Final Life Drawing

Just a cropped image of my final drawing for Life drawing. I am quite proud of it and I am really happy to be done with classes. I think I am ready for a well deserved brake.

Rembrandt

Rembrandt did a lot of self portraits. I am not quite as vaine as him so I am not quite as well practiced. This is one I did for my life drawing class just tonight. The scanner kind of washed it out so I will probably resubmit this to my blog at the end of this week. It looks like I kind of turned my head a little while I was drawing. Either that or my face does look that funny (that was an invite to make comments on my blog, so do it there and not in email.) I also only did this in 20 minutes so I should think that I could do better with more time.

Life drawing my own extremities

I drew my own hands and feet for this assignment. The ten minute drawings are obviously more hastily done but I feel they turned out better.

A progression in Life Drawing

This assignment shows a progression in drawing. The assignment was to show 2 drawings in three of four steps and one of course shows all four steps to making a complete drawing. I limited my self to 15- 20 minutes for each drawing which meant I was allowed 5 minutes per drawing per step. Thus I think they look a little rougher than I could have other wise have made them.

Life drawing 15 and 30 minute drawings.

These are done using Virtual pose. It's a really helpful tool to have.

Color Theory Transparent colors

I, like most anyone else could have guessed what happens if you place one color transparency over another. I didn't realize before that the color that comes out is determind by which color you place on top. So have a look at this assignment. The label is telling which color is on top.

Demo Reel 2009 #2

I reworked my scene for my demo reel. I haven't had a chance to rerender the liche yet but the building I made longer so it didn't feel quite as zoomy. I also added a little atmosphere to make it a little bigger feeling. I am getting there slowly. I imagine in years to come I will be doing things that will just blow this stuff away. I hope so anyway.

Color Theory fun: the flip side

Here is another fun Color theory assignment. This one the colors in the center should look like they are the same though they are really different. I did well at this assignment I feel but lets see what you think.

Subscribe to this blog

So, your already following this blog and many of you get emails updating you on what the blog is doing. So what's the next step in dedication to my blog (or what's the next thing I'm going to demand of you.) Well now I have something new. It's called an RSS feed. RSS means Really Simple Syndication (maybe not but it works for me.) It's a form of publication that allows someone to get updates in their personal news source. You just click on the Icon found on the right side of the blog. Look at the image to the left and above to see where to find it. It will take you to a page that looks like the second image. Under "Subscribe Now " in the upper left hand corner. Just click on the news source you use and it will take you to a set up for your news source. I use iGoogle and I find it very helpful. Anyway thanks for supporting my blog. I hope you will subscribe to my syndication.

The Skull

the profile of the skull I had fun with Conte. Conte is a crayon for adults. The hard part is it doesn't have a sharp tip. As far as I know the only way to sharpen it on a piece of sand paper. So by the end of working on this drawing I was ready to do something else.

Color theory fun

Look at the colors at the center of each blotch are they the same or different. Color theory is fun for this reason. I am sadly enjoying this class more than life drawing although my strength is in drawing the human figure. Well come and leave some comments on my blog and hey lick at some of the adds and maybe click on something that interest you.

These are a few new drawing for my life drawing class.

Here is a charcoal and conte crayon I drew last night for my Life Drawing class. I used a drawing paper that was a blue gray and really added a new tone to my drawing.

The Torso

Not quite as proud of these two as I am of others. Here I used pencils, charcoal, and white conte crayon. Tell me what you think.

Figure study of the lower extremities.

Drew this with a set of pencils my father got me for Christmas years ago. I never used to use pencil sets. I would just draw with a #2 mechanical pencil. It's really a lot of fun to play around with. I look forward to doing more of this. Sunday I will have another assignment for the torso. After that I will work with the hand and feet. I wonder at what point in this class we will start drawing models?

This is not an art related post. As many of you know or could at lease guess, I am currently unemployed. I came to a decision recently to reenlist in the army National Guard for at least one more year and pursue a full time job as an administrator. I have enjoyed my time in the military, plus I just need a job, plus it pays really well for someone not trained in admin per say. My only real worry is that my schooling will be affected. My only real conflict is that I have to pass my PT test (ie. run.) I have always hated running. I could give you all sorts of scientific reasons why you shouldn't run. I could give you personal reasons why I shouldn't run. But it is a standard for the army and I must pass it.
So all of this week I have run. I found a program on the internet that is supposed to help you get trained in just 4 weeks. The first week you run a 1/2 mile and walk the rest of two miles and every week after you add one more half mile to the total run, subtracting a half from the walk. I walked from my front door to the track (exactly a 1/2 mile away) at the High School in my home town. Starting on Monday morning I ran 1/2 mile and walked 2 miles. Tuesday the same except it felt a little better. Wednesday I added an extra half a lap to my run. Thursday, I ran my 1/2 mile than ran the lengths of the track and walked the curves. This adds up to running 1 mile. This morning I ran my 1/2 mile ran my lengths and added one more full lap around the track. This adds up to a mile and 1/4. I am done for this week but I am going to keep on this program the week of Thanksgiving. If I can do it through Friday of next week than that will be a true test to my commitment.
I feel that the change I made to get better was nothing more than a new mantra to say to myself while I was running. It used to be "I hate running," or "this is torture" or "I can't breathe" now I tell myself "I love to run." I know that it's not true and in fact is sarcasm, but I hope that soon it might be true.
I hate to give up a hate of something. I am a pretty positive guy and so when I have something I detest it really becomes the focal point of all my aggression. I think that, that is a healthy way to be. So it's like giving up an old pare of shoes, giving up something you hate. Your familur with it you know all it's flaws. You are comfortable dispite that it is no longer good to hang onto it. In the case of the shoe, you should really get rid of the shoes once your big toe is hanging out of it. With the thing that you hate, you might realize that there is something to be gained by no longer hating it.
I still think there are healthier ways to exercise but as I said it is an army standard and thus I have to do it and I might even start to enjoy it.

Color Theory

My second class that I have longed for, for a long time (I'm sorry I love how that sounds) is color theory. A strange class to long for, I know but I feel that we have only ever skimmed the surface. In all of my education from elementary school forward we have talked about which colors mix to make what, in chemistry we learned about how color's work and how. But this class can teach me how to mix paints to get a specific goal. one thing I learned in this class was that in the early 1930's there was a National Bureau of standards which was in charge of categorizing colors. the project was scraped when categories like grayish, yellowish, pink had over 30,000 entries (Understanding Color by Linda Holtzshue.) It is a fun class where I get to play around with color. So far I haven't had to even get my hands dirty but starting this next week we should be playing with paints.

First assignments for life drawing

It's a new term and I am finally able to take too classes I have longed for, for a long time. Life drawing is one of them. These first couple of assignments were just to get us familiar with proportions as well as the muscle and skeleton of the upper extremities. the stick figure exercise was done using Maggie, my wife and a few self portraits. It's supposed to tell a story and I think that it does a little. I wish I had drawn them linearly but in this way it creates an abstract story that anyone can make for themselves.

Perspective final Artist Statement

I want you to view this scene as a story that hasn’t ever been told. Feel that this is a place that was once sacred and now the forest has over whelmed it. The forest is one part destroyer and one part protector; Destroying the edifice yet protecting it from plunderers and vandals. The statue in the center looks untouched in all this ruin. Like it has been waiting all this time for this unknown hero of the story to come and take up the sword she holds.

I love looking at art and seeing little details that seem to share a secret. In my observations I have discovered that there is a difference between art that tries to be art for itself and art that is in tribute to a much larger theme. The theme itself is the focus and not the painting, drawing, or sculpture. It is my intention to just show the viewer an image of this story as if it is already known. In this way the drawing itself is not the art. It is only a description. When one views this drawing I hope they will see something of a much grander nature. Imagine how one feels today looking at paintings from the Renaissance. You might be a Christian and not know the themes that were dealt with over and over again by hundreds of artist during that time. Yet the people who viewed those paintings during the artist lifetime would have known the theme and would have viewed the painting in a different way than people today. They would expect to see certain things in the paintings, recurring themes. I want the viewer of this drawing to feel the same sort of mystery that he or she would looking at art from an different culture or time. The challenge is to create this scene with that sort of back-story. Something like that takes time.

I originally conceived of this scene three years ago. I wanted from the beginning to do a perspective drawing of this grotto overgrown by forest and undergrowth. I didn’t have the skills to render it the way I Wanted to nor the knowledge of the scene. For a long time I have worked and reworked certain features of it: I designed the building and built it in a 3d program, I drew out the statute with the sword until it looked right and now I have finished a drawing of it in perspective. I have slowly invented this scene in every concept possible. Invention is not creating something new but rather taking things that are known and using them in a new application.

In the future I will continue to work on this scene. Even if I think I have done a good job with it I feel that it is necessary to re-approach a scene again and again because it shows how much one has grown as an artist.

James Stansfield

Final for Perspective class

Today is the last day of my first term. It was a little hard at times but I feel I really learned a lot about perspective here is my final assignment. I will include my artist statement.

Another assignment for my perspective class. Just a study of some stuff around the house. There little sketches I spent about 5 to 10 minutes on each. Really I spent too much time. They should have been a little more sketchy but I like how they look this way.

garden

I have always wanted a house with a court yard. This is a drawing for my perspective class.

Block of box 2 point perspective

Two point perspective assignment for class.

Kitchen again.

Reposting a previous assignment I made some small changes to it.

Assignment 2 for week 1

For those of you who know what might kitchen looks like, you might recognize the layout. For those of you who don't, I hope this is sufficient enough for you to imagine.

perspective

This is the first assignment for perspective class. A little pridictable but I had fun with it.

Reclining male

This was such a cool poss to draw because the rib muscles stood out so much. I also like the artery on the arm. This will be a nice piece for my portfolio.

Decorah Clock Tower

Here is a watercolor of the County courthouse clock-tower I did in my watercolor class. I think it looks okay. I wish I could take another watercolor and see what I have learned. I guess I will just have to work on it on the side.

It has been over a month since I last posted anything. That is not to say I have not been working on things. My wife and I have moved to a new home and I have been looking for work. I have just started school again to the Art Institutes online for graphic design. I will be entering into the Game Art and Design program soon. Before I do that I have to submit a portfolio of work that demonstrates my 2D skills. So I am posting a few of the things I have in mind. Some of them are old and others are older yet but I still feel they demonstrate my understanding of form and style. Here is a few.

a few Camp photos more

a few more

Camping in the Forest of ooh

Here are some photos my wife and I both took while camping at Wyalusing State Park. I like the smoke in the trees.

Just moved to the North woods and don't have internet yet. Contrary to what some people believe there is internet up here so I will have it soon. No, I don't need to rely on telegraph or Pigeons. I can keep connected and will continue posting soon. Stay tuned and I will post again soon.

Brochure with a new factory

The Brochure for GE with a new Factory.

fly around

Just a fly around of what I have been working on

Getting there

Here is a still image of what the fly around for my Grotto is going to look like. It is all done.

Albato Star

Just one more part of my design class we had to design a logo based on another project we were working on.