Interior Drawings

    Not much to share today, Allison and I each did one "finished" interior in charcoal for Drawing I. I'm trying to push away the lines in these to gain more space in the drawing, I still need to push more. Working on my final homework assignment and more interiors in ink next week should help. I do love working with lines though.

[Cody's charcoal interior]

    I've got some Perspective homework and hopefully some drawing for myself to do tonight so I'm gonna' get to it.

-Cody

    I found this one room in the Sill House and its so lovely, I'm so drawn to it. It has green walls and these gorgeous windows with shutters. There are two sculptures on the filing cabinets and I've drawn it twice now. This charcoal drawing is the second time I've drawn it. I'm cropping it though, I made the window too big. Although the left window was bigger than the right, It's just TOO big.

    I will post a photo of my pastel version for another day. I have pieces to upload and I'm going to start some scheduled posts so I don't forget to write on the blog. 

[Allison's charcoal interior]

-Allison

Catching Up

    It's been a while since I've been able to get a post in, I've even been claiming there'd be new ones and not being able to find time. We're in the last month of this semester now and I can't believe it. With all of the work for classes and the holiday we've been pretty busy. I've got a few things to show, but not too much. I may do a semester re-cap/best of each media or subject at the end of the year.

    In both of my Illustration courses we've started on our last project, in Illustration I I'll be doing another watercolor, this time with colored pencils as well. We were assigned to do something interesting with a fruit. I chose a pomegranate and there's a theme of rebirth/reintegration I'm playing with.

[fruit illustration color study]

    Before I started on my final version I took my sketch into photoshop and did a quick color study to try and get the mood and lighting I was going for. I like how this looks, to be honest I think I'll have a hard time re-creating the same feeling traditionally.

[3D illustration concepts]

    In Special Topics in Illustration we have to create a 3D piece of work[sculpture] and then photograph it as the final illustration, choosing a scene/story from a book. I've recently been reading Joseph Campbell's The Hero With a Thousand Faces, and in it there is a story about Prince Five-Weapons and how he defeats and ogre named Sticky Hair. In the story any attack or weapon used to try and harm the ogre traditionally sticks to him[hence his name]. I thought it would be interesting to have the hair as active part of the fight flowing as if it were underwater at all times. So the hero and his 5 weapons will be suspended in mid[h]air.

    I'll be starting the actual sculpture this week so we'll see how it goes, we're supposed to use Sculpey because it's fast and bakes in the oven to harden. I'm not sure how I'll like it compared to oil based clay.

[plaster figure painting in progress]

    In painting I did this small piece working from a cast, with my painting class split up I don't have as much time as I'd like, but I'm still learning. Hopefully my schedule for next year will be smoother and I'll be able to sharpen/polish up my paintings.

[pencil figure drawing]

    This was the last figure drawing we did in Drawing I, I decided to do it in pencil for something different. There are things I like and dislike, but I love drawing in pencil. If I can't choose digital, I would probably choose my mechanical pencil. 

    I've finally started getting in the extra figure drawing sessions at school, hopefully it can start to help and I can get motivated/back into the swing of working on my own stuff soon. It may not happen often until classes end.

-Cody

      These are some figure drawings from class, the one on the left is meant to be over exaggerated. and the one on the right is in watercolor. I'm terrible at small details and watercolor layering. It's a difficult medium and I've come to accept that I don't like using it, and it doesn't like me. 

[Allison's figure drawings]

    This Friday is the opening reception of the Senior Studio Exhibition from 6:00-8:00 P.M. If you live nearby and can make it I'm sure it's going to be a great show.

Back at Bat

    We're back in town from our vacation in Colorado, we had a lot of fun and I got a little bit of work done on my homework so I'm catching up to where I need to be. I'll be back into the swing of things by the end of the week here. hopefully with regular blog posts and more digital work because I now have a new tablet! It's a cintiq 21ux and I love it, being able to see exactly where my hand is takes so much pressure off of my brain I can use for thinking about what I'm drawing rather than how.

[gargoyle concept]

    I'm trying a sketch a day again with gargoyles this time. I'll probably just post up all seven as one post on Sunday, rather than rush to draw and post them every day here. I did this one with the new tablet though. I can't wait to keep working and get back into working digitally more often.

    I've got some illustration stuff I'm working on and even finished, but alas they're in the wrong file type so my photoshop cs2 won't read them. I should have some work to share later this week for my other classes though. I'm trying to get back into doing work for Project Contingency the Halo fan game I was doing concepts for a while back. We'll see what's going on there.

-Cody

Transformation...

     I haven't had the chance to share most of my work in my illustration classes this semester. So I've scanned some of my sketches from yesterday in Illustration I. For this assignment we have to show some form of transformation within the composition. So I've designed a landscape/environment where these large rocks[natural formations] are being pulled down into these receptacles[technological structures].

[transformative sketches]

    At first I was playing with different compositions for the rock formations, that I'm basing off of Asian scholar rocks. The final piece will be done in ink and watercolor, but to figure out what color scheme I wanted I worked on it in photoshop for a bit.

[transformative sketch]

    I don't know if I'll be able to achieve the same effect in watercolors, but we'll see. I have all of break to do studies and finish it up. Along with my tarot card that I shared sketches for before. I won't have my tablet with me because my laptop doesn't work. When I get home from break though I should have a brand new Cintiq coming in to learn on. I can't wait to see where my hand is drawing when I'm working digitally. It looks like there's more transforming here than just in my pieces. Hopefully it can show in my work/production.

    I'll make a point to share my progression these two pieces. Maybe I'll do a sketch a day while I'm there traditionally. Any Suggestions on a theme?

-Cody

Late Night Catch Up

    It's a little late tonight, but I wanted to share something before I head to bed. We've had a busy weekend, with even more snow. Then this coming weekend we'll be flying out to Colorado to visit family and friends for a week!

    Last Thursday in Drawing we had our first figure model in class, we worked on everything up starting with short gesture drawings to a longer 40 minute-ish pose. I don't remember how long each of these are, but I chose 3 for each of us to share tonight.

[figure drawing by Cody]


[figure drawing by Cody]


[figure drawing by Cody]

    It's been a long time since I've done any figure drawing any I had missed it. I need to get in on the extra figures sessions after break.

-Cody

    I'm so excited to draw the figure. I had a lot of fun with the gesture drawings and there was a lot of great poses our model did. As for other classes, I'm doing a self portrait in my pastels class and a reproduction of a masters piece I want to copy. I will have to work on my homework In Colorado over break. I'm going to be missing a lot of work Friday when we leave and Monday when we come back, I'm not really prepared to work on art homework across the country. I'm going to have to figure a way to compromise.

   We are currently working on the figure in sculpture as well. So I have to make a small figure and finish my skeleton/musculature for the next time I have class. Which will be hard to catch up on.

[figure drawing by Allison]

[figure drawing by Allison]

[figure drawing by Allison]

-Allison

Another Week Past

    Once again we've been pretty busy this week and here's a bigger post. Hopefully we can get back into the swing of everything next week again. I have some new Illustration work in progress and finished that I'll try to photograph this weekend. I have trouble in my house getting quality photos of my work.

    First here is my first portrait for Painting class out of the two. They're not as developed as I'd like because I'm splitting my time between two models, but I'm pretty satisfied with this one. I had a lot of trouble getting her strong cheekbone and jawline to resemble hers. It was a defining factor in capturing her likeness and I think I missed it, but that's okay. I've never painted anyone like this before so I'm struggling with the face. It's my weakest point.

[Cody's portrait painting]

    In drawing we were doing more charcoal last week, though with white on a "toned" or colored surface. I had two, but my second one was not good at all. I tried to do a whole value drawing with charcoal pencils and it just didn't work the way I had intended. This one works well though, it looks a lot more like the model than my painting does to that model.

[Cody's charcoal/chalk portrait]

    As I mentioned I finished my second assignment for Illustration I, which was an ink/ink wash piece that I ended up really liking. I'll share more about it when I've got pictures... I feel like I had more work to share from last week, but I guess minus a drawing and a painting in progress and that's it for now.

    Tomorrow after Drawing Allison, my brother Clinton and I are going to see Emily Kinney of The Walking Dead sing/perform at the casino near here. Hopefully we can get into line early enough to meet her and get something signed. I have no idea what to expect, it should be fun either way though.

-Cody

    It's been a while ! It's been non-stop work for me. Between my independent drawings and drawing classes I've been producing a lot of work. I will post a section soon of all of the work. We had a hard time posting this week so we decided to create a huge post. 

       

     The first two are white charcoal pieces of a model. They both look like different models, but like the model... The brown piece was my second one and the blue was the first. I'm trying harder to measure where the features are. So I think the second one was more successful.

[Allison's charcoal/chalk portrait]


[Allison's charcoal/chalk portrait]

    Below is a drawing from my pastels class. Which I've had three times now, out of 7weeks. This image looks too vibrant. It's not so vibrant with the crazy bright colors. It loses its blend of color that way. 

[Allison's chalk pastel still-life]

    I've got great ideas for pieces, but they only seem great until I execute them. My Independent Drawing Projects class has a lot of abstract artists. So the feedback I recieve is more abstract based, which is unfortunate. 

-Allison 

"Any picture that needs a caption is a weak picture." -Harvey Dunn

A Bit of Backup

    I've got some homework for Drawing to finish up so I won't type very much, but I've got some work to share.

    In Special Topics in Illustration we've been assigned to illustrate a Tarot card of our choice. I chose the Wheel of Fortune for something different, and I'm taking it in a science fantasy direction. I did my sketches in photoshop, but the final will be some sort of mixed traditional media piece.

[wheel of fortune tarot card sketches]

    I'll probably mess around with watercolors to get the nice textured space/galaxy that I'll want. I'm leaning towards one of the two on the left... with the one on the right in 3rd.

    For Painting I we're doing portraits from live models, because of my split schedule I'll be doing two paintings with half the time for each. So we'll see how they go. I think I'll be alright.

[portrait painting in progress]

[portrait painting in progress]

    I've got another piece that I've been working on for Illustration I that I'm liking a lot, but I don't have any photos yet. Maybe tomorrow.

-Cody

Something to Share

     I can't think of anything interesting to start off with, but I do have some work to share. Today in drawing we had our first in class model. We worked on charcoal portraits all day, I ended up with one I think came out pretty well and the other started off poorly. I ended up not finishing it up.

    I tried to spend a lot of time looking at the way his face was truly shaped and in the end I actually captured a pretty good likeness. He was looking a bit like Keith David when I was about halfway in, but I pulled it back to the model.

[Cody's charcoal portrait]

    Yesterday was our last day in painting for our most recent still life, I still think parts of it work alright and others don't. The skull is something I may come back to, most of it is painted in an entirely different manner than anything else.

[Cody's vanitas still life]

    Tomorrow I've got Perspective and I guess we're starting a new painting. I better see what size canvas I'm going to need...

-Cody

    This was the first time we've done a figure in drawing class. I've done them before at TRCC, but I'm still rusty with portraits. I believe it came out better than I expected. I ran into a bad spot though and had to re-size the whole head. Which I was relieved to have done so easily. When things are messed up in my drawings I usually have to do so much to make it correct because I forget to measure things properly. This was an easy fix and I'm glad I made the decision to.  My work isn't as smooth as I'd like it to be. But I also am satisfied with how painterly it looks and how my hand applies the marks.

[Allison's charcoal portrait]

-Allison

"Were it so easy" -The Arbiter[Keith David]

For the Longest Time

    We've gotten a lot of work for school done lately, the downside being we haven't had time to share anything.

    Tonight though, we do.

    Last week I had continued working on my still life in painting, I've got a lot of the skull painted in now. I'm happy with parts of it and not satisfied with others, tomorrow hopefully I can finish it strongly. Some of the sharper planes look good, I know the darker planes don't read as well.

[vanitas still life]

    In Special Topics in Illustration we were tasked with redesigning the cover of a book and I chose to do the Covenant of Primus. Essentially it's the Transformers bible in their universe. In ours it was a book released that tells the story of the creation of Cybertron and the original 13 Primes.

    Right when I started my sketches I knew that I wanted the cover to be metal, 3D, blocky and weathered. I decided to use the ancient Autobot logo split in half on the cover Which is still iconic, yet not blaringly Transformersey. 

[the Covenant of Primus]

    Making the whole thing out of metal looks great, but I struggled to weather/beat it up in the manner I had intended. Overall I think it turned out pretty successfully, I am going to work on it a little more on my own.

[the Covenant of Primus]

    The Cybertronian text could be more integrated into the metal and I think the weathering would have helped. I may also play with burning/indenting the text into the cover.

[the Covenant of Primus "print cover"]

    We also had to present a cover that would be printed on the mass retail version of the book as well. I need to retake the photo and add the "real world" title/author once I work on it further. This is how the book was turned in/critiqued today though. I'm fairly proud with how it turned out, but holding in it hand and looking at it all around really makes it feel successful.

    I also completed my self-portrait for Illustration I and got the half tone on it, it looks pretty cool in person.

[halftone self-portrait]

    The digital version just doesn't do it justice. I'm working on sketching/planning out my next assignment for Illustration today I'll share that when I've got more set in stone. Tuesdays are my favorite days right now, spending all day working on assignments and critiquing work much more aligned with what I want to do is very motivating.

-Cody

    Today I worked on my piece Independent Drawing Projects, which is going to be two collages. Mixed with another form of medium. I did a lot of cleaning today, I don't have class on Tuesdays. I'm also thinking about applying to be the RA so I made a resume today with a cover letter. I hope I get the job. But I also know there is a lot of responsibility and you have to be available all the time. I'm working on a lot of homework this week. I'm overloaded and I've been working on stuff for hours today. 

    I'll take photos soon. But here is a poor quality photo for now of my latest project.

[self-portrait collage in progress]

-Allison 

I'm Working On It

    I'm not going to write too much today, I've got some of my own work I want to get done/started for Friday, but I do have work to share. Yesterday I had Illustration I and Special Topics in Illustration. In the former we're working on self-portraits in either stippling of halftone styles. Stippling being tiny repetitive dots bunched together to create value and halftone to emulate an old style of printing, like a comic book.

    If you didn't know, up here in Connecticut we've gotten a good amount of snow on the ground, and we've missed about a week of class over the last two from snow days. So instead of reproducing the whole drawing in ink, I'm doing a more "finished" drawing in pencil and adding a halftone filter in photoshop for the final. I'll present both, and it was suggested by my instructor as an option.

[pencil self-portrait]

    I'm pretty happy with how my self-portrait is coming out, I don't do them often/at all so I was struggling at first. I'm going to push the value a little bit more along the side of my neck and in my hoodie and shirt. I think the visible directional lines work in my favor, so I'm happy with that.

[vanitas still life]

    My painting is coming along as well, I worked on it all morning in class and I'm trying to pay attention to how I place/mix all of my colors. I'm happy with where it's at for now, I'll have Friday afternoon and next week to finish it up as well.

    We may be getting another few days of snowfall here this weekend, hopefully it's not too much. I'm tired of shoveling and not getting to go sledding in any of it yet. Hopefully Allison will have something to share late tonight after her Mythology class, or tomorrow after we have drawing.

-Cody


   I had my critique today for Independent Drawing Projects, I will post photos of my pieces later. They are not completely finished yet. A lot has been going on and I'm so swamped with projects and assignments. I love seeing what Cody is doing in the classes I'm not in with him, his self portrait has come along way since the last time I saw it. It looks more like him now. I really like it, and I wish he would draw more people including himself. I also need to do more self portraits.

   Yesterday I went to a gallery showing in New York at the New York Academy. I will post pictures when I get them from my friend's camera. It was alright, the show was nice, but the trip was dreadful. We were gone from 3:30 pm to midnight and we were only at the show for around 40 minutes. 

   I'm brainstorming for my next two pieces for IDP(independent drawing projects) with some old cards I have from an abandoned building. I want to go back and get more... But the weather is keeping me from getting in there. Snow leaves tracks and tracks are a no-go. You can't sneak with footprints following you everywhere. 

    I recently made a cast out of a mold of a figure the process was terrible. Everything went wrong, leaks and bad plaster mixing with a side of poor molds made from a broken sculpture. We recently made relief carvings with a pear of pears. I really love working in relief, it's a great three dimensional aspect to drawing. 

    Also I just found out my myth teacher doesn't like cats. 200 points to him. 

-Allison

"May The Force be with you, always." -Obi-Wan Kenobi

Judge, Jury and Exhibition or First Show of the Year

    Last Night Allison and I attended the Juried Student Exhibition's opening reception. The show was great and there was a pretty good turn out for the opening. A few people spoke briefly and very fancy yet fairly bland hor d'oeuvres were served, but that's not what the show was about. It's about art. I recognized a lot of work that I had seen classmates and fellow students working on over the semester, but I also saw a good number of pieces I hadn't.

[Allison and her painting titled, An Apple a Day Bring the Teapots to Play]

    Allison and I each had a piece in the show, her a painting and I a sculpture. Allison's dad came to the show as did my mom and step-dad. Which was very nice, and I always appreciate anyone coming to see my art, but I was surprised to see someone I hadn't in a very long time. My elementary school art teacher and painter Rosemary Palmer[Mrs/ Palmer to me] and her husband came to show. I always had loved her classes and she helped me get into summer classes at Lyme while I was still in elementary school.

[Cody and his sculpture titled, Pair of Pants]

    It was good to see her, my art teachers have always encouraged me to do what I like and keep on arting. So I have, hopefully it'll all pay off someday. I definitely feel like I belong doing art and around other people who share the same passion as I do. 

[Cody and Allison]

    I'm also glad to be here with Allison, she's already fallen asleep for the night she was drawing for a good chunk of the day it must have tired her out. I'm very happy to be able to share my love of art and love for her in the same place. We may have very different goals with our art, hers fine and mine of design, but art comes in many different forms.

    In my painting class we have started another still life, though it's not just a bunch of boxes and shapes this time. It is of a human skull and a few other objects. Influenced by vanitas paintings, which were still lives/studies with a meaning as well. Usually about the mortality of man, represented by an extinguished candle as in ours.

[vanitas still life]

    I most of the afternoon working on the drawing, and starting the under painting. I didn't spend enough time on my last painting focused on looking at the object in front of me. So I'm making sure to do that now.

-Cody

Studying Studies

    We had a full day of drawing today, we're still working with charcoal in a combination of additive/subtractive manners. I've liked working on the toned paper we have all around the school so I'll keep using it for now. We worked on a bust and a pile of human features. 

[charcoal bust study]

    I was kind of struggling with the white on the toned paper. I was using a white charcoal pencil so my marks were very small and precise. I'm going to try and grab some larger sticks of white and play with that as well. It was starting to look okay there's just a little too many evident marks.

[charcoal feature study]

    We had to do an old master copy for homework for today. I feel okay about it, but we always have more time to re-work it and learn/improve.

[old master study]

    Our show is tomorrow night at the school, so if you're in the area and looking to see some art stop by! Annual Juried Student Exhibition from 6:00 - 8:00 P.M.

-Cody

    There is not much to say about these drawings for this entry. I loved working in white charcoal though. I also feel like I'm falling back into old habits of not checking things and measuring proportions.

    The image below is of some hands and feet. I enjoyed working on both these pieces but I felt more relaxed with the hand and used a relaxed gesture while drawing. 

-Allison

"Ka-Wham! Look at that!" -Susan[our drawing instructor]

Finding a Path of My Own

    With all the snow around I didn't have much class the last two days, so I've been taking time to redirect/reevaluate where I want to be with my art when I'm leaving school in a couple years here. So I'm making sure I'm working on my own style and artistic voice outside of my classwork. I always feel as though I'm learning in class, but I want to see it reflected in my concept/design work.

[prop design sketches]

    I want to traditional/fundamental skills I'm learning to inform my designs and hopefully it can make them that much better/more appealing. I was sketching  a lot last night and today while doing so, and talking to my brother who also wants to get into art. My goal is to have a new portfolio-worthy design every week or so now. I'm need to spend more time and thought getting them done.

[vehicle design sketches]

    I'm trying to work on my line work in photoshop, I have trouble achieving the same confident and bold mark making that I have on paper. I'll get there though. That said my goal for next Friday is to have a portfolio worthy vehicle design page done. Now I need to start looking for some freelance work/internship opportunities for the summer.

    Don't forget Friday is the opening reception for the Annual Juried Student Exhibition from 6:00 - 8:00 P.M.

-Cody

Back Into the Swing of Things

    Here we go, another reasonably scheduled update for anyone taking a look/reading. This week has been busy as I've said, yesterday I had drawing, and today I had perspective and painting today.

    In drawing we've been working with charcoal, which I have some experience with, but I don't feel like it's one of my strongest mediums. I'm going to use some charcoal pencils as well as the vine charcoal[light sticks of charcoal] to get into some harder, darker mark making.

[charcoal reflective study]

    We prepared the surface first by covering the page with a neutral tone, so that we could work in both a reductive and additive manner. The plane that the coffee pots are sitting on is a little off, but the pots themselves look reflective enough to me. Working with vine charcoal is very soft and smudgy, I like harder forms of charcoal, but this is very helpful to learn with.

[charcoal glass study]

    Since the vine is so soft, it's very easy to move around and make corrections very quickly simply by wiping it away. This one works a little better compositionally, though it's mostly centered. Our last drawings we did for the day were of drapery, which I find very fun to draw, I love all the angles and harsh shadows they can contain.

[charcoal drapery study]

    This one may not be the best spatially, but i feel that its texture and movement make it a successful study. I was struggling to get the light source more obvious, on colored paper I could have used white charcoal or cante. Good thing we get to start using some white next week.

    I've got plenty to keep me busy tonight/most nights and this weekend, with homework for drawing, painting, illustration and English. 

    Next Friday is the opening reception for the Annual Juried Student Exhibition. The show will feature work by students in all majors, including Allison and myself. The reception is Friday January 30, from 6:00 - 8:00 P.M. The Show will remain open until the 28 of March, normally open from 10:00 A,M. - 4:00 P.M in the Stillman Gallery.

    I invite anyone in the are to come see the show, there should be a lot of good work to see.

-Cody

"The sun is only a god, in perspective we control the sun. That must make us super-gods." -Skyfather Zallinger