Drawing

Figure Drawing

By Curtis  |  2008/09/04 23:03 Posted in Drawing  |  Comments Off

Over the past few days I have made several attempts at figure drawing. I have attempted to read the book that I borrowed from the UNC Library,The Artist’s Complete Guide to Figure Drawing. I find the book to be a little hard to follow and not as useful as I would like in a book about such a difficult topic. I am still seeking the perfect book for the topic, but I am not impressed with what I am finding at Amazon, and the local stores have close to no selection when it comes to art. Anyone know of a good book for the topic?

Another Digital Ink Drawing Attempt

By Curtis  |  2008/06/26 23:52 Posted in Drawing  |  Comments (1)

landscape

Getting a Handle on the Instrument

By Curtis  |  2008/06/25 22:43 Posted in Drawing  |  Comments Off

This image is evidence that I presently suck at using the CyberPad as a drawing tool. It will take me some time, but I intend to become proficient in using the pad for anything I can find to possibly use it for, including as an artistic tool for drawing. I attribute most of the crudeness of this drawing to the fact it was really quick with an application that is really designed for single stroke operation. In my opinion, it looks like a graphic for a really bad DOS game.

Western Landscape in Digital Ink

Missing Grade

By Curtis  |  2008/05/06 21:53 Posted in Academic, Drawing  |  Comments Off

I now know all of my grades for Spring 2008, except for my Drawing II class. All of my other instructors have either posted their grades to the registrars, or sent emails, but my Drawing II instructor is still keeping me in suspense.
I feel like I did well with the drawing course, but with the way some of the grades on the assignments went, I feel like I may have not gotten the grade I would like in the course. All of my grades that are presently known are A’s. I feel like I worked extremely hard in the course this semester. My instructor even said that I had completed the most preliminary drawings of any student in the class. What I am feeling now is a form of confusion I suppose. I have been told that I have made progress and that I have tried the most attempts at the assignments, but yet I have seen the gradebook and know about how my mid-term in the course went, but somehow I still can’t pull together what my final grade will be. Worse yet…. when talking to my instructor last night, she didn’t seem to have a clue what our grades would be either. I am a little worried that my GPA might be harmed by this course, which would make me really sad. On the other hand, the instructor could be having issues of confidence in her own grading policies and that could be creating the feeling I am currently experiencing. The fact that the instructor hasn’t turned in grades yet is absolutely killing me. I suspect that either tomorrow or Thursday, the grades will be posted and I will return either very happy with an A, or I will be sad and mopey with something less.
It is times like this that I question myself… could I have done more? Could I have pushed myself just a bit harder? I don’t know. I feel like I gave this semester everything I had, but I feel like somehow I didn’t accomplish a lot.

Randomness, Uncertainty and The Pursuit of Accomplishment

By Curtis  |  2008/03/30 02:50 Posted in Art, Creative Writing, Drawing, Gardening, General Life  |  Comments Off

Today I woke up fairly late in the day and have been having the weirdest mood shifts and changes in objectives. I have a chapter to finish for my novel, I have put in several random attempts at effort on it, for the same course I also have to “explicate a poem”, which I can do, but I just have to pick a poem for it. In addition to those assignments, I also have to finish my perspective drawing to turn it in on Monday, and also draw an orange with full shading and texture in my sketch book. I have been letting all of this go through my head and I am bouncing between thoughts in my head way too quickly. I have considered working on the mid-term for one of my online classes as well, but haven’t started on it (100 questions, all to be done and turned in by April 7th, most likely by UPS).
Other than academic stuff, I have been looking at LiveCurt.net again, working on some stuff for it and trying to get a grasp of what it is supposed to be. I am feeling like I am trying to do a 4 dimensional website in a 2 dimensional space. I have played with Google Analytics some, primarily adding the Art blog to it. I have also been playing with the idea of a centralized location for all of my blogs, which I then realized are all about me, so therefore belong on LiveCurt.net (my domain-registering addiction is foiled again). Oh, and I have been trying to write blog posts on random shit, and pretty much getting no where. I played a game a little while ago, thinking maybe it would calm me down and let me focus, nope, didn’t happen, I’m still bouncing off the walls with stuff to do, but not nearly enough ambition to accomplish any of them.
Finally, I did finish my loop of looking for a digital camera for my course this summer. I still haven’t decided on or purchased one, but I have at least placed a fall-back candidate in my head. If I can’t decide on anything else, then I am going with the Fugifilm FinePix S5200. It isn’t a true SLR camera, but it gives me the functionality I need for the course. SLR cameras are a little scary with how they work. I don’t like the idea of using a camera that has to rotate a mirror to take a picture, but I guess if I find a real SLR camera that I like, I will go for it, although, the S5200 is definitely a piece to drool over.
Today I have done a lot of “half-done” things, but fully completed nothing. Maybe tomorrow will be part 2 and I will get everything done.

Back to Perspective

By Curtis  |  2008/03/12 23:59 Posted in Drawing  |  Comments Off

So far in Drawing 2 I haven’t enjoyed anything more than I did in drawing 1, until now. We are presently working on perspective. In this course, we are going at it more aesthetically and a lot less technically. I am currently working on a piece that I am really happy with so far. Its sort of like perspective drawing now has meaning.

Final Grade – ART131

By Curtis  |  2007/12/10 21:31 Posted in Academic, Art, Drawing  |  Comments Off

My Gaston College course, Drawing 1 (ART131) closed this evening. The final grade for the course is: A
Images of my work will be posted here during the post-semester blogging period.

First Few Drawing Works

By Curtis  |  2007/09/20 19:57 Posted in Drawing  |  Comments Off

A few of my drawing works have been scanned. They are a bit too big for the scanner bed, so they will appear with lines where they have been patched together.






The pretty building where I attend drawing

By Curtis  |  2007/09/20 00:03 Posted in Drawing  |  Comments Off


Meet the Dewey and Prue Beam Center for Visual Arts…

Drawing Course Preliminary Information

By Curtis  |  2007/07/24 23:17 Posted in Drawing  |  Comments Off

In preparation for my drawing course during the fall, I have begun looking at information for the course. I have looked at information in the North Carolina Community College System Common Course Library, as well a previous semester syllibi from CPCC. I will be taking the course at Gaston, but I assume the courses will be taught similarly, and Gaston doesn’t provide online syllabi. I was going to email my instructor to request a previous semester syllabus, but it would appear that he doesn’t have an email address. Anyway, here is the information I found that gives me hints as to what I may be up against this semester (Fall 2007).
Course Description, NCCCS CCL
This course introduces the language of drawing and the use of various drawing materials. Emphasis is placed on drawing techniques, media, and graphic principles. Upon completion, students should be able to demonstrate competence in the use of graphic form and various drawing processes.This course has been approved to satisfy the Comprehensive Articulation Agreement for transferability as a premajor and/or elective course requirement.
Course Description, CPCC
This course introduces the language of drawing and the use of various drawing materials. Emphasis is placed on drawing techniques, media, and graphic principles. Upon completion,students should be able to demonstrate competence in the use of graphic form and various drawing processes. Students will apply theories of perspective and composition using media that includes graphite, ink, charcoal and conte crayon
Objectives

  1. Objectives: Have completed assigned problems providing experience in the use of: pencils, ink & pen, charcoal, felt-tip pen, ink & brush and conte crayon.

  2. Be able to demonstrate an understanding of the nature of these materials and their use by the appropriate choice and use of materials for specific drawing tasks.
  3. Have completed assigned problems, which demonstrate a satisfactory use and understanding of drawing techniques and terms including: contour line, hatching, cross-hatching, line gesture, mass gesture and scribbled line gesture.
  4. Have completed assignments which demonstrate the ability to use a range values to create the illusion of three dimensional space through the use of dry media such as: charcoal, conte crayon, pencils, chalk and graphite.
  5. Have completed assignments that provide experience in the use of wet media such as: ink: pen & ink, pen & wash, brush & ink and mixed media.
  6. Have completed assignments that demonstrate the ability to create the illusion of a variety of textures that occur in nature.
  7. Have completed assignments that demonstrate an understanding of composition, and an awareness of selecting formats, open or closed composition, balance, and repetition of shapes and lines.
  8. Have maintained a daily sketchbook with daily entries that reflect growth in content and drawing ability.
  9. Be proficient in basic drawing vocabulary, and methods of verbal discussion pertaining to their own work as well as drawings in general.
  10. Have completed assignments that demonstrate a basic knowledge of linear perspective techniques, and how these techniques can create the illusion of depth in both architectural and natural forms.
  11. Have completed assignments that demonstrate a use of one-point, two-point, and multiple vanishing points as they relate to objects drawn in linear perspective.
  12. Have completed assignments that demonstrate knowledge of circular forms drawn in linear perspective.
  13. Will demonstrate an understanding of space relationships in landscape drawing.
  14. Will be introduced to the potential expansion of subject matter and modern trends as related to assigned drawings.
  15. Have shown growth in the development of a personal style
  16. Have organized a portfollio of works that demonstrate an ability to select the best works for presentation, and to have those works correctly matted or glazed for presentation