Last summer, I took an 8 week painting class. Looking back at my archives, I'm surprised that I didn't upload any of my work to this blog ... actually ... no, I'm not surprised. None of the work was blog worthy. It was basically an 8 week course that for some art programs would take several classes to explain the concepts. And this was a beginner class! Only now that I know more do I understand they jam-packed several classes into one beginner class. I should clarify that it was a digital painting class, however most of the techniques can be used for traditional work and come from the traditional painting world.
I never fully finished the two final projects and I kept telling myself that I would go back and finish them. The week 6 and week 8 projects could have each been a final project that could have been worked on over 2-3 weeks. For 5 weeks we learned how to paint from reference, we learned how to paint the human body, learned how to paint light and dark values while painting statues, and we studied painting from the old masters. Week 6 ... I can't remember the actual assignment, but I created a painting of a mix of two characters. I didn't fully finish that because I find it hard executing my own ideas. Some of the times I end up being too ambitious. Week 7 we had to research and present a mood board for our week 8 project. In that project, we had to redesign and paint a mythical creature. I managed to present something, but I knew it wasn't finished and I wasn't happy with it.
A whole year has passed and I didn't even realize that I never revisited and finished those projects like I said I would. This summer, I took an 8 week Dynamic sketching class. I've wanted to take this class for years! The first couple of years, I didn't have the money or time. Then when I did have the money, the class always sold out very quickly, but I also still didn't have the confidence. I think with the help of the painting class I took last year, I was able to gain the confidence to take this class. The class taught us about gesturing, forms, and getting the essence of the subject down quickly. It also taught us about hatching and add values using just pen and grayscale makers.
The final project for this class was spread over two weeks. However, my teacher was going to be unavailable the last week, so it was cut short. A lot of people didn't submit their last assignment because they thought they would have Saturday to work on it. Assignments were usually due 5am Sunday morning (different times for different timezones). On top of that, when I got my feedback from week 7, the instructor said he wanted me to continue exploring more. So I could have finished my assignment on time, but I spent the two days I had left (Review was on Monday, Q&A was Tuesday, and assignment was due 5am Friday morning, so basically Thursday night) doing more studies of birds. My project was a redesign of a jetpack for commercial use. The jetpack was meant to be used by everyday people for short term travel and not futuristic astronauts for space travel. The technology for the jetpack was rooted in what is possible now or the next 5 years. it was based on fast birds or drones.
I recently watched the new Spider-man movie. In the move the villain, Vulture (played by Michael Keaton), had a jetpack that looked basically like what I had in mind when I thought about designing a jetpack. If I had spent more time drawing thumbnails and iterating on my design, my wings would have looked just like that ones they created. I was trying to decide between a jet engine or drone propellers. I was going to draw both versions, but again didn't have the motivation to, since the class was over. I'm also glad I finished my version before buying the movie or I would have never finished my project.
This fall I am taking two drawing classes: Dynamic Sketching 2 and Analytical Figure Drawing. I'm trying to keep my momentum up. I know I need to draw every day or at least weekly if I want to continue to get better. However, I don't have art focused friends around me to talk to about art or to help motivate me, so I just end up not doing it. I am always everyone else's cheerleader and motivational coach, but I have no one that does that for me. If I take classes, I have weekly goals that will make me draw, also because I spent my hard earned money to pay for the class.
Wish me luck!
I never fully finished the two final projects and I kept telling myself that I would go back and finish them. The week 6 and week 8 projects could have each been a final project that could have been worked on over 2-3 weeks. For 5 weeks we learned how to paint from reference, we learned how to paint the human body, learned how to paint light and dark values while painting statues, and we studied painting from the old masters. Week 6 ... I can't remember the actual assignment, but I created a painting of a mix of two characters. I didn't fully finish that because I find it hard executing my own ideas. Some of the times I end up being too ambitious. Week 7 we had to research and present a mood board for our week 8 project. In that project, we had to redesign and paint a mythical creature. I managed to present something, but I knew it wasn't finished and I wasn't happy with it.
A whole year has passed and I didn't even realize that I never revisited and finished those projects like I said I would. This summer, I took an 8 week Dynamic sketching class. I've wanted to take this class for years! The first couple of years, I didn't have the money or time. Then when I did have the money, the class always sold out very quickly, but I also still didn't have the confidence. I think with the help of the painting class I took last year, I was able to gain the confidence to take this class. The class taught us about gesturing, forms, and getting the essence of the subject down quickly. It also taught us about hatching and add values using just pen and grayscale makers.
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| Different types of hatching techniques |
I was kind of pissed at the fact that I wasn't able to finish the project on time, because I could have. I almost didn't finish the project up after the class finished. The reason why having finished work submitted matters, is because under your profile, all the work you've done for all your classes are visible to everyone in the school. At the end of each term, the school selects the best work and presents it in the showcase for that semester. They also use it to show future students what is possible if they take these classes. I would like to know I am always presenting my best work when I submit assignments for a class. Since the class was over, I didn't have a burning desire to finish the project. It was an assignment for a class that was done. The only reason why I finished the project is because I didn't want to have another year go by and I look back at another project that was not completed. I'm also learning about the whole "done is better than perfect" or "finished, not perfect" mantra. Being able to say something done is better than working on it for months, or not working on it for months, because you want to make it perfect.Not sure how I feel bout it but calling it done. It's a commercial jetpack for short term travel. Project for a class; based on hummingbird pic.twitter.com/dGiI4uowrt— Enchanteddroppings (@enchanteddropp) September 24, 2017
I recently watched the new Spider-man movie. In the move the villain, Vulture (played by Michael Keaton), had a jetpack that looked basically like what I had in mind when I thought about designing a jetpack. If I had spent more time drawing thumbnails and iterating on my design, my wings would have looked just like that ones they created. I was trying to decide between a jet engine or drone propellers. I was going to draw both versions, but again didn't have the motivation to, since the class was over. I'm also glad I finished my version before buying the movie or I would have never finished my project.
This fall I am taking two drawing classes: Dynamic Sketching 2 and Analytical Figure Drawing. I'm trying to keep my momentum up. I know I need to draw every day or at least weekly if I want to continue to get better. However, I don't have art focused friends around me to talk to about art or to help motivate me, so I just end up not doing it. I am always everyone else's cheerleader and motivational coach, but I have no one that does that for me. If I take classes, I have weekly goals that will make me draw, also because I spent my hard earned money to pay for the class.
Wish me luck!
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