Choose one of your gesture drawings from class. Pick a drawing where the figure has a good sense of balance, weight distribution and a dramatic pose. If you would like me to make a recommendation, please ask me before the first critique. Draw a full skeleton in the same pose as your gesture drawing. The drawing of the skeleton should fill your paper.(approx. 30” x 24” extra large drawing board)
This drawing will require that you use the in-class skeletons. Make sure you check the class studio hours located by the door. As the class skeleton is not flexible, you will have to draw it from different angles in order to achieve the same pose as your gesture drawing. Without ligaments and musculature to hold them in place, some of the bones (like the femur) will hang limply on the class skeleton. Bones like the clavicle and scapula are in a fixed place on the class skeleton but “float” and move on a living skeleton. Use the anatomy books and class drawings to aid your homework. As you work on your skeleton, observe the differences in proportion and structure between the skeleton and your original gesture drawing. You might need to rethink your original proportion based on your observations of the in-class skeleton. Consider how future gesture drawings could be improved to match new your understanding of skeletal structure.
Be sure and use a variety of line weights to add to the sense of weight, movement and space in your drawing.Pay close attention to the volume of the individual bones. You should indicate the major planes within the bones with interior lines or cross-contours.
Grade will be based on:
- Fulfilled requirements at critique (full-size, large skeleton, working from in-class drawing,)
- Accuracy of bones and placement with particular focus on pelvis, ribcage and spine
- Specificity of the bones including major planes of individual bones.
- Quality of drawing: line weight and sense of movement
Questions you should ask yourself
- How does the information in the gesture drawing reference the internal skeleton?
- Am I spending enough time on my drawing?
- Am I drawing what the skeleton looks like or what I think it looks like?
- (watch out for the pelvis, it looks very differently then we think)
- Does my drawing convey an understanding of the skeleton structure?
- Is there too much space between the ribs and the pelvis?
- Am I using all the references available to me? In class skeleton, books, my own body, the
- opinions of my classmates?
- Within the drawing, where does it look like I am generalizing?
- Am I giving attention to specific bones through shading or indicating the planes within
- the bones?
- What is the quality of the line in my drawing?
- Am I willing to redraw and redraw in order to get the bones in the correct placement
- for the pose?
- How will this knowledge help me draw the figure?
