Officine Rossopuro 'Big Red'

Starting to sketch in a sketchbook that has grey paper. It's amazing how dynamic the picture can become once you dabble some white on the page. Also, for some reason, I feel like I learn something new every time I sketch. Creating this sketch revealed to me how clean and beautiful lines look if you get them right on the first two tries especially if you apply them with enough weight that they stand out without needing to go over them again. It's crazy but having a line that is off by a quarter of a millimeter or waves off of a straight line by the tiniest amount can really be the difference between having the sketch be perceived as a tight clean sketch versus a quick "whatever" sketch. I think the goal of all this sketching is to not only hopefully tear it up in Viscom4 when I get there, but to truly understand the expression of form. Not sure if I mentioned that before but I'm excited for the possibilities that lay ahead. (Tearing it up in Viscom4 would be pretty satisfying as is though).

Week 6 and 7

This past week was week 7, which means midterms. Before this past week, I had only pulled one all-nighter and that was for my Viscom1 final in 1st term. This past week I ended up pulling two, one for Viscom and 3DFund midterms, and the other for Product2. I had 3 midterms due in two days and this definitely was the hardest I've ever worked at ACCD. I certainly do not have it the hardest, I'm sure people have gone twice as long without sleep working on much harder classes. But I can now say I've stayed awake for 54 hours straight literally working on one thing or another for the whole duration. Its amazing what the body and mind can accomplish when locked in, running from the fear of getting caught in the disappointment of missing a deadline. Back in high school I couldn't concentrate on homework for more than 45 minutes to an hour before I would go outside, shoot some hoops, or open up the laptop to play some CSS, feeling half guilty that I was fictionally killing terrorists while literally killing time that very much needed to be used for a better cause. Throwing away my weekend and not being productive was my fault and the cause for this whole debacle. 

Here are some sketches from the last two weeks. This past weeks sketches for Product2 were really really weak. I was so tired when I sketched them, and their strictly mechanical nature was not enticing enough of a sketching treat to enthuse me to produce some visually pleasing compositions. However, great practice for drawing things that need to be relatively simple, very clean so they read one way and one way only because when drawing gears, you need the viewer to see it the way you know it to be. You don't want them to have their own interpretation, you want them to for once to exactly mirror your own. And got one page of some bike parts. This is the first time I've used grey paper so I am still understanding the nuances of the white pen. Last night I tried sketching for fun as a treat to myself but only got that one page done before I was too tired to continue. Click To Enlarge. 

AC Sanctuary Katana

Finally got this page done. Started it last weekend and didn't finish it till tonight. Although I do like the perspective views I drew, the composition is weak due to the lack of a background, or a ground line that supports the bikes and gives them some sort of context. I also feel that when negotiating certain parts of the bike that I cannot see on the reference image, I need to do a better job filling it with a tone instead of black, or filling it with a part instead of just a tone and/or black. The next bike I draw, I'm first going to see the bike from multiple angles, then draw out different parts of the bike in a few perspective views, then finish with one or two views of the actual bike together. The hope is to better understand the form of the bike, and eventually understand the forms well enough to construct one on my own, accurately. Trying to avoid just random forms that look rightly placed and positioned. I want to actually draw out parts and pieces correctly relative to each other so that if and when I do want to design something, say a bike, I will have understood the reasons for positioning certain things and not have it be just a "looks cool" thing but an actual, functional product. Anyway, gotta do viscom2 homework tomorrow, and some Art of Research. After that, on to Product2 homework and the whole toy thing for the rest of the week. Click To Expand

Ducati GT1000

Did the top left one in Product2 class while surviving a 4 hour critique. The bottom one was done last night from 2 to 5am. Stupid to stay up that late on a night when I can get all the sleep I want, but I was really into it. Really hoped that it would come out better but got so lost in it that the composition is really not contrasting enough, and the perspective is a bit off. Bottom one really suffers from no great focal point.

Lift-Off

Click To Enlarge

Click To Enlarge

Click To Enlarge

So, aside from the work that is being dumped on us from school(which is a lot but much more fun than first term), I've been sketching motor cycles. I did my first sketches about a month ago, on and off, and really didn't make any improvements. Maybe a little improvement was made when it came to shaping out the form with the first few strokes, but other than that, detail, perspective, rendering, all were very very poor. I have done charcoal drawings in great detail before of still life and faces, but for some reason, never thought to transfer that level detail over to these sketches. I had a mindset that they had to fast and quick, and very "free"(thus minute detail should be kept out of the picture). Last Monday, I went to something that a few students at our school who are upper term-ers offer. Simply bring your sketches to them, and they'll break-em down, giving you advice and doing a sketch of their own in front of you. I watched Isual(a friend who is in trans) get some help, and afterwards showed my sketches to Marcel(a 6th term trans student who has a load of experience who holds SketchHelp on Mondays). Marcel took the sketch that I had drawn, and started detailing the crap out of it, showing me different techniques with the pens, shading and indicating. Its been almost a week since that day, and I've done a few sketches, trying to improve on each. People have pointed out to me that the sketches are in the style close to Viscom 4, originally taught by Norm Sherman. I love the sketches that Norm produced. Sad he passed, but glad he left touched and taught so many people to continue and learn his style. Definitely want to take that class when I get to 4th Term as I am only 2nd right now. 

Anyway, below are the sketches that I did before Marcel helped me out. And above the ones that I have done in the past week. THESE ARE ALL REFERENCED. I am working toward being able to do it without reference, obviously. Not nearly there yet at all. But the sketching on the side has definitely helped with my ability to sketch in our Product2 class.

Click To Enlarge

Click To Enlarge