assignment for tuesday, november 4

build the following leg muscles

(look them up in the index of volume 4, pelvic skeleton)


posterior leg:

deep muscles of the posterior leg:
flexor digitorum longus
tibialis posterior
flexor hallucis longus
popliteus











superficial muscles of the posterior leg:
soleus
gastrocnemius





anterior leg = extensors (dorsiflexors)

tibialis anterior - this muscle begins high on the lateral tibia. its tendon crosses over to the medial ankle and foot. (this cross-over tendon creates, as robert beverly hale writes, a form the size of the nose--by paying attention to it while building and drawing, you can create a nice transition from leg to foot).


extensor digitorum longus (long extensor of the toes)
extensor hallucis longus (long extensor of the big toe)
peroneus tertius (consider this part of the extensor digitorum longus, as its fifth tendon.)








lateral leg

peroneal brevis (left)
peroneal longus (right)

assignment for thursday, october 23

• build the following muscles on your maniken

• describe your process building them

• include your group's summary
  class on thursday, october 16

quadriceps
vastus intermedius
(vol. 4, pp. 94 - 95)

vastus medialis
(vol. 4, pp. 96 - 97)

vastus lateralis
(vol. 4, pp. 98 - 99)

rectus femoris
(vol. 4, pp. 100 - 101)

adductors
pectineus
(vol. 4, pp. 102 - 103)

adductor longus
(vol. 4, pp. 104 - 105)

adductor brevis
(vol. 4, pp. 106 - 107)

adductor magnus
(vol. 4, pp. 108 - 109)

gracilis
(vol. 4, pp. 110 - 111)

hamstrings
semimembranosus (vol. 4, pp. 112 - 113)
semitendinosus (vol. 4, pp. 114 - 115)
biceps femoris (vol. 4, pp. 116 - 117)




sartorius
(vol. 4, pp. 122 - 123)


"my favorite muscle"--see, i'm not the only one who says this--click on the link for some good information on the sartorius and a very clear image of one on a bodybuilder, from http://anatomynotes.blogspot.com

assignment for thursday, october 16

tuesday (october 14) in class, we spent some time in blog groups where you looked at each others' manikens and checked where each of them were in terms of accuracy of anatomy and quality of the clay building. the muscles that should have been finished at that point were

• spinal erectors with lumbodorsal fascia
• quadratus lumborum
  
• external obliques
• rectus abs
• tensor fasciae latae with IT band
  
• gluteus minimus
• gluteus medius
• gluteus maximus, iliac and axial heads

for your blog:

1. post at least three images of your maniken with the glutes finished (front, side, back [or 3/4 views])
2. describe your process of building these muscles
3. include your group's summary from class on tuesday, october 14, that describes how your group worked together to make your manikens more accurate and more carefully built (in terms of aesthetic quality of the clay--marks or no marks, visible plane changes, clarity of forms, etc.)
4. feel free to add additional comments to the group summary if you'd like (optional)
   

assignment for tuesday, october 14

finish building glutes

gluteus minimus (vol. 4, pp. 42-43)

gluteus medius (vol. 4, pp. 44-45)

tensor fasciae latae (vol. 4, pp. 118-119)

gluteus maximus, iliac head (vol. 4, pp. 120-121)
you do not have to build the IT band again; you've already built it with the tensor

gluteus maximus, axial head (vol. 5, pp. 64-65)

assignment (ongoing)

beginning today (october 16)

• you need to respond to each of your blog group members at least two times per week:
  some examples of how to do this: respond to drawings or maniken images they have posted, go back through their blogs and respond to earlier posts, ask them meaningful questions, start a discussion about what you are experiencing with class that they could help you with, take something they are doing and connect it to what you are doing (what are they doing that you can learn from? tell them about that.) give them ideas--other artists they might be interested in, for example.

• you need to create at least one blog post per week that is not assigned in class:
  post something that is related to your professional life as an artist--for ideas, think about good books about art and artists, what else in your life relates to art, projects for other classes that you're working on, exhibits you've seen or would like to see, etc. use these posts to record what is important to you and also as a way to show or teach others something they might not know.

better blogging

some notes of the in-class discussions on blog writing/responding, image quality, text appearance, etc. (from class on thursday, october 9):

the overall ideas of the discussions were to treat your blog as an artwork itself, or as a presentation. this means it should look clean and thoughtfully designed. images should be clear, free of distractions. writing should be specific and useful for others, not vague and nondescript.

use the blog to present yourself in your best artistic and professional light.

your blog is also a place to interact with your blog group members: to give thoughtful feedback, record summaries of your group interaction in class, and to help each other solve problems.



writing/responding:

1. use specific language (most good writing takes time. this is especially true when it comes to writing about visual objects. slow down to find the necessary specificity you need to describe something.)
2. tell us (your audience) something we don't know already; make a new observation.
   
3. add to what has already been said by the artist or other people who comment; don't just re-iterate what has already been said.
4. resist the urge to sum up your writing with a happy ending sentence--it will be better if you just leave off with your last observational statement of fact.
5. use noticing to write about others' work. it makes you look more carefully and will give the artist useful feedback on how his/her piece comes across to viewers.
6. write thoughtfully rather than quickly. as you write, ask yourself what kind of feedback would you like to receive about your work (once you received that all-important "your work is awesome!" after you've heard that, then what else do you still want to know?)

images:

1. pay attention to how you are photographing and/or editing your photographs so that they come across clearly.
2. photograph your manikens against a plain, black or white background (matte board, for example) or edit the image in photoshop and give it a plain background.

text

1. think like a graphic designer. text should be easy to read, separated by enough space when appropriate. people like to read shorter rather than longer paragraphs, so if you have a long piece of text, break into paragraphs, give it some space, some breaks to make it easier to look at and read.

practice, practice all the way

"You must realize that there is no royal road to drawing. It is practice, practice all the way."


--robert beverly hale,
drawing lessons
from the great masters:
100 great drawings
analyzed/figure drawing
fundamentals defined

the society of figurative arts

this is a beautiful and helpful website with tons of examples of structural drawing, line work, and anatomy








here are examples of the torso, rib cage, and pelvis (note the muscles included in the drawings like we've been working on in class):

assignment for tuesday, october 7 (part two)

this assignment is for the 301-002 (11:15 - 2:20) class

post images of
1) one 10-minute pose from thursday, oct. 2 and
2) the 50-minute pose from thursday, oct. 2.

with the 10-minute pose, include the three points you noticed that were different between your drawing and my 10-minute drawing. (i'll post this here as soon as i get to a camera--you can copy it to your blog if you'd wish)

also, for the 10-minute drawing and the 50-minute drawing, write a minimum of 200 words for each drawing addressing the following issues/questions:

structure
can you see long axis lines and cross contour lines in the drawing? do they function to show the length and direction of each of the main forms of the figure? if you have outlines in the drawing, are the outlines somewhat open and varied in value and character? or too similar in value, weight? are there outlines in the drawing that create a flat, coloring-book feel?

anatomy
can you see an egg-like form indicating the rib cage? are there cross-contour lines indicating pelvic landmarks? does the drawing have anatomical landmarks we've studied so far? (for the 10-minute pose write about skeletal landmarks, for the 50-minute pose also include muscles--spinal erectors, external obliques, and rectus abs).

line
is there line variation in the drawing? variation of value? character? thickness/thinness? for the 50-minute pose write about how line functions to create atmospheric perspective.

composition
for each drawing describe the relationship between the drawing of the figure and ground. how does the figure fit within the picture plane? is there enough space around the figure to make it feel like it's not too crowded? is the whole figure (10-minute pose) or whole torso (50-minute pose) included? is the figure cropped? if so, how and why? what is the scale of the figure in relation to the picture plane? is it a tiny figure in the middle of a large page? does the drawing of the figure take full advantage of the space of the page?