The Background

I finished this illustration for homework today. First I had to draw these two nude, then I added clothes (below) and finally I had to draw a background for them. I don't recommend this technique; next time I would more or less draw the whole thing at the same time, figuring out shadows and composition beforehand. But I'm happy with it despite all that.

A Week in Workshops

Every week I attend a number of drawing workshops as well as my regular classes. Here are some select drawings from the workshops as well as my homework assignments from last week.




My homework for "Drawing from Imagination" class. This week I need to design and draw a background for them.

Clothed Figure Workshop

Head and Hands Workshop

Figure Drawing Workshop

Clothed Figure Workshop

Special Peter Pan themed Sat. Workshop

Self portrait assignment for my Figurative Concepts class.

There is also a Monday night figure quick studies workshop but those 2 minute figures are still too awful for me to post. I'll be real happy when those are decent enough to show people.

March 31, 1952

Inspired by a character from, "The Book Thief". Something I did to keep myself busy between homework assignments.



Some anatomy practice. Mostly from imagination, I used a bit of reference if I got stuck.

Special Guest, Rebecca Greenberg

This week we have a special guest, Rebecca Greenberg, a dear friend and talented artist. Rebecca adores small children (and some medium sized children), loves dinner parties and can't wait to move back to San Francisco. We met earlier this week and wandered through Golden Gate Park where she got these wonderful shots.

My Sunday

Homework for my Figurative Concepts class.

In Class Work

These are some life drawings from various workshops. I think they were all 20 minute poses except for the portrait below.




This is our first week of portraits in my figure class. Believe it or not this took six hours. They should only take about 3 hours or less but this was the first time so it was learning process.

3 pt Robots

Robots done in 3pt. perspective for a homework assignment.

Patroclus

My most recent homework assignment was to find a painting that portrayed anatomy done by one of the old masters and to draw the figure in charcoal.



I chose this oil painting by Jacques Louis David.

Define Anger

Just for fun after a long day of homework and greasy quesadillas.






Update : This is a bit messy but I wanted to see if I could make this work with a darker palette.　　I think the image is a bit messy looking but it's definitely got a creepier feel.

Two Point Perspective

The idea for this week's drawing came from a radio show called "This American Life". It was a true story about a few boys who found a house that had been abandoned for 40 or more years. All the belongings had been left behind, it seemed that some horrible tragedy had befallen the entire family.



I decided to imagine the kitchen, this was the view I decided to draw.




I built a grid and constructed the kitchen.


The teacher told me I should put the light behind the camera, so I could learn how to plot to shadows, otherwise I might have had the window and the only light in the room.





The finished product. I learned a lot from a bunch of little mistakes I made on the way. It's very bright for what is supposed to be a creepy scene, but I'll figure it all out one of these days. It really was a lot of fun to draw. The original story can be heard on This American Life (here) .

SF Photos

I've only taken a few photos since I've moved, I figure it's more important to carry a sketchbook around than a camera these days. But here are a few I've taken over the last couple weeks.

One Point Perspective

This was my first big homework assignment. I had to draw an outdoor scene in perfect one point perspective with special attention to scale. Above are the rough thumbnails that I drew while brainstorming. I liked the idea of a Venetian Chinatown. The circles on the right side are lanterns though I didn't include them in the final version because they blocked too much of the building detail which was the assignment.


After drawing lots of perspective grids I found one that worked for my image and slowly constructed my scene from imagination and bits of reference.

Using various geometric principles I then placed a sun in the scene and calculated the shadows.


I finished the painting with color, which wasn't necessary for the project but I wanted to see how it would turn out. Also, the instructor said something that stuck in my mind, "The only reason to not do your best is because you're afraid to see what you're capable of. If you don't know what you're capable of you won't know how far to push yourself." With a few more hours I could make it a tiny bit better, but this is more or less what I'm capable of at this stage. I get a new assignment tomorrow.

The Edge of the Woods

An unfinished drawing/ painting. I hope to finish this someday but I've go so many drawing assignments from school that I don't see myself finishing it anytime soon. A wrote a little story to accompany it as well.

DNA girl

Just for fun, a girl.

Figure Drawing

Today was my first figure drawing class/ workshop at the Academy of Art. It was a lot of fun and I can't wait to get back and draw more. I thought this would be a good time to post seeing as it's my first class of the year, hopefully the quality goes nowhere but up from here.

Into the city

Friday night sketch

On my mind today

For Tomoko, who gave me the idea, a flutterwasp.



Yes, strange indeed.

Merry Christmas

Chinese scooter of the future. Merry Xmas everyone, hope everyone got what they wanted, or at least was able to give someone something they needed.

Roma and Ruins

Pictures from Rome, our final stop. The city felt a little touristy but the ruins were fantastic.

The Colosseum. Truly amazing

The scale was incredible. You can see a few spectators on the walkway.

Palace Ruins

The inside of the Pantheon

The Roman Forum

Our last stop, Vatican City. Inside St. Peter's Basilica

Trevi Fountain, and my mother looking a little lost puppy.