Week 17: An awful lot happened...

Its hard to believe that it's actually only been a week and that I just haven't missed a blog post; I've done so much!

Firstly I wanted to go over life drawing; looking back through my sketchbook I can't believe how much I've improved! I came to the course pretty anatomy-savvy (in my own opinion). I had a basic understanding of anatomy and could translate it relatively well onto paper, it wasn't until recently that I was (especially in life drawing) filling in gaps with what I thought I knew as well as exaggerating and lengthening some limbs.

This week in life drawing we were looking at both the figure and draped fabric to tie in with our character project. I was quite eager to get started and it was an interesting and different challenge.

Warm up sketches (from left to right) 2 minute continuous line, 2 minute opposite hand and two minute 'blind'.

Although I'm never really a fan of the warm up sketches (especially opposite hand- makes my arm ache and I've never quite fully understood the point) I can see my ability to pick out important forms that make up the figure in the small time we have- our teacher Heather pointed out that she really liked my warm up sketches and that they really gave the impression of a figure with fabric. Always nice to get your work commented on!

Straight line and a standing pose.

The straight line warmup was interesting with the fabric and I really like the way the lines give it weight. The standing pose was relatively dull- I ended up with a really straight on view of the model which wasn't quite as fun but I was also working with trying to give more emphasis on the fabric and less detail on the figure which turned out to be a pretty contrast heavy drawing.

Seated pose- 20 mins

 This drawing is by far my favourite- the fabric was sat really nicely on the model and covered a lot of awkward areas and I feel like I managed to portray the folds in the fabric pretty well!


Up next is the beginnings of a character project that was only actually set officially today but I've almost finished...

Our first task was to do some research and create a mood board; we had received some feedback on our village house project and my weak points were certainly my mood board and the quantity and thoroughness of concepts.

Mood board.

 I began my moodboard looking at the poorer end of the spectrum. Since the character had to be of our likeness I was restricted to doing a female character which solved half a problem for me instantly I suppose!

I quickly realised that peasants don't sit particularly well with me! As a fan of period dramas I was more drawn to the richer type of clothing and since we weren't tied to the building we did I decided to work towards a female mayor/mayor's wife so I could create a more interesting costume.

I was drawn to the Tudor court gowns at first as I know the buildings themselves were styled after Tudor houses, but the gowns looked very lavish and noble which was over-reaching for a Mayor as well as being straight cut accurate which I didn't really want. I found a few other styles of dresses and figured I could combine certain elements of each to achieve what I wanted.

First initial thumbnails

To begin with I started throwing dresses together varying from poor to rich, some made up some referenced from my mood board. I figured this was a broad starting point and I didn't tie myself down too early.

A few stages later...

Subsequently, I narrowed them down and started to look at the practicalities of each. I think I was quite lucky in this project as I have a natural interest in this time period as well as underlying knowledge on how these dresses were put together (as well as a natural enthusiasm for all things Tudor).

Skip a few more steps...

A little later I made myself a fancy pose model base and sketched in some of my preferred designs over the top of those, picked a few and cleaned them up ready for the next stage of development.

Few more steps later..

In these drawings I was looking at various 'accessories' for a few designs at a time, again, to keep my options open. I wanted to convey various states of wealth and power in each dress and even though I loved certain designs I had to bear in mind that we were working to a style guide etc. At one point I got carried away making up a plot for a Mayor's wife who murders him so she can take his money and power etc etc.... Keyword of the style guide? POSITIVE. I can save the murderess for another time I think.

Current stage!

 Above is the second round of colour, as you can probably see I've been writing notes on each as I test them in greyscale as well as colour so I can make sure I get the tonal values right and that it's readable from a distance etc etc.

It's safe to say I'm really enjoying this project. I was hesitant to carry on at such speed when the brief had only been set today and they had quite carefully planned out as and when we need to do things but I've enjoyed it so much I wouldn't mind being told to go back to one of my earlier stages and do it again because something didn't work for example..

I think I mentioned in last week's post that I was ready to get the ball rolling and pick up the pace and I don't think I've let myself down this week!