When you have questions about this class, or the assignments please post them here, so that answers benefit other students who may have the same questions.
By tagging your posts with the category, “office” any questions you have for me will appear here on this thread, and will be easy to find for all of us.
If you need to communicate with me privately, please email me at SJWoolley.citytech.cuny.edu
or you may stop by my office hours:
N1126 Tuesdays 10-11am
N1126 Thursdays 10-11am
DUH… I DRAW IN IT.
YES… I agree. This seems pretty obvious.
Any student who has studied drawing at all has probably been keeping a sketchbook for at least the past semester, if not for years. But please bear with me and read on. Regardless of the simplicity of the tool, there is a reason ALL serious artists keep a regular sketchbook practice, and there is infinite room here to learn, grow, and develop your craft.
Your sketchbook is the place in which you will really improve your drawing and idea generation skills. It will, by developing the habit of daily use, become a PRACTICE. No different than a daily meditation practice. And it should be thought about with similar rigor.
Throughout this semester, and hopefully moving forward you will keep a sketchbook that you will work in every day. It will become a depository of ideas, a place to work on your concepts, and a place to draw both what you see in your daily life as well as what you see in your imagination.
For now, focus solely on DEVELOPING THE HABIT.
Every week you are required to share pages from your sketchbook here. Be sure to Title your post! Include the Week and the Theme if you are given one, or make up your own title! Keep the image file SMALL. 72 DPI is fine.
Sketchbook Requirements:
Be sure to comment on each other’s sketches.
DISCUSSION:
Please reply to this post acknowledging that you understand the requirements and purpose of the sketchbook. Also please let us know in a couple of sentences about your sketchbook experience and what kind of things you like to sketch!
Getting the right reference is key in creating a great final art piece!
Though we some times don’t know how to get our figure drawing exactly right… we can sure see when it has gone wrong! Poor drawing is one sure way to ruin a great idea. So, lets get the right reference so that we can do out best work!
NOW of course the BEST thing to do is go and draw a REAL LIVE PERSON… but you may not have access or may not be able to get just the right pose for your visual concept. FEAR NOT! there are some great resources out there!
Art Pose and Art Pose Female Edition are perhaps the most practical and intuitive artist anatomy reference applications for iOS and Android. You can pose your figure, see musculature and move your camera all around it. You can even go to a silhouette view. Pretty good stuff! Learn more!
Pixelovely Is probably my favorite reference site. It has figure great drawing poses, choose between kinds of models, clothed or nude male or female etc. Plus animal poses! MEOW! Within each category are sub-categories. For example, under the animal category, you can choose the species of animal – and whether or not to time the session.
Quick Poses is a great figure reference site. You can choose between gesture drawings (timed poses) or random pose studies (not timed). There is a healthy selection of both clothed and nude models to choose from. The site also includes tips to improve your study.
Since we are in New York City artists have many options to improve their life drawing skills by drawing from a model outside of this class. Drawing from a model outside of class is REQUIRED. Practicing our craft is VITAL! Take advantage of the resources in our city!
IN MANHATTAN:
The New York Society of Illustrators is an incredible resource for up and coming commercial artists. The sketch night is a great way to get to know this institution. Its lively with great models, live music, pro illustrators, and often comes with FOOD! This one is wonderful and is the cheapest option I’ve found for students!
IN BROOKLYN:
Shoestring Studio is a membership-based art studio serving painters, draftsmen, illustrators, and other artists in need of workspace, community, and shared resources. Their primary mission is to provide affordable, accessible workspace for artists in Crown Heights and the greater Brooklyn area. They host figure drawing sessions several days per week at a very affordable rate. You do not need to be a member to attend. Be sure to ask about student discounts!
The OpenLab is an open-source, digital platform designed to support teaching and learning at City Tech (New York City College of Technology), and to promote student and faculty engagement in the intellectual and social life of the college community.
