sculpture, as well as trying to make it have the same features as ourselves. The most challenging part of the project was starting it. I had no clue as to where to start, but once I got past the outline of the face, it got easier. The most successful part of my wire sculpture was the nose because although it was hard to make the nostrils, I completed it the best I could. Before starting our project we had to draw portraits of our faces, as well as our eyes, nose, ears, lips, and more. I think in some ways drawing before made it easier to do the wire sculpture because we had better sense of how to sculpt the features, and it helped determine the size of things. However, in some ways I think I could have also done the sculpture without drawing before. The most important thing I learned about using lines is that I need to be careful about spacing in between lines and try to make them the right size. Overall, although the project was difficult, I got a lot out of it and mine came out better than I expected. As a class we all worked very hard and used our three hours wisely, and I think our hard work paid off in some great wire sculptures! :)

Carly Furr

Week 1-3 Relection

Goals:

• To try to use my imagination more to create art, instead of only drawing from observing.
• To pay more attention to details while I create art.
  
• To get better at drawing from memory.

So far this art class has been full of fun activities and projects. I enjoyed the project where we had to go on "a trip", and had to draw a carrying item that would fit all of our stuff. Also, I really enjoyed the activity where Mr. Brooks kept adding and taking away items on the table, as we had to continue drawing them. As frustrating as the project was, it was actually really fun and I learned a lot from the experience. Some challenges so far in this class are that, sometimes i try to make my art perfect, so it takes up a lot of time and comes out worse than expected. I liked how we did a lot of activities to get to know each other too, but i felt as if we spent too much time with it. Otherwise this class has been so much fun, and I'm looking forward to a great rest of the semester! :)