ex1 perry

Exercise 1

Exercise 1.1 helped reintroduce me to the basic concepts of design and increase my abilities to observe my environment. The purpose of using blind contours was to make me trust my eyes more than my mind. Having been in art classes in high school, I can see the value of this exercise to help the students who have had no experience in design. When I had to draw a continuous line for one hour, it helped me get a feel for observing the lines in my surrounding environment.
Exercise 1.2 focused more on values instead of lines like in exercise 1.1. To capture the essence of a figure in five seconds assisted me in discerning the most important aspects of movement. As we had more time to create value in these figure drawings, I relearned the techniques and styles of using vine and compressed charcoal. This drawing material was more suited to create value instead of pencil or pen.
For me, Exercise 1.3 was a little more difficult because I have always had a problem with drawing perspectives, especially from observation. However, the exercise of drawing flat planes and learning about the vanishing point helped improve my technique perspectives drawing.
Exercise 1.4 was a culmination of what we had been learning about value and perspective, along with other elements such as texture and tension. This exercise involved drawing fruit and a drape with charcoals, which also involved the use of composition to make the drawing more aesthetically pleasing.
The use of cardboard in Exercise 1.5 was somewhat unusual at first, but I later understood that design also involves shaping the material and creating texture for observation. The class work involved making swatches of texture using cardboard, while the homework for finding different ways of connecting materials without any glue really helped me think outside of the box.
Exercise 1.6 required me to observe textures around me and sketch details of it at different distances using ink instead of pencil. The exercise was difficult for me because of the amount of detail I wanted to put into my observations, but my skill level in transferring details from sight to paper is still not well developed. However, I gained a new method of observing my environment by studying the texture of different objects.
The final project, Exercise 1.7, was a culmination of all we had learned in the entirety of Exercise 1. I actually chose the scene rather quickly, which was the construction site beside the COA. But I was hesitant on specifying the subject to draw because everything in the observation changed very quickly, such as workers and vehicles moving around, which made it hard to me to capture any single object in a transformation.

Ben Ho

Ex. 1 Reflection

I felt that Exercise 1 formed strong roots for me express my ideas through the drawn world. It taught me the fundamental ability to draw what I see and not what I “know is there,” through different line weights, drawing media, and textures I learned to make in the two dimensional plane.

Although I found exercise 1.1 the most frustrating assignment I did feel that it may have helped me the most. When I was looking out of the window and drawing my contours I found details in objects I had never before seen, and noticed lines in the land scape I never knew existed. This assignment helped me to see the lines in the environment rather than the figure or its actual final project. Every drawing I have made after this assignment I took several minutes before hand to just observe and look at all of the lines of the image I was about to create and then place those lines in onto my drawing space

Then in exercise 1.2 I learned about the delicate process of line weight and the recreation of shadows and light with charcoal. This figure drawing exercise was one of my favorites because I have always loved the form of the human body and have always been fascinated by its mechanics. With the practice of figure drawing in just three seconds I found how one can accurately represent the human form with simply three quickly drawn lines. But then I realized how the different charcoals used and differentiating forces applies when drawing the human figure can accurately recreate and represent the true forms of the human figure. It was an amazing feeling to see how well I could quickly draw and accurate depicting drawing such as that one.

Exercise 1.3 was also a pretty interesting process. This was probably the classes closest experience with drafting techniques during this exercise section. It was interesting to see how the environment around us gets distorted with our different points of views. I also enjoyed finding the vanishing points of the different levels and spaces and try to accurately recreate the three-dimensional environment that I saw into a two-dimensional space.

Exercise 1.4 was a more in-depth extension of exercise 1.2. In this assignment I found every tone I could create with the two different charcoals and the values and depths I could create with the charcoals. We were assigned to draw a hanging cloth all wrinkled up and three fruit. I amazed myself with my final drawings. I was impressed how the different charcoal techniques could help me to recreate, on the paper, the textures of the fruit and cloth. I love working with charcoal, everything always turns out so good.

My first experience with model making in this course was of course in exercise 1.5. This exercise allowed me to experiment with the different textures that could be created from simply one material. I was allowed to explore the physical realm of the three-dimensional world which I found very interesting and challenging. This is a totally different experience than drawing and I had to completely change my mode of creativity to engulf all angle, sides, and dimensions. I then had to depict these textures with ink which was the first time I used ink a media in this class.

I was then assigned to create more textures and depict them two-dimensionally in exercise 1.6 using the media of my choice. I enjoyed this assignment and found it particularly interesting when I created the two-dimensional depictions of these textures that I created. I decided to use charcoal for these drawings and ended up very proud with my final products and felt that they accurately depicted the textures and spatial experiences I had created with the cardboard.

Exercise 1.7 was also one of my favorite assignments and was of course our final assignment. I was told to depict the effects of time on some space, object, or situation; using any media of my choice or even mixing medians. I chose to depict the contrasting reactions of natural organic forms to weather and time to those reactions of the man made environments and surfaces. I drew a tree in front of the Beta Theta Pi fraternity house under three different conditions; midday, night, and heavy thunder storm. I chose to depict each of these conditions using different media and found it very interesting how nature and manmade constructions react differently to these environmental fluctuations. After all of my studies made I arranged my three final drawings in a way that they overlap and interact with each other that I felt accurately represented the cycle of nature.

This first exercise series was an excellent way to start off my first year in the college of architecture because I learned so much which was able to apply to each following exercise and will yet be able to apply to the rest of my works for the rest of my life. This exercise was a good formation of the fundamentals of design and communication through the drawn world.

I am really proud of all of my work and my progression throughout these five weeks. I was able to apply all of my newly learned skills and it even changed the way I look a my drawings and any artistic interpretation of the world.

The final critique especially helped me open my eyes to what details need to be noticed and can effect ones interpretation of a piece of work/art. The critique of my own work as well as just listening to the critiques of other peoples work helped me to understand what different aspects will effect a viewers interpretation of your work. But the critique of my own work made me feel very proud of my work and I would like to be able to continue working on my work and receive another final critique and keep the one I got as a mid work critique.

Rodrigo Lima

Exercise 1

Exercise 1.1 was a great intro to the studio. Everything I had previously learned about drawing was challenged by the first exercise, but that was exactly the point of it. The point was to forget how our minds think things should look and draw things with our eyes, by observing our surroundings. The blind contours are probably the best way we could have accomplished this goal of drawing through seeing. Although the one-hour drawings were difficult at the time, I can see the purpose behind them and can appreciate the exercise.

Exercise 1.2 was the figure drawings consisting of quick gesture drawings to weight and mass drawings. This activity in particular was difficult for me. In my previous drawing history I have always found figure drawing to be quite troublesome. And the fact that we were using charcoal did not make it any easier for me, but after learning the new techniques and different ways to use the medium, I came out with a better understanding of figure drawing and the use of charcoal.

Exercise 1.3 I had a good time with. Perspective drawings have always come fairly naturally to me; so the activity gave me a chance to practice my technique with perspective and to be able evaluate areas spatially better.

Exercise 1.4 was probably my least favorite activity we did. Even before starting this class, I never enjoyed using charcoal as a medium. This activity was very intensive with learning tone and value and using the charcoal to recreate the value of folded fabrics. I found this exercise particularly challenging, but I think I did actually improve my technique with the medium.

Exercise 1.5 was probably one of my favorites, if not my favorite of all of the exercises we did. This was the first time I had ever used pen to draw. After this exercise, pen became on of my favorite mediums. I enjoyed the precision used to recreate the natural textures and the cardboard textures with the pen. I also like the use of hatching for shading.

Exercise 1.6 was one of the more enjoyable activities we did. I enjoyed the creative process behind thinking of different ways to attach two pieces of cardboard. I thought it was also very interesting to see the amount of different ideas that people in the studio thought of. Perhaps my least favorite part of this activity was using the charcoal to draw our models that we had made. I think this activity did a great job of introducing us to creative thinking.

Exercise 1.7 was the melding of all the previous exercises we had done. This like a lot of the others had its ups and downs. I enjoyed the freedom we had with this activity. We were really free to explore every aspect of our final project, from the conceptions of the idea behind the series, down to the details of media and composition. This was really a great way to explore everything we had learned thus far and really see how much we did learn. I was really able to use the different techniques I learned and apply them to my series in a sensible manner. Before this I wouldn’t have thought how much certain techniques could relate to activity or other situations.

I think my review did a great job of reaffirming everything I had learned so far. It was also a great learning process. I learned from the reviewers the importance of aspects that I wouldn’t have thought to be important. Just the framing of a drawing can affect its relationship with other drawings in a series. But otherwise the review was a great way of having to translate everything we learned verbally in a presentation.

Adam Galletly

Exercise 1 Reflection

1.1 challenged me by making me really draw what I was seeing, rather than seeing what I was drawing. By not allowing me to look at my paper, it forced me to really look closely at the scene, rather than adjusting my drawing to imitate what I was seeing. It threw out any generalizations I had about objects I see daily, and make me really look at every line that it was composed out of. It also helped me to really see how man-made and organic objects have a different “feel” to them, even when we didn’t realize the first time that we were making that distinction until we looked at our papers after. The point was not only to teach us what we can convey through lines and the contour method, but how the skill of “seeing.”

1.2 was a bit of challenge for me because I am not used to drawing quickly. However, as I picked it up, I found it was a very effective way to capture information that happens quickly, or convey the idea of movement or activity. It was also an introduction to a medium I had never used before—charcoal.

1.3 was not a new concept to me, but I had a little trouble with the perspective drawings. This exercise introduced both a skill/type of drawing, and another way of seeing things. I think what made it challenging was the time I took to finish everything. It was the first time we had used thumbnails, and in hindsight, I spent way too much time on the thumbnails.

1.4 was my favorite for exercise 1. The cloth drawing was the first time I ever used charcoal so extensively. This showed us yet another way to see things—rather than in lines, seeing things in value, weight, texture, and tone. It showed us how different types of light can make parts of objects stand out or fade away. The cloth drawing was truly about tone and shadow, but the fruit drawings incorporated texture as well.

1.5 was also a challenge to me because I had never used pen before to convey texture and shading. I had always been used to pencil where blending is an easy thing to do. With pen, the markings on the paper are permanent, so planning out how you want a drawing to look on paper was a key. This exercise also allowed us some leeway on composition, and how different compositions can be used to portray different ideas with the same objects.

1.6 seemed to include testing our creative and logical thinking. Trying to figure out 15 different ways to put cardboard together ended up harder at the end when my ideas ran out. This exercise also introduced the diagrams and how they are used to convey ideas in a different way. The charcoal drawings of our joints also went back to our understanding of composition and good cropping.

I really enjoyed 1.7 and working through a small idea I had and turning it into something deeper and more interesting. Working with so many thumbnails and working through my idea really allowed my finished product to be better than it might have been with only one set of thumbnails. At the time, it seemed really repetitive to draw it over and over, but I can see how it really helped to polish my final drawing. All the new skills I had picked up over the other exercises really helped me use different types of drawings that I had not ever used before portray my ideas well. It helped me to step out of my comfort zone and take risks.

The curation of the exercises really helped me to understand the purposes for making us do them in the first place. While I was doing them, I thought some of them were boring and useless, but after the review and curation, I can see the purpose of each one. There are a couple of exercises that I would do over after the review discussion, like 1.1 and 1.6. Those were the ones I felt bored with and frustrated with, but after the discussion I can now see the importance of them, and how much they taught me.

Dayinta Sururi

Exercise 1: reflection

Exercise 1 was a great introduction to drawing and seeing like a designer. It appropriately took us through all the basic fundamentals like finding value and using line thickness.

1.1 was very difficult for me because I felt like I needed to look at my work to create an acceptable piece of art. But I quickly found out that everyone else’s looked the same as mine, a bowl of spaghetti on a sheet of paper. I then focused on creating man-made and organic shapes on the canvas to try and show some order and composition. Drawing one continuous line following my line on sight was another technique I used to put a personal touch on it. I showed how my eye went across the object and let one object bleed into another. I could also show texture for objects using patterns and shapes on top of the objects drawn.

I loved 1.2. Gesture drawings are so appealing to me and I was very excited to learn how to create images of people. Using line weight to express shadow and maybe heaviness of the person is a good technique to use. Also, when gesture drawing I focused on making natural and proportional shapes. For example: maybe at your angle, the models foot is the size of their head; draw it that way. When creating scenes, it is important to use different styles to convey different messages. For example: if a person has been staying in the same place for a while, render them and add value to create a feel of solidness. If they move and are only there for a second, use a quick gesture sketch to express the rapidness of their movement. This concept was new to me and sparked a new thought process. Use clear decisive lines to not confuse and also emphasize the naturalness of your movement.

1.3 was sort of a review for me because I have taken four years of drafting in high school. I enjoyed it and allowed me to practice my skills. It is important to identify and use vanishing points and horizon lines to make everything line up correctly. Everything in perspective should be proportionate and clean. The use of line weight to convey depth is an effective technique.

1.4 focused on creating value in drawings. I love to use charcoal, and this assignment was perfect for that. First, we always need to create thumbnails and come up with an interesting cropping of the view we will draw. The use of value to create depth was the main focus of this exercise. For example: when drawing the folded sheet on the wall, I used a lot of dark shadows to convey he folds and how deep they were; the darker the deeper. Also, texture will create an interesting value for anything. For example: drawing fruit allowed us to create the dimples in oranges and even convey the roughness of potato skin.

I enjoyed 1.5 because were worked with a lot of media. One aspect I particularly enjoyed was creating texture with pen. I liked using hatching, stipple, and cross-hatch to make value. Value creates texture and using different styles was very fun; it allowed everyone to get out of their comfort zone and draw in a new way. Keeping close attention to composition is very important and should be done by creating lots of thumbnails.

1.6 dealt with spatial, textural, and material qualities of objects. It combines all our knowledge so far into compositions. First, we had to make lots of thumbnails and create an interesting cropping of the object. I used different styles, line weights, and media to create this assignment.

1.7 was our final project for section one and dealt with serial transformation. I liked this project more than any other because it made everyone think a lot more than we’ve had to in the past about a drawing. I was open to anything and used everything I have learned so far to make my composition. All styles were used or thought about in creating my last piece. This exercise challenged me to think outside of the box. I tried to be clever with my cropping and usage of media. But it seemed like everyone sort of did the same thing only in different situations. I felt creative and cheap at the same time. Using line weight to depict heaviness or sketching in pencil to create activity and lightness was commonly used. I really liked it, but personally I feel like I could have done better. But now I know that and will continue to improve.

When looking back on all my work, I really noticed the transformation of quality and knowledge in my work. I noticed that I used to draw what I thought I saw instead of the lines that were actually in front of me. Knowing this is great because ignorance in not bliss in this situation.

The critique really opened my eyes to drawing with meaning. It is important to create a coherent but at the same time unique piece. When pinning up your work, don’t just throw it up on the wall in any order. Make a good first impression with clean and coherent order of “pinnings”. Also, using the shape, size, and order of the frames in a composition is very important. Using these in clever ways to convey a certain idea is a main focus for creating a composition. I would do my 1.7 drawing over again if I had the chance. I would change the size and order of the frames while changing the focus of my drawing to movement of the step.

The only time I have been frustrated was during the first day when we had to do blind contours of a landscape. I felt like it was just an overload of information and there was no way I could convey everything I wanted to onto a sheet of paper. I learned that that was the wrong approach and started to use the line to show how my eye covered the scene. I loved gesture drawings, and I felt awesome when I saw some of my works up on all the walls during the final critique. It made me feel like my hard work had paid off and that is a great motivator.

Gavin Johns

Exercise 1 Reflection

Exercise 1.1 was a radical change from the way that I was taught to draw. I was not able to generalize the scenes that I was observing, since we were not allowed to look at the drawing paper. Just about everyone knows how to draw in studio, but this exercise made us think through how we used the medium of continuous contour lines. Instead of seeing objects, such as a building, I began to focus on the lines that made up the object. Therefore, I began to draw what was actually there as opposed to what I thought was there. I noticed that this medium is useful in conveying the messiness of a situation or the changing activity of a scene. I incorporated it into my last drawing for Exercise 1 in order to show the disarray of my sheet on my bed when I get up in the morning.

In Exercise 1.2 particularly aggravated me because, once again, it went against my former method of drawing. I was accustomed to taking my time with drawings and capturing every single detail possible. Because of the time limits, however, I was no longer able to do this. I was forced to learn to capture the most prominent features of each gesture, and then try to add is detail if time was allotted. In this way I was learning to think through the medium, but I was also learning how to use a new material—charcoal. As we went through each drawing, I learned that charcoal is easily manipulated by smearing it or erasing it with a gum eraser. I also found that gesture drawing are particularly effective at displaying people within drawings.

My favorite exercise by far was exercise 1.3. In high school, I took three years of drafting, so I was already fairly experienced at using construction lines and drawing perspectives. However, this exercise did enlighten me to the technique of using vanishing points along a horizon line, which helped me construct these drawings without the use of a ruler. I thought that this exercise taught me more about how to use these techniques to construct perspectives than how to think through them. This medium was helpful to me when drawing scenes than include buildings and other stationary objects.

Exercise 1.4 taught me about value, a quality that I had observed in drawings but had never really concentrated on producing myself. Learning to use the right amount of charcoal and to spread it gradually was challenging and took many attempts on my part. In the previous exercise, we were introduced to charcoal and taught different methods of using it that render different effects on the drawing paper, but I still had to think through it as I went. Sometimes charcoal has a mind of its own, and things don’t go as planned. However, as I became accustomed to it, I was able to use its flexibility to my advantage. I found that it was most useful in conveying the depth of objects on the two-dimensional drawing plane.

Before Exercise 1.5, I had never tried to use cardboard for any other purpose other than to package items. This activity not only informed me of how cardboard’s surface can be manipulated, but also about how it is constructed and how its sections can be used. I definitely had to think my way through this assignment in order to come up with the various textures that I discovered. This experiment helped me create my texture drawings, which are great for conveying the composition of a surface.

I had a fun time doing Exercise 1.6. I used to love to play with Legos, and joining cardboard reminded me of that. This exercise caused me to look at the various ways I could cut cardboard to make various hinges for joining two different pieces. I also thought my way through this one, although, I had previous beneficial experiences in creating such models. I found this technique useful when the desired outcome is to point out special properties of structures that have been intertwined in some fashion.

As I looked for scenes that changed over time, I picked the ones that stood out the most and that provided the best representation of time lapse. In order to do this I had to observe each scene at different moments of the day and note how they progressed. I learned to focus in on the aspects of the scenes that articulated time change and that did not take that focus away by drawing attention themselves. My scene involved the change of a bed over the span of a day, and, to bring that idea across, I had to experiment to see which mediums worked best at each segment of the day that I chose to portray.

Looking back at my earlier drawings helped to jog my memory of all the different mediums and there uses. Continuous contour was one particular method that I had overlooked. By incorporating it into my final scene, I was able to give a better feeling of just how messy my sheets are when I get up in the morning. Without looking back, I would have probably overlooked this technique.

I learned in the review that, when doing a double perspective, both vanishing points should fall on the same horizon line. My original perspectives had single vanishing points, so I was ignorant of this guideline. I simply added the vanishing points where they seemed as if they should be to me. If I could go back, I would have constructed my perspective with this in mind.

The biggest challenges and frustrations that I faced were probably drawing blind contours and working with charcoal. Blind contours go against everything I’ve ever been taught about drawing. Concentrating on not looking at my paper was one of the hardest tasks that I have ever been assigned. I learned a lot about charcoal, but I have never been the best at using shading to create masterpieces like some students are able to. My greatest successes were perspectives and cardboard. My previous experience in drafting classes aided me greatly in constructing perspectives. Cardboard was fun because of my passion for building models earlier in my life.

Robert Jones

Exercise 1 Reflection

In Exercise 1.1 we did blind contour drawings. The drawings were done in all pencil so there wasn’t a lot of focus on how to use that medium. This was a very difficult type of drawing for me to do because the main focus on the assignment was to not generalize what you think an object looks like, but instead to draw exactly what you see. I also had a hard time focusing on one specific thing. I liked to jump around from object to object therefore leaving out a lot of lines and details on my pictures. This assignment helped me look at the world more carefully and to pay attention to every detail I saw.

In Exercise 1.2 we focused on gesture drawings using charcoal. This was the first time using charcoal so it took some time getting used to the ways to use it. There wasn’t any time to think through what to do when the drawing time was only 5 seconds; therefore we had to use the charcoal to the best of our ability. I believe that this exercise built off the last one by focusing in on lines. On the fast gesture drawings we were directed to just take notice to the outlines of the bodies to get the general idea of the model.

In Exercise 1.3 we did perspective drawings. This was also a hard exercise for me to understand. I couldn’t grasp the concepts of vanishing points and construction lines till the actual Reviews when it was too late. But at least I understand how to construct them now. This exercise took lots of patience because the more detail put into the drawings conveyed a better feeling of the perspective.

In Exercise 1.4 we concentrated on value using charcoal. This exercise had a complete opposite focus than the last three. We were told not to draw and focus on lines, but instead build up objects through shadows. After this exercise I began to look at the world as different shades.

In Exercise 1.5 we worked with cardboard and the different textures we can make from it. This activity forced you to be inventive and creative. After the cardboard exercise we went on to look at the textures of the outside world. Once again this activity made me focus in on details. Adding texture to your drawings helps to make it look more realistic. This was also the first exercise we were instructed to use pen. I liked how there are several different ways to show texture with the pen such as cross hatching, stippling, and scribbling.

In Exercise 1.6 we took the cardboard textures and models created in 1.5 and drew them with charcoal. This exercise was a mixture of 1.5 and 1.4. We used the charcoal to create both the texture of the cardboard and the shadowing it created.

Exercise 1.7 definitely challenged my patience. I have a tendency to jump right into a drawing without thinking it through and planning out what I am going to do. I found out a very important part of the whole process was the thumbnails. They helped decide where everything will be placed and how everything will be composed.

While the review was very stressful and slightly harsh at times I think I learned a lot from it. It was a frustrating process because I spent so much time on the drawings and heard very little positive comments about them. But on the other hand I liked the judge’s comments and suggestions because they helped me understand perspective a lot better and gave me ideas I wouldn’t have even thought of.

The thing I liked most about the final review of all these exercises is looking back at my beginning drawings and being able to compare them with the final projects of each exercise. I liked to see how I fixed my mistakes made in the first drawings and successfully developed my skills.

Briton Nevitt

Exercise One Reflection

1.a. The first exercise with the contour drawings really challenged the way I look at things. For the first time I had to draw what I actually saw, not what I thought something should look like. I was really able to take away a new sense of viewing the world around me. I had to stop generalizing and draw what I saw not what I knew. I also had to deal with the concept of a final product that was unfamiliar, unpredictable, and perhaps very bad.

b. The first exercise really helped lead into the second when we turned from situations and locations to people. We first had to very quickly capture the form of the body in just a few lines and this showed me how to really just see the curves and how the lines captured the movement of the gestures. We then had to draw the figures using different techniques such as contour and weight and mass. This taught me how to manipulate the charcoal to really stress one part of the figure over another.

c. The third exercise really differed from the first two. We learned the new concept of vanishing points and construction lines. I learned how to use a viewfinder and I also learned to see the points that all objects went to. I began to see in perspective. I learned how to use this perspective to really understand how to show an object in 3-D and to really see those invisible lines that guide our sight.

d. The fourth exercise took us back to the first and second exercises when we really had to draw what we see. We also were first introduced to value where before we had mainly drawn with lines we now had to draw without any lines, only highlights and lowlights. I learned how to really notice the tension in the fabric to create an interesting composition. With the fruit I had to really notice how the different lighting really changed the texture of the fruit.

e. The fifth exercise introduced us to ink and explored our previous use of texture to a higher degree. This focus really taught me how to use ink in different ways in relationship to the texture we were trying to convey.

f. The sixth exercise was a combination of the charcoal skills we had learned, the texture skills we had learned with the ink, and the compositional skills we learned with the fourth exercise. I really learned how to use the charcoal to really stress the values and how those values play an important role in conveying texture and composition.

2. In exercise 1.7 I had to really think, visualize, and understand what my situation revealed and unfolded throughout a specific period of time, and I had to take that understanding and pick how to draw it to convey the transformation. It challenged me to see my drawings in not only composition but in material and how that changed the whole piece.

3. In pulling out work and really critiquing it not only in the final piece but in how it fit the criteria of each particular exercise I realized how each exercise in sequence really taught me how to manipulate certain materials and how to organize a drawing. I also noticed how they each really dealt with one another, they all seemed so different yet looking back they are all similar in some way. I also noticed how everyone has really grown since the very first exercise.

4. The discussion helped a lot and if I could go back I would really try to be more experimental and daring. And now with all I know I can really see things like I did not see them before, like how easy blind contours and gestures are. I also realize what exactly my studio professor was talking about with drawing what we see.

5. Looking over the past weeks some of my biggest challenges were to not look at the paper, comprehend that we actually did always have that much homework, actually do that homework, and come up with another way to “texturize” cardboard. I also have realized how much I have learned in manipulating material to do something. I think one of my biggest successes was the fruit texture drawings. I think that one of my biggest surprises was how fast the five hours would actually go by (most of the time).

Malory Hunter

Exercise 1 taught me a lot not only about how to draw, but also about how I view the world around me.

Ex 1.1 was the most difficult for me. It really challenged me, because I’ve never had to draw without looking at what I was drawing. I like to be able to constantly check what I’m doing. When I started this exercise, it was really difficult for me to concentrate on what I really was seeing. After awhile, it became easier to simply follow the lines with my eyes and pencil. The finished product was not very similar to what I saw, but I could still tell the buildings from nature. My trees and clouds were a mess of tangled lines, and my buildings and construction were made up of more confident, straighter lines. I think this exercise is hilarious for us to start on, because it’s so humbling. Everyone comes into class with their big sketchpads and drawing pencils, prepared to do their best to make an admirable piece of artwork. Instead everyone ends up with a mess of lines that are almost incoherent. Of all the exercises, the blind contour was my least favorite, but it was a good opening exercise in that it made me begin to question how I really saw different objects and scenes.

Ex 1.2, on the other hand, was definitely one of my favorites. I love the human figure, and I love to capture important features and curves of different poses. At first it was difficult to capture so much of a pose in only a few seconds, but eventually I was able to decide on which lines were the most important to the coherence of the whole picture, and I was able to quickly and effectively portray a pose. As the time increased, it took a try or two to adjust to the new amount of time and the best way to use it. For example, with the shortest poses, I usually ended up drawing the curve of the spine and the position of the arms or legs, whichever was most important to the particular pose. When the time got longer, I had to go from drawing stick-figure like images with the spine and other important lines to drawing a shaded, more realistic figure. Overall, I loved this exercise and was excited to do the homework of drawing a public space.

Ex 1.3 was all about perspective. Now I’m all about perspective. This was probably the exercise that I learned the most from. I have never been taught how to draw in perspective, but after our professor explained it, it seemed to click. Before, I saw everything in a flat plane, completely separate from perspective. Now I see vanishing points and cannot separate myself from seeing in perspective. I kind of liked the view finder exercise, but I was left a bit hungry for more of a creative assignment. I didn’t like having to do the drawings in the same areas as everyone else. I wanted to do more of a unique project, but it was fun nonetheless.

Ex 1.4 was not very new to me. I struggle with value, and the practice helped. I thought the fruit drawings were particularly helpful in getting me to stop sketching and start looking at value. It was difficult for me not to generalize, but as we kept doing the fruit drawings, I saw myself improve slowly. I found the sheet drawing particularly hard because I kept losing my focus on a single place after looking down at my paper.

Ex 1.5 was all about experimenting with materials. I dislike working with cardboard. I guess it taught me to think outside the box and always play with the materials I’m considering using. I learned a lot about cardboard and what kind of shapes it would make. The connection part was easier, I thought, than the simple models. My models tended to be quite less complex than those of my peers. I focused on making the simplest connectors possible with the cardboard.

Ex 1.6 was difficult for me. I like to use charcoal, and was glad we didn’t have to use cardboard anymore… even if we ended up drawing it. It was interesting to try to draw different textures and materials. I liked the pen drawings because the material is something interesting that I’d never done before. I was proud of my natural texture drawings, but didn’t like my cardboard drawings so much.

Ex 1.7 was awesome. I loved the freedom that 1.7 gave us. I liked not to be confined to one idea, media or location. I loved how this combined so many of the previous exercises and concluded the section so nicely. I chose the Marta subway, and I think I really put a lot more effort than necessary into this one. This exercise made me think of the studio class in a different way because I really enjoyed this exercise. I learned so much from the review. I liked how the review was set up and enjoyed hearing from the critics. After my personal review, I’m excited to learn more about line width and practice perspective more. Going through my peers projects really inspired me and gave me a lot of ideas. Hopefully I can use this creative energy in the next section.

Kara Kynast

Exercise 1- Reflections

Exercise 1 gave me an insight into what the world of design had to offer. It let me experiment with the different types of drawing mediums, as well as what kinds of drawings were possible with each.

1.1- Since this was the first exercise, it through me for a loop. I was expecting to draw buildings and other objects. Instead, on my first day of class I hear that we aren’t allowed to look at our paper, and that the drawings were not supposed to be nice looking anyway. However, I soon caught on to what was expected, and the blind contour drawings began to be fun to do. I learned that you must not try to draw what you think it looks like, instead your pencil should just follow a line and continue its shape without lifting your pencil. This was by far the hardest concept to grasp because I had never done anything like that where I was not allowed to look down.

1.2- This exercise was difficult because the first few drawings we did were only a few seconds long. It is really hard to draw a person in only a couple of seconds, especially when we used charcoal. This was my first experience with drawing with charcoal, and I definitely liked it. I like the way it can be smeared and manipulated. The gesture drawings that we did helped me learn all of the uses for charcoal, and that was important because we used it a lot during the first section. I have never been very good at drawing people, and this proved to be the only frustrating part of this exercise.

1.3- I think that the perspectives we did in this exercise were my favorite of the whole first section. I liked drawing the vanishing points with all of the details that the viewfinder had to offer. This was what I thought the whole class would be like, but it turned out to only be a small portion. This exercise ended up being a small part of my final project because my scene contained a little perspective.

1.4- This exercise was done in charcoal, and it focused on the concept of adding value by making lighter or darker marks. The main drawing we did was that of two sheets hanging on the wall with a light shining on them. I found this drawing difficult, but by the end of it I had gotten a grasp on how to accurately portray the sheets.

1.5- In this exercise we took cardboard and had a little fun trying to mess up the texture of it. After destroying the cardboard in any way possible, we had a chance to draw the finished pieces with pen. This was our first experience using felt-tip pens. I found the pens a little harder to draw with because they are very precise and there is no way to erase what you have already drawn.

1.6- In this exercise we made cardboard 3-D models and drew them with charcoal. We used what we learned about texture, along with what we learned by doing previous drawings with charcoal. I enjoyed doing these because we got to zoom in on the detail of the cardboard when we cropped the images. Also, I think these were the drawings of mine that turned out to be the best I did all throughout exercise 1.

1.7- This exercise definitely took some time. Not only did we have to draw out a series from a scenario, but we also had to explain our work. We had to have a plan on what we did, and why we did it. The challenging part was deciding how to explain the marks I was making on my paper. Usually my drawing is a reflection of how I feel, but this time I had to remember every thought I had on the work.

I think that during this beginning exercise I picked up on the key purpose; we were supposed to change our way of thinking, from drawing the object, into drawing what lines we see in front of us. I think the entire first exercise was a good learning process. I also enjoyed using the different types of mediums that we experienced with.

The critique made me realize that the art that we do is not simply drawing a picture. Instead, we must try to communicate what we draw down while being able to explain our thoughts behind our work. Every little bit of planning matters, from the types of medium we used, to the order in which we pin up our works. If I could redo some of my exercises I would probably redo 1.7. I would try to add more of the things we learned throughout exercise one, rather than just simply drawing what I saw.

Throughout exercise one I found that my biggest frustration was my artistic ability. The fact that I cannot draw very well makes it tough to keep up with the rest of the class. For this reason, I think that my blind contour was my biggest success. It was a challenging assignment, but my drawing turned out to look just as good as everyone else’s. The biggest surprise I had was the amount of time it takes to draw all of the exercises. All of the works were fun, but they were also quite time consuming. I am used to seeing someone on television or elsewhere whip up a drawing in a few minutes, but it ended up taking me hours.

Jason Lanzone

Exercise 1 Reflection

Coming from a background of little art experience other than looking at other’s work and admiring it, I found my first exercise in the realm of art and architecture taught me a great deal. Our preliminary work with blind contour drawings taught me to have a more trained eye. I have always looked at things, but after completing these drawings I felt that I could really “see” them. I no longer just saw general shapes of objects. I learned to look deeper and see the lines that constructed that object. Moving on from this to perspective drawings, I felt that I had something in my personal armory of art weapons with which to attack this task. I tossed any pre-conceived notions of what I saw and drew what I really did see. I felt that this step was very important because I was applying my new knowledge.

When we moved from pencil to charcoal I was thrown off totally. I had worked with charcoal once before and remembered it as an extremely dirty and not all together fulfilling process. I how ever learned to appreciate charcoal as a new and quite useful medium. In fact, I believe it is currently my favorite. With charcoal I relearned how to see the general lines of an object and then how to see the interaction those lines have with weight and mass.

The whole process of exercise one has opened my artistic eye, I believe. I found this very helpful in the finally part of the exercise. I had many more venues in which I could travel down and explore and that I had to consider for the project. I f I had looked at the final project at the beginning I would have had no idea how to even deal with it. By the end, not only did I have a way to deal with it, I had multiple methods that I had to discuss to get them to their greatest fruition.

The review at the end of the project also helped me see my work in a new light. It helped me to look back at some of the multiple venues that I had missed or ignored thinking they were not important and to see how important these other ideas truly were. The over process of exercise 1 has led me to a new perception and understanding of lines and mediums and overall works.
Patrick Merkle

Exercise 1 reflections

Exercise 1.1 helped me to see objects from a different view. It also helped me to view the world around me as a series of lines and to take into consideration how those lines affect the overall view. This exercise helped me to realize that an object can be represented in a different way, or viewed in a different light if you are not allowed to present what you think you see, but to show what you see without changing it to what you think it should like.

Exercise 1.2 showed me how to a few quick strokes can represent a figure or a pose. The quick gesture also made me realize how much information can be recorded in a short period of time. It also showed how time to work on an object using certain procedures with the charcoal can either enhance or detracts from a drawing depending on the time taken to draw the object. The continuous contour also allowed me to see how a situation can unfold on paper by simply following a single line. This could also enhance the over all presentation of the image as it would show the level of confusion or movement in the area.

Exercise 1.3 allowed me to view spaces from a totally technical view. It also allowed me to see how looking in depth reveal certain things that the eye misses at first glance. The eye may not pick up the ways or how particular lines disappear to one common point. This exercise also helped me to realize how grouping lines can give an object depth and that space between lines may make a scene seem shallow. This exercise also helped me to notice the placement of certain objects and how these objects either help too conceal something that would be very interesting to look at, if it were not outdone by the object that was placed near to it.

Exercise 1.4 gave me my second experience with charcoal, the first being in exercise 1.2. This exercise helped me to realize the different uses of charcoal. I realized how the different strokes and the two different types of charcoal could not only represent different shades and in some respect different color, but it could also represent texture and lighting while showing the different colors. It was interesting to me that all this could be done just by shading and emphasizing certain lines and the play of light on an object. It was also interesting to see how same objects could be represented differently when different methods and different charcoals were used.

Exercise 1.5 showed me how cardboard can be manipulated to form certain objects. It also showed me that the texture of the object or that the object reveals can help influence the shape the object takes on this exercise also helped me to see how I can manipulate objects in my environment and transform them into something using the cardboard. The cardboard also showed me that anything can be taken and made into its own form of art. The swatches were all able to show a different texture and in itself they were able to shown that each of these could be made into or already were pieces of art. I never thought of cardboard as a medium to express feelings or to be used to make abstract representations of things that you perceive. The used of pen also was a new experience for me. I didn’t realize before that class how much could be shown using an ink drawing and how realistic it could look. I also realized that to me ink represented exactness. When drawings using inks were done they seemed clear and precise there seemed to be no doubt in what the drawing had to convey.

In exercise 1.6 I learnt that space and the angle of an object made it appear to be very different from how it was first viewed. Also the use of charcoal in this exercise helped the space to seem bigger or smaller depending on the way the object was being viewed. The charcoal also helped me to look more closely at the models and to try and render the different textures that one model could show depending on what angle it was being viewed from. This exercise also helped me to take in my surroundings in more detail. It helped me to zoom in on items that caught my attention sometimes this allowed me to see these items differently.

When I was trying to figure out what to do for exercise 1.7 I chose my situations from things I liked or things that were interesting. In the end the situation I chose was not only something I would have found interesting but something others would have found interesting and something that more people were likely to understand and relate to. Throughout this series I tried to capture how most persons in my hall felt. This was a bit challenging as many people had different feelings. The challenge was trying to find something that the majority of the girls in the hall could relate to. I also had to find three media that would to some degree best represent how the situation unfolded.

I think it really hit while I was reflecting and curating on the work how different everyone can interpret the same set of instructions. It also showed me how those different interpretations allow you to view things differently. While curating the work that was to be hung up, because it was one single drawing beside another and all the drawings were drawn by different people it was easier to compare the different styles that were used to complete the drawings. It was also easier to see how the same thing can have such a different view because of the method used. The final review helped me to bring out views of my drawings that I didn’t see or consciously think about. It also helped me to see the drawings of others in a different light as the questions asked about drawings in the group work brought out different views of each exercise that were not brought out in class.

I probably would try to redo some of my work like the 1.2 charcoals as I would now have a better understanding of what to do. I would also redo the structures so that they all showed the progression of how one thing could progress to form something totally different. To me the biggest challenge and frustration was figuring out which charcoal I was more comfortable with and how the use of the different charcoals could present different things. My biggest surprise was that when I was using the charcoal in the beginning it didn’t seem like it would ever turn out how ii wanted it to but then in the end it almost always did, or at least to something close. Another surprise was how something that resembled a jumble of lines and not the object allowed you to view the object clearer and see not the object but more of the lines that the object comprised of.
Jean-Ann James

EX 1 Reflection Prompt

Exercise 1.1 was an intro to the whole exercise that forced me to open my mind to new methods of drawing and new methods of just “looking” in general. I was forced to draw a scene without looking at the paper. Prior to coming to GA Tech, I drew on my own time just for enjoyment and became somewhat of a perfectionist; always editing my drawings and making sure that if I was drawing something I saw, the drawing looked just like what it was in reality. This habit carried on through ex. 1.1. Using continuous lines to convey what I saw without looking at the paper was quite difficult for me, despite my drawing skills. After multiple drawings of the outdoors and various objects lying around, I was able to create abstract drawings that were able to convey what I saw effectively WITHOUT looking at the paper. I learned to look for lines in what I see and use those lines to create an image. I learned not to generalize what I saw as well. These are all important skills that I carried over to every other exercise.

Exercise 1.2 introduced the concept of gesture drawings, and instantly became my favorite exercise. This exercise also began the use of charcoal, a tool that has grown to become both my best friend and worst enemy in studio. Using simple lines to show an image of some sort proved to be more than what it seemed. One thing I learned is that there is thought process when it comes to gestural drawings. What line on the body can I use to build off? Should I use continuous lines, a few quick strokes, or add weight and mass to my image? This exercise presented me with many options when it came to capturing the human body under different circumstances and different time intervals.

Exercise 1.3 takes the idea of finding lines in our environment from exercise 1.1 and adds the concept of vanishing points, and throws us into the world of perspective drawings. Taking drafting for a year, I was quite familiar with the methods behind a perspective drawing. While the exercise was a good way to introduce someone to perspective drawings, it was old to me and I did not find it as stimulating as the other exercises. ALSO, thumbnails are first used in this assignment and lets me see how important they are in the process of planning my work.

Exercise 1 makes a complete turn around with the transition from 1.3 to 1.4. Charcoal is once again put to use. This time the focus is on using charcoal to bring out the values of different surfaces, or the lightness and darkness of a surface. Initially, I had to draw two drapes with a light aimed at them. I found it quite simple to show the value on the drapes. It was a matter of using the darker portions of the cloth to bring out the lighter parts in the foreground. By making a value a scale, I found no problems when it came to the gradual change of values across the surface of the drapes. This also applied to drawing of the fruits. The difficulty arose with fruits different surface textures. The smooth apple; the rough potato; and the orange with its bumps and pores. All of these things had to be taken to account when it came to showing the surface of the fruits.

Exercise 1.5 was an exercise that I really did not enjoy. We had to take cardboard and create a wide variety of textures. After doing that we had to use a fine point pen and use different methods to convey the created surfaces. Using cross hatching, stippling, curved lines and more, I realized that many people used different methods to show the same surfaces, Some methods worked out better than others and made me aware of the fact that we must think about the most effecting way of conveying our desired image. The reason I did not particularly like this exercise is because of the cardboard. I just do not like cutting cardboard.

Exercise 1.6 has me using cardboard AGAIN. This time I must make 3-D models with the cardboard and use charcoal to show the texture and value of the model. I used the methods learned in 1.4 and 1.5 to create the images of my models.

The final section of exercise 1, 1.7, had use take all we have learned in the previous assignment and made us create a set of drawings displaying some sort of transformation. This was quite difficult because the whole concept of strategically using our different drawing media and methods became the driving factor behind how our final project would come across. It was very thought provoking and time consuming. First multiple, scenarios had to be created, narrowing the scenarios down to just one. The whole transformation would occur in this scenario. What media should I use? How should I use this media? Is what I am doing effective conveying what I mean? Do the drawing and my narrative coincide with one another? These are al questions that must be taken into account in such an assignment. Being my first time undergoing such a task, not all of these questions were asked before actually presenting my work. But, of course through the reviews and learning, I am aware of what I need to do later on.

The whole process of curating the work of my section did not do much to educate me. Sure, I was able to see the different methods taken to approach the same assignments, but I already knew how there are different ways of convey the a single idea, with some methods more effective than others. I saw the curation more as something to show the reviewers, so they would have a general idea what we worked on so far.

Looking back at Exercise 1, the difficulty came not in the drawing itself, but in the strategy behind making the drawings. I feel with time and practice, I will be able to find much better ways of conveying my work. This was a great introduction.

Michael Grier

Exercise 1 Reflection

Exercises 1.1a and 1.1b
In exercise 1.1a and 1.1b we did blind contour drawings looking out the window and with five objects of our choice. This exercise was meant to teach us how to think through the drawing process by making us uncomfortable. Most students coming into this exercise drawing by how they think the drawing should look like in their head instead of what they see. For example, most students would draw the construction site by making the crane using their brain, because they know what it is supposed to look like. In the exercise, we were forced to draw the lines that we saw. This method made our pictures go against our natural instincts of making the picture realistic, but it still represented the object in its own way. This exercise was a good choice to start with, because it taught me a valuable lesson. It showed me to draw the lines that I see instead of drawing from my head.

Exercise 1.2a and 1.2b
In exercise 1.2a and 1.2b we did gesture and figure drawings using both people posing and people in motion. These exercises challenged my view of drawing people, as we used key lines to form the drawing. We started with quick, five second drawings, which forced me to focus on key lines to capture the person’s pose. We added more time gradually which allowed me to add more detail, but it still forced me to look at drawing simple lines to capture the pose. This exercise also introduced me to charcoal, since it was the first time I had used it to draw. It helped me learn how to use charcoal to achieve different types of lines, and it helped me add weight to my gesture drawings. It brought out different aspects that the pencil could not with the weight that it provided. These exercises not only made me change my view on drawing people, but it introduced me to the skills related to drawing lines with charcoal.

Exercise 1.3a, 1.3b, and 1.3c
In exercise 1.3a, 1.3b and 1.3b we worked with drawing in perspective. These exercises forced us to change our views by capturing a 3D world on a piece of paper. This was the first exercise we had to be concerned with proportion in the pictures we drew and how everything interacted on the page together. Since it changed the way we looked at the objects we drew, it made us change our approach to think through our use of the pencil. We learned how to use vanishing lines and construction lines to accurately represent multiple levels of the architecture building by showing depth. These exercises increased my skill by allowing me to show perspective in my works.

Exercise 1.4a and 1.4b
In exercise 1.4a and 1.4b we worked with charcoal to draw both curtains and fruit. In exercises 1.1 through 1.3 we used lines to represent objects, however in these exercises we were forced to use value. It challenged us to view the world in the difference in light and dark rather than lines. These exercises taught us how to use charcoal to represent objects without drawing lines by using different levels of shading to show the differences of light on the object. Composition was introduced too, while we produced thumbnails to practice this fact. We were forced to think through our layout of both the drapes and the fruit to produce visually attractive works. I learned to recognize shadows and to think through the composition of the objects I draw, while enhancing my skills with charcoal in these exercises.

Exercise 1.5a, 1.5b, and 1.5c
In exercise 1.5a, 1.5b, and 1.5c we investigated texture by using cardboard and pens. In exercise 1.5a, we tested the different properties of cardboard to create unique textures by scoring, tearing, cutting, burning, folding and rolling among other things. This exercise introduced us to texture, since we had to create these different samples. Exercise 1.5b taught me how to capture textures through the use of pen. Pens provide distinct, clear lines and could be used different ways to create the appearance of texture. We experimented with different methods with pens to accurately represent the textures we created with the cardboard of the swatches. Exercise 1.5c taught us how to create joints by using cardboard and to create more structurally advanced objects. The study of cardboard in 1.5a helped me complete 1.5c, since we already knew the properties of cardboard. These exercises not only taught us how to use cardboard to create models, but it introduced us to textures.

Exercise 1.6
In exercise 1.6 we used charcoal to draw the joins we produced in exercise 1.5c. This exercise forced me to change my approach to cardboard, since I had to focus on creating texture while still using value. Exercise 1.6 helped me further my skills with charcoal, because, now I try to represent the texture of the object I see. In addition, this exercise provided emphasis on composition and cropping the picture. We had to use thumbnails to portray the best layout for our drawings.

Exercise 1.7a, 1.7b, 1.7c, and 1.7d
In exercise 1.7 we created a triptych to represent a changing situation. We were forced to choose the mediums and layouts that we used to produce the best works. These exercises provided a special challenge, since we had the freedom to choose the mediums we used. I drew a construction site of a sorority house on campus, and I had to answer many questions before I could draw the final picture. I had to choose what I wanted to pull out of the site to best represent the construction, and what types of drawings would best represent the situation. These mediums had to flow together to provide consistency in the triptych too. Then I drew thumbnails to help me figure out exactly what I was going to draw before the final picture. These exercises forced me to focus on every detail in order to produce a well thought out, high quality triptych.

The final review revealed to me that every little detail matters and affects the representation of my works. I did not place much importance on my curating, but I realized afterwards that it was important. Now I know that curation can be used to help pull out aspects of your work by showing the relationships between the pictures in the triptych. The discussions during the review showed me every detail matters too. The reviewers questioned the reasoning behind why I did what I did in my work. These questions revealed to me that there should be a reason for everything that I do in my works. The review made me look at my work again to focus on why I chose to do what I did in exercise 1.

The main challenge that exercise 1 brought about was the amount of different techniques and mediums that we were introduced too. Although we need to develop an arsenal of techniques to use, it was hard to develop a high level of skill in each one. I enjoyed the value drawings with charcoal, because they are not reliant on lines. I was able to use different shades of charcoal to represent the object instead of accurately portraying them with lines. The biggest frustration for me was the perspective drawings. With my level of talent in drawing, it was hard for me to produce a good drawing even with vanishing lines and construction lines. Exercise 1 helped introduce me to various techniques that I will be able to build upon in the future.
Jesse Dubberly
d

Each section of exercise one helped me develop new skills and view my surroundings differently. All the art classes I have been in before were much different. My not-so-great teacher gave us materials and made us use them without any instruction. These exercises with specific instructions really helped me to learn how to use different materials and when to use specific ones. In 1.1, I learned how to draw what I see instead of what I know. I noticed all the lines in an object or view that normally I would have overlooked. This exercise taught me more about the process than the medium. This attention to lines helped in the next exercise to capture gestures of figures in a very short amount of time. I learned how to use charcoal in different ways to represent either gestures or mass and weight. This helped to focus my attention on what was important about the figure in relation to the information I wanted to convey. A weight and mass drawing would focus on the shadows instead of the dominant lines of a gesture drawing. In the quick drawings and for moving subjects, I had to be able to think through the process to decide on a technique to draw them. Section 1.3 helped me to look at my surroundings in a much different way than I had before. In much the same way as 1.1, I had to draw what I saw instead of what I think it should look like. I was made much more aware of the distortions I see all the time. This exercise, like 1.1, was much more based on the process than on the materials and mediums. It also introduced me to using thumbnails to help me decide and how to use my pencil to measure. 1.4 made us forget about lines. This section helped me to use charcoal to show tones and values instead of lines making up fabric and fruits. This was an exercise that focused on the media and how to think through it. Because you could not sketch it out beforehand, we had to carefully think through our final product. We also had to learn how to produce different tones and shades using the charcoal and the eraser. The thumbnails really helped me to choose the composition that would demonstrate the textures and shading best. Exercise 1.5 helped to show textures and how to use ink to do so. This helped me learn how to best use the medium and thinking about which techniques would convey the different textures best. Exercise 1.6 made us think through the process instead of learning how to use charcoal. We had to choose the best composition of the models to display their textures, surface qualities, shades and shadows. 1.7 brought all of the exercises together. We had to think through the entire process beforehand and which mediums would illustrate it best. The techniques we learned all had to be used to explore all the possible ways to describe the story and then choosing the best ones to use.

In this last exercise decided what to do what not the hard part but how to. Everything about the composition was important from the mediums to the size and techniques. I had to be able to describe in detail why I made the decisions that I did about my composition.

When we had to go through all of our work, I began to notice how my skills developed through the sections. I had to decide which pieces of my work best followed the instructions and demonstrated the basic ideas of each exercise. When I read back over the instructions I was more aware of how my drawings helped me develop the necessary skills to successfully depict an object or scene.

The final review helped me to ask more questions about what I have done and why I have chosen to do them how I have. By being more critical, I can look back and decide whether or not I successful described my subject. It helped me to articulate the purpose behind my work. I may now want to go back and change the focus of some of my work to show different things.

Exercise one challenged me in many new ways. I now know that I have to think about what I am doing in my artwork and exercises instead of just doing it. I also now have to be able to explain them. Some of the sections really frustrated me, like perspectives, because I was forced to draw something what I did not expect it to be. Also in the blind contour I wanted my work to make sense, and I was very tempted to look down at my paper to make it make sense. I also found it difficult to draw an entire picture in a matter of seconds in the gesture drawings. In the tone drawings, not using lines to depict the folds and curves of the objects was particularly challenging for me. I also found that simple drawings can convey as much information as a more complex drawing. I also feel that I have a greater control over the mediums that we used during the first exercise.
Kelly Hendrix

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ex 1 reflections last edited on 12 August 2005 at 2:36 pm by 130.207.86.86