fine art fundamentals

This blog is EXCELLENT. It's got a great list of anatomy resources for artists. Bookmark this one!

student blog lists and commenting

Please read this entire post carefully and let me know if you have any questions.

This post contains links to the lists of student blogs for Spring 2011. On these lists you can see each student in each section of Life Drawing I for this semester with a link to his or her blog as well as the title of his or her blog.

You can also access this information throughout the semester on the Pages Tab titled "student blog url's/titles" at the top of the blog. (here). 

I have color-coded the lists. The colors represent the different blog "small groups" for the semester. These small groups relate to the commenting part of your blog work.

You are expected to comment at least once per week on the other two members of your small group (in other words, you need to make at least one comment on each of the other two students' blogs that are the same color as yours in the list). These comments are in addition to your regular weekly posting of  your 300+ word and one-image reflection. You may comment on any previous post done by your other group members.

In order to leave a comment on a blog post, what you typically need to do is click on the phrase "0 [or however many there may be] comments" at the bottom of a post. That link leads to a page where you can type your comment. Some bloggers may choose to moderate comments before posting them or making them public, so be aware that your comments may not show up immediately.

For those of you with four members in your group, you only need to comment on two members' comments per week, just alternate members you make comments on so you are commenting as equally as you can on each other member's blog.


You need to start leaving these comments beginning next weekend, at the latest Sunday, Feb. 13.

Link to ART 301-001(MWF 10:10 - 12:10) List of Student Blogs (Names, URL's, Titles of Blog)

Link to ART 301-002 (TR 2:30 - 5:35) List of Student Blogs (Names, URL's, Titles of Blog) 

Related articles

• Lessons I've learned from my Student's Blogs (educatoral.com)
• Beginners Guide to Blogging (associateblogger.com)
• Blog Tips from Grandpa CogDog (cogdogblog.com)

studio mysteries

nice artistic anatomy posts on this blog:
studio mysteries

image from studio mysteries

Freed(Draw)ing: Some of my work

see it on youtube!

Check out this Type in Motion project by Andrew in Life Drawing I, Section 2 (11:15 class)! I love it.

Freed(Draw)ing: Some of my work

blog this!

Here's a great bookmarklet for all you bloggers.

• Click on the link and then drag the "blog this!" link up to your bookmark toolbar.
• Then when you come across something you'd like to share on your blog, all you have to do is click on your bookmarklet and it creates a post for you.
• One drawback--it only creates links to images, doesn't actually display the image--but it's a nice way to start a post.
  

photo edits

I'm using Emily's example from her blog here––not because she is the only one with this issue––but simply because she was top on the blog roll tonight as I checked back into Life Drawing I.

I've got before and after photos here from one of Emily's pages of gesture drawings. The after drawing is one I cropped and edited for exposure and contrast. See what a difference it makes.

Make sure you edit your photos before you post them on your blog. You can crop and make edits for exposure, contrast, etc. on preview, photoshop, or any other online photo editing site.

first assignment, fall 2009

1. if you do not have a life drawing blog set up yet, do so.  for those of you who do have blogs, inform me of any changes to titles, url's, etc.
2. create an introductory post: why are you taking life drawing two, what do you hope to learn this semester, what would you like to improve upon, etc. Include a few images of your other art work to give us an idea of what you do outside this course.
3. once you have your blog information ready, send an email to fichtera@uwstout.edu with your name, your blog's title, and your blog's url.
4. have supplies ready to go for next tuesday, sep. 15.

weekly reflections

Your ongoing assignment this semester will be to use your life drawing blog as a tool for reflection. You will be expected to post one reflection per week. This reflection should consist of at least one image and one paragraph of writing which addresses the past week of Life Drawing II, III, or IV—in class or with homework.

Reflections should be meaningful to you personally and also be appropriate for sharing with other class members and other art & design professionals.

Reflections should consist of thoughts about your progress, what you are learning, what you are struggling with, what you notice in your work or other students' work, questions you have, links to books/websites/any other information that you have found useful or interesting in relation to that week's work in Life Drawing II, III, or IV.

Feel free to post more than once a week. Once a week is the minimum requirement and expectation for Life Drawing II.

For those in Life Drawing III and IV, the expectation is to post one reflection per week plus one post on a contemporary art issue (artist, art critic, museum show, gallery, etc.).

We will take time during class each day to present these reflections/blog posts.  Each of you will be asked to do this twice during the semester. I will choose students to present each day, not in any particular order (to keep you on your toes!).

Quality and thoughtfulness of reflections and other blog posts will be reflected in your midterm and final grades, as will the quality of your presentations.

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.

fig drawing

fig drawing
here's a great figure drawing blog with beautiful examples. you'll want to come back to this one. from the profile info: the blog's creator is chris muller, teaching on fig(ure) drawing at new york university's tisch school of the arts, in the design for theater and film department.