Intermediate Drawing - Class #5

[hwango]

Tonight's session has left me in kind of a crappy mood. People commented once again that they don't like photo-realism, and that if you're going to bother to make something that realistic, why not just use a photograph instead. That's fine - I can see where they're coming from with that. Someone said something about just printing a photo onto canvas, which prompted a disparaging comment about the effects of technology on art. That one bugged me. If they don't like art that involved a computer somewhere in its production that's fine, but I don't think it's fair to say that technology has had a negative impact on the world of art. However, the worst comment was yet to come - the incredibly ignorant statement that if you know how to use image manipulating software it's really easy to get a job. I'd been silent up until that point, but I got vocal and angry at that point. I don't understand what makes people think that knowledge of computers is either magical or automatically lucrative.

For actual class content, we spray painted the posterboard we'll be drawing over next week. We put stuff on the board and spray painted lightly over it, leaving negative space where it was sitting. It's kind of neat, but I think it would have benefited a bit from a better selection of interesting stuff to spray-paint over. Then, while that dried, we were supposed to sketch animals some more and finalize what we'd be drawing on the poster board next week.

The comments about the ease of gaining computer-related employment had soured my mood enough that I didn't have much enthusiasm for the sketching parts. I screwed up the wolf that I was drawing, making the body too long. I also can't get the legs to look right - they always look too thick or too thin. I started another one of just the head, drew a really nifty eye, and then proceeded to put the nose way to close to it and screw it up completely. By the time I headed home I was pretty discouraged.

My mom asked me before my class tonight if I thought it was turning out to be worth it. I told her that I was still trying to decide. The practice has been good, but a little determination would be good enough to get regular practice into my routine. We haven't had much in the way of actual instruction, except for the bit on perspective. I guess I don't feel like I'm "learning" anything, I'm just being urged to practice in certain ways. The beginner's class probably has more actual instruction in it, but it would mostly be things I don't need to be told, I think.

At this point, my feeling that the class will serve at least one purpose - it will reassure me that I don't actually need to take classes, I just need to practice. Either that, or I need to take much more formal, advanced classes at an actual school, which isn't really something I could afford without freaking out about it too much to enjoy it.

Comments

[octophobic.livejournal.com]

The differences between the intro and advanced class reminds me of my own experience in high school. The first two classes were all instruction on shading, horizon, shapes, etc. The rest were more about experimenting with different mediums. I ended up using acrylic paint mostly. Some students spent a lot of time with oils which produced some really interesting things.

The teacher was pretty good though. He was kind of a like a good manager spending time with each of his employees. He'd wander over every day or so and give some helpful suggestions. Sometimes he'd paint a little on your canvas if you seemed to need more help. I remember this one painting I was working on he came over and fixed the limbs before painting and during the painting he fixed the face. Which suspiciously ended up looking like the artist/teacher. ;)

American Artist Magazine

[mcmiller.livejournal.com]

American Artist Magazine has a special "Drawing" issue this month. One article I think you might appreciate was on training yourself to improve hand-eye coordination. The author deconstructs the theory that tricks like projecting an image on canvas are even necessary for photo-realism - they are a short cut, but they destroy hand-eye coordination which is the most important aspect of the artist's craft. The basic point he makes about realism is that you have to learn the rules to break the rules. Only by teaching yourself to draw and paint to the most exacting standard can you give yourself the hand-eye coordination necessary for true artistic freedom. To put it another way, if you can only draw in your own, intuitive and unrefined style, you are trapped by the style rather than liberated by it. Sic it to those classmates!