1. Study the drawing below by Dorian Iten. Before this course, the approach to the rendering of a bust such as this may have been something daunting and esoteric to you. Consider and describe how the artist approached this visual problem from beginning to end. Discuss the 4 essential phases of the formal drawing process, light considerations, and relationship to spherical concepts. (3-5 paragraphs)
3. Finally, reflect on your coursework from this semester. Describe the skill-set you arrived with and how it has or has not progressed. Which drawing problems or tasks did you most benefit from? Which were too basic or redundant? Which might you undertake again? Did you make any visual "breakthroughs"?
22 comments:
Wow, I just realized that your shirt matches the background of your blog. Coincidence? I think not.
Mike Feeney
1.17.12
Interdisciplinary Arts
1. The drawing by Dorian Iten is one of great complexity, capturing a sense of perfection that is usually close to impossible. The spherical shape of the sculpture has been accomplished through the rigorous process of blocking in, edging, lighting and shadowing. The amazing sense of light and dark is more than apparent, due to the artist’s use of extreme dark contrasted against extreme light.
The drawing is very realistic and looks exactly how a sculpture should look. The three dimensional look of the drawing is highlighted by the hair and how well the shadows are formed beneath it. The cast shadow, which starts at the upper cheek, extends below the neck and helps form a fully realized three dimensional figure. The edging is done perfectly as well, and can be seen at its best when looking at the block that the sculpture is standing on.
This is a great depiction of a sculpture, and it has been drawn to near perfection, resembling the sculpture in complete 3d. The spherical shape of the portrait is more than apparent, making it look as if it were right in front of the viewer, able to be touched.
2. The painting titled “Entombment” by Michelangelo Caravaggio, exhibits an amazingly fluid and detailed depiction of Christ being laid to rest. The fluidity has been created with the use of “ribbons”, which are found throughout the entire painting. The “ribbons” are simply how every part of the drawing connects and flows together, and this drawing in particular has many ribbons. The dark background highlights the vibrant foreground, with much of the edging done to make it look as if some of the people in the painting are fading into the darkness behind them. The spherical shapes found in this painting are made apparent by the edging and shadowing, which ends up showcasing each person in a different light. This painting is a great example of how the ribbons can make the painting more interesting and easier to view.
3. In the beginning of the year, I strolled into the class empty-handed. I knew next to nothing about the basic processes of art, but had always appreciated it. I have definitely progressed, even if it has been subtle. I still think that the first drawing we started (the sphere) has had the most impact on my ability to draw. I improved in my ability to create three dimensional figures, making them look less awkward and more natural. I don’t really think that anything was too basic, due to the fact that I am still very much a beginner in the world of art. I would undertake drawing the sphere again, just because I believe that the better I could draw a sphere, the better I could do with anything art related. I haven’t exactly made any full out visual breakthrough’s, but I believe that I have been steadily progressing and I hope to continue this progression far into my life.
Neeve MacGregor
Prompt 1:
From beginning to end the artist must have gone through the block in, building value, edging and realism. The block in would be general shapes of the head, neck, and shoulders in their simplest forms such as spheres, and rectangles. Rendering value has to do with lighting. The lighting of the face is very similar to that of a sphere. There is a light source that hits the face showing a highlight and then the rest of the shading and value is very similar to that of a sphere.
Rendering of value with a caste is very difficult unless you are doing the whole drawing at once because the lighting can change making your values completely different. This drawing must have been very difficult to do because the caste is complex and not simple. After rendering value, edging is the next step. Creating clear edges with the correct values is very important. Without this you’re drawing will never look realistic. As with the other steps this takes time and patients. You must carefully study the object you’re working with. The edging of the hair and the shirt are extremely complex and make the photo look even more realistic. The artist must have taken a lot of time on edging things such as these.
Adding the last touches of specific lines and little details and creases comes after that. It is called realism and it is the step that helps make sure the drawing absolutely looks like the real thing in every way. Touching up shading and specific things on the object is also done at this point. This is the step that separates a very realistic looking drawing from one that looks only 2D or does not look like a realistic thing. This is how I believe the artist approached the caste from beginning to end and why their drawing looks so realistic.
Prompt 2:
This painting has many, many examples of ribbons and relationships between the four bodies illustrated. There are relationships between arms, legs, and bodies that were deliberately planned out by the artist. These relationships help the painting to flow together more. The drapery of the clothing is also a significant part of the relationship between the figures illustrated in this painting. All the bodies are very close together but they still have their own detail and realism.
I think that the artist must have done each block- in separately before putting all the figures together onto one drawing. This would have eliminated any confusion between pieces of each body. This would also ensure that each individual character was drawn fully and no important pieces were missing and no details were left out because the artist wasn’t too busy concentrating on other figures. After blocking in, rendering, and maybe even starting to edge the characters I think the artist finally added all the pieces of his painting together.
He must have started building relationships at this stage, although he had them in mind from the beginning. After putting all the figures together he must have rendered their clothing and the background around them. The details of each individual character and of their relationship to each other and the back ground could be added then. After that the artist must have double checked the details and finished edging. Then he could add or fix anything he needed to in order to add to the realism of the painting. This is how I believe this artist approached this particular painting.
Prompt 3:
At the beginning of this class when I first started drawing I wanted to switch out of the class. When we started drawing the caste drawing I felt like I could never succeed in this class because I had never drawn anything that complex before in such a short amount of time. The block-in was extremely hard and frustrating because I didn’t understand the concept or how it would benefit me at the time. Doing 50 block-in’s for homework before I fully understood what they were was another challenge that made me contemplate switching out of this class. After the caste drawing was finally over I was nervous for what was to come after that.
As the class progressed we started to do photorealism projects. These are my absolute favorite because they come out looking extremely realistic and they helped to boost my confidence. Some of the homework assignments such as the sibyl were extremely hard and made me doubt my ability to keep up with this class. When photo realism came around I began to feel like I knew what I was doing and I was getting the hang of concepts that we had been working on for a long time in class. Our independent study project was my favorite. It was something I was really interested in and something personal to me. I wanted it to come out good and it made me feel like if I worked hard in this class I could do very well.
Although the portraits we ended with were not my strong suit and made me feel some doubts again, I still feel like I learned and benefitted a lot from this class. I’m very glad I decided to stick it out and stay in this class. Some of the homework assignments were tedious and seemed like they would have no significance but they helped a lot in the end even though they took a long time to complete. The projects we did in class were experiments, some good, some bad. The help I received on each drawing helped me to keep pushing through my work and not feel lost. I enjoyed being a model for the portraits and seeing how different people perceived me in different ways. It was another new but good learning experience. Overall this class taught me a lot and made me a better artist and taught me not to give up on art because it can be fun when you take the time to learn about what you’re doing.
Jamie Tyree
1.
Before taking this course, looking at a drawing like the one Dorian Iten made seemed nearly impossible, but after breaking down the techniques, it seems a lot more realistic to be able to do. By going through with the first step, the block-in, it helps to work in the later processes, further making the drawing come out more realistic. The block-in consists of loosely drawing the figure of the picture you are working on. The next step is to build value, which is done by first identifying the range of values, then working the value scale by starting at the darkest dark to the latest lightest light. After the value has been strongly focused on and finished, the artist may begin edging which helps make the drawing extremely realistic Sharp edges should be made when the object is closer to the viewer and soft edges should be made when the viewer is farther. The last and most important step to interdisciplinary drawings is realism. By making the photo realistic, it causes the viewer to be connected and drawn to the photo, giving a more comforting feeling of looking at the drawing.
In Iten’s drawing, the lighting is more of a frontal lighting. This causes the lightest light to be focused on his nose and forehead, and the darkest being on the sides such as the bottom part of his hair and the left and right side of face. Underneath the block of his left shoulder is also extremely dark which would need to be worked on first for the values, after the block-in had been completed.
As taught in this course, many objects can be related to a spherical form. The most obvious is the head of the person. The light hitting the face of it makes the front of his face extrmely light, then working into darker values as it goes out of the lightest proportion. Also, the nose of the man can be resembled as a sphere, especially the tip, which in order to draw, many approach by first making a sphere.
2.
Michelangelo Caravaggio’s composition of the painting “Entombment” breaks down the steps of a successful drawing/painting very well. In order to start this, he first blocked in the closest objects/people such as the floor first, then the man in the white robe, and the people in the back ground last, making sure every block-in has been worked on to perfection.
In this painting, according to the top of many of the people’s foreheads and the robed man’s chest, the light seems to be coming from above. The fine detail of the man’s muscled body must be worked on according to the value scale which was most likely time consuming and challenging.
This painting has several spherical connections. For instance, the man in the robe not only has a sphere-like head, but many parts of his muscles are also based off a spherical form such as the thigh muscle. arms, and hip bone. The man in the orange also has a sphere-based forehead, along with his lower part of his legs.
1.The block-in that Dorian Iten used seems very accurate. It looks as though they spent a lot of time on the block-in to make sure that they had the perfect outline to get them started. The value is crisp and noticeable. Dorian Iten defiantly captures the differences between the lights and the darks. The darkest area is the bottom right corner and it isn't too dark, but it's the perfect for the picture.
The edging looks extremely real and you can tell the differences well. A good example of edging is the shadow of the hair on the forehead. It transitions well. The realism is pristine. At first I couldn't really tell that it was a drawing without looking at it close up. Iten did a great job with the little details. The hair is good and looks actually wavey.
You can defiantly see the relationships with the spherical concepts. I see it mostly with the chin. The mouth area in general looks like it was outlined with a sphere. The head itself looks spherical and looks like Iten might have used a sphere shape to construct it. The tip of the nose also looks partially spherical.
2.It looks as though all 4 elements were extremely tedious and hard to do in the first place. There is more than one person so the block in of all the people must have been difficult. The lights and darks for this picture are awesome because it’s not just black and white. It seems like it would be hard to determine lights and darks with colors as well. It’s cool how the edging worked out because of how the lighting was set up, one guy looks hidden in the darkness almost and the guy being held is all lit up and bright. It looks almost as though it is 3D with the way the artist painted it. The colors defiantly helped a lot with the realism. The way he did the muscles and uses a darker skin tone to show how toned the person was makes it look real.
There are many ribbon relationships between all the people and even the man’s clothes. The bottom of the man being held almost mimics the guy’s back who is hunched over him. The drapery on the left-bottom corner follows up to the dark man’s head. The women behind the hunched man’s head flows down to behind the hunched man. You can tell that this was done on purpose and it makes the looker’s eye flow from person to person.
-Kendyl Cutler part 1.
It looks like it would have been a challenge to have all those models in one room in that position for however long it took the artist to paint this. You can almost tell that he had separate meetings with these models and had them kind of act out what they would be doing by using other props that he did not incorporate. For example, the guy being held probably wasn’t being held by all those people for hours, he probably had the model lay on a couch in that position so it looked like he was being held. Just by the looks on the faces also kind of indicate that they weren’t literally looking at each other and acting to one another like they are in the painting.
3. Honestly, in the beginning of class I thought it was going to be too hard for me and that I was going to get really frustrated. From what I was hearing I thought that it was way past my level. Then I realized that I wasn’t the only one who thought I was going to do horribly and that there were people of all different artistic stats in the class. It made me feel a lot better. It also made me feel better when Mr. Kefor said “If you say that you can’t do it, you can” because I knew he wasn’t going to judge and was going to try hard to help me do it. Though some of it was indeed hard and frustrating, I did it and feel good about most of my work.
The work wasn’t as hard as I thought it would be and we took it step by step that made it easy. Mr. Kefor was also very flexible and supported how people have their own style and do things differently from people. It was good to not be pushed around and told how to do my own art work. I ended up feeling really good about my cast drawing. It was pretty easy for the most part, but I thought I was going to do horrible starting off. I also really like my still-life drawing. I tried really hard and think that my work paid off. I don’t really like my portraits at all because I am just not very good at drawing people, but I am defiantly a lot better at drawing people than I was before I took the class.
I made a few visual breakthroughs. Before when I sat down and tried to draw, it was hard for me to get all the proportions correct and make it look realistic. Now, it’s easier for me to get the form down because of block-ins and it is also easier to make things look realistic. Learning about edging and rendering helped make it look real. I didn’t really know about those things before and that was my downfall. Everything I drew use to look like a cartoon and now they actually look good.
-Kendyl Cutler pt 2.
1. Study the drawing below by Dorian Iten. Before this course, the approach to the rendering of a bust such as this may have been something daunting and esoteric to you. Consider and describe how the artist approached this visual problem from beginning to end. Discuss the 4 essential phases of the formal drawing process, light considerations, and relationship to spherical concepts. (3-5 paragraphs)
The four main essential phases are the block-in, rendering and building form, edging, and realism. Starting off with the block-in, it was very well drawn. The features of the face are very symmetrical and well detailed. In order to have a good block-in you must capture specific details so when you are ready to start rendering and edging it will be easier and you can build more form. Building form on the face creates a softer look and makes it easy to transition into the edging phase.
The edging phase is all about building value. The value on the lady’s face makes her come to life. Giving the hair value and shadows make the curls really stand out and look like you could touch her hair. Her face has the perfect amount of shadow from the light which lines the cheek bones. The nose is the lightest part of the face and the lines by her nose leading to the mouth make the nose pop out from the rest of her features.
Lastly, this piece of artwork is outside in the “realism” category. If I were to look at this drawing I would think I was a statue. The features on the face really stand out and create a bigger picture. Like I said, the hair looks so realistic, almost as though you would run your fingers through it. The lighting on the face creates a soft look just as though a real face would appear in a picture or real life.
-Jenna Aries
1. Study the drawing below by Dorian Iten. Before this course, the approach to the rendering of a bust such as this may have been something daunting and esoteric to you. Consider and describe how the artist approached this visual problem from beginning to end. Discuss the 4 essential phases of the formal drawing process, light considerations, and relationship to spherical concepts. (3-5 paragraphs)
Dorian Iten’s cast drawing is a solved visual problem. The solution is effective and nearly convincing, as far as realism. The stark whites and pale grays of the bust fade subtly into the abyss of black in the background. This process, this masterpiece, likely began with a block-in of the rough shape. The artist would have had to, perhaps, etch out the subtle lines of the neck, and the kinks of the stone hair. He would have tirelessly carved out the rectangular base with his pencil. The face, too, would have been chiseled out of the paper, careful guidelines made.
A likely next step to the drawing process would be giving the basic values and tones to the piece. Extremely dark areas, like the void above the table line, would be noted. Bright areas, like the nose and certain highlights of the hair, would be left, and the in-between values would be noted. Dorian Iten would have built in the darker values slowly, as well as the other shades of gray in the piece. He likely used chalk for the highlights, as well.
Though devoid of any sharp marks or edges, the piece contains several softer and subtler lines. The darker lines tend to be sharper when there is a crease or sudden change in the topography of the three-dimensional bust. In some areas, however, such as the forehead, fade easily and softly to a lighter value. After edging the piece successfully, Dorian Iten probably moved on to touching up realism, using a blend of chalk and charcoal to achieve each value. In the completed drawing, we can see the remnants of a sphere in the head, nose, eyes, chin, and other areas. There are also several rectangular or cylindrical shapes that have been modified to become the bust. The background fades beautifully from a mid-range gray to a deep black. In conclusion, the artist’s talent makes the portrait artistically successful.
2. Below is a painting entitled "Entombment" by Michelangelo Caravaggio. Discuss the composition, along with any underlying compositional "ribbons". Consider and describe how the artist approached this visual problem from beginning to end and his employment of the 4 essential phases of the formal drawing process, light considerations, and relationship to spherical concepts.
3. Finally, reflect on your coursework from this semester. Describe the skill-set you arrived with and how it has or has not progressed. Which drawing problems or tasks did you most benefit from? Which were too basic or redundant? Which might you undertake again? Did you make any visual "breakthroughs"?
TO BE CONTINUED
-Kara
Alex Gallant Period E
1. Study the drawing below by Dorian Iten. Before this course, the approach to the rendering of a bust such as this may have been something daunting and esoteric to you. Consider and describe how the artist approached this visual problem from beginning to end. Discuss the 4 essential phases of the formal drawing process, light considerations, and relationship to spherical concepts. (3-5 paragraphs)
First, I can tell the block-in was very well done because the shapes and lines of the face are very symmetrical. The drawing started coming to life when the artist did the rendering. This is obvious because the forms and shading are so realistic that it looks like a statue, rather than just a drawing. The artist paid a lot of attention to the edging of these forms and shading to make it look as realistic as possible. Realism is the best phase I think the artist did in this drawing because the lighting and shading makes the drawing look like an actual statue.
2. Below is a painting entitled "Entombment" by Michelangelo Caravaggio. Discuss the composition, along with any underlying compositional "ribbons". Consider and describe how the artist approached this visual problem from beginning to end and his employment of the 4 essential phases of the formal drawing process, light considerations, and relationship to spherical concepts.
This painting has many underlying compositional “ribbons”. The man that is being carried has an underlying compositional “ribbon” from his arm to across his chest into a curve over the man that is holding his legs. The artist approached this visual problem beginning with the man that is being held; he must have had the model actually lay down in that position and then later add the men holding him in the painting to create the visual of this man being carried. He had to have very specific plans for how to paint this and how the models were going to be placed.
The block-in was probably of a bunch of lines because there are so many forms and shapes in the painting. The rendering and building forms was where the artist added more lines to the forms so they looked like simple forms of people at this stage. The artist had to do a lot of edging in this painting due to the amount of forms and shapes to make it look finished and realistic when the painting is in its final step. The artist definitely succeeded in making the realism phase of the painting. The muscles and the veins of the people in the painting are even realistic and visible.
3. Finally, reflect on your coursework from this semester. Describe the skill-set you arrived with and how it has or has not progressed. Which drawing problems or tasks did you most benefit from? Which were too basic or redundant? Which might you undertake again? Did you make any visual "breakthroughs"?
The skill set I arrived to the class with at the beginning of the semester was average in drawing. Over the course, I learned so much on how to make drawings look realistic through the 4 essential phases of the formal drawing process. I know I have progressed a lot in that area because of this class. I benefitted most from the cast drawings because I learned how to make objects look realistic in a drawing when I couldn’t do that before taking this class.
Balancing ominous dark values while highlighting specific areas of his piece, Dorian Iten provokes an artistically appealing approach on his depiction of the bust.
Searching and marking, Iten most likely approached this piece with a simplistic “block-in” in order to pinpoint the most important and prominent details of the drawing. Through his use of a “block-in” he was able to build forms and give shape to his piece. One of the most important forms while doing so would have been Iten’s use of the sphere. The sphere helps the artist to contextualize where certain aspects of the drawing will fall, for instance, the light and shadow implied by the light source. Through rendering and edging, Iten was able to develop a realistic, three-dimensional piece and how it would appear to the human eye; however, in order to reach this point, the artist had to properly place all of the main elements of the piece during the “block-in;” one of, if not the most important aspect of the overall process.
Complementing the “block-in” is the light used which conveys the realistic aspect, as well as portraying how the human eye would naturally depict the piece. By adding value, Iten is able to provoke the ability to differentiate between light and dark. His proper placement of the lightest values of the piece emphasizes the direction of the light as well as highlighting where the artist wants the main focal point to be. With his dark values, it appears as though some elements of the piece disappear into the shadows creating the overall realistic look of the drawing.
Incorporated with the “block-in” and the light consideration is Iten’s use of a spherical element. A sphere is utilized in order to create the overall three-dimensional feel to the drawing. The artist clearly emphasized this element in areas such as the head of the bust. By creating the sphere, Iten is accurately able to place the exact point of where the light is hitting the sphere which, in turn, creates a round, three-dimensional concept. Through the step-by-step process endured by the artist, Iten is able to create a realistic, natural depiction of the bust.
Morgan Silver
Intro Arts: E
It is always really dark until you turn on the lights. In her depiction of the bust, Dorian Iten made sure those lights were on, highlighting various aspects of his piece. The beautiful sculpture rests beneath the dark shadows highlighted by glimmering light peeking through the upper left region. This piece muscularly relates to the drawing of the sphere. The sphere drawing shows light coming from the upper left region as well, making the top part of it vibrant and shinny causing a three dimensional formation. Due to the fact there is a cast shadow in the sphere and sculpture it forms a highlight. The highlight is seen in the neck very lucidly and in the sphere you can see it at the bottom of the sphere.
The block-in is not only the most important part to making a masterpiece but it also is when making a sphere for a class grade or for the midterm. Block-ins will help defy what creation of art is going to be produced because it helps with rendering and making it look realistic. You need to be extra cautious when doing a block-in because there can be mistakes along the way so the more detail added the better it would look in the end. When I started my block-in of the sphere I needed to have a complete circle as well as shapes for shadows and my placement for the background. Dorian had to go further in depth when rendering his piece because it is more complex and is done in three dimensions.
Edging allows a work of art to look as if you can touch it. It takes time when edging because one needs to make sure they do not go to dark or to light, but are able to slowly make unimportant parts “disappear” into the darkness. When a part of the artwork is really dark and the background is to the edging is fuzzier, but when it is dealing with lightness and highlights it tends to be very sharp. When the fuzziness and sharpness meet it is a ideal connection to make a masterpiece, just like in science when to chemicals are put together to construct an new element. Edging ultimately is the final touch when choosing what type of background will fit the particular drawing. With the sphere I am making I will have much sharper edges in the upper left region and lower right, as oppose to the upper right and lower left. In the end I will have a complete sphere that will have a three dimensional form because of the edging pushing darker parts back. Although there are various strategies used when making the most outstanding pieces of art, the three main ones that need to be used are lighting, blocking- in, and edging. If these three techniques are used surely enough the masterpiece you want will be complete.
Ribbons are meant to look like they are flowing with such agility. When an artist wants to start a painting such as, Caravaggio’s “Entombment” the ribbons are clearly evident. A ribbon in art is meant to look smooth and fitting. The painting of Caravaggio portrays many different ribbons such as the women’s arms reaching up and the head of another woman perfectly aligns with it. The man who is carried by other’s arm is hanging up when traced over from the outside it ribbons with the man in orange’s back.
To create a human figure it involves blocking- in because the figure of a human needs to be exact in order to get it to look realistic. When doing a block-in of the human body it can be time consuming, as I have learned with just drawing the face of the peers in my class. If a person’s part of their body is off by a slight amount can cause it to look completely wrong and disfigured. The block-in requires erasing and reading pieces repeatedly until is it precise. The best way to make a figure look identical is by first adding as much detail as possible including the lighting and other small features.
Lighting is a technique that makes it look completely genuine since it adds different tones to the figure. The lighting brings out muscle and bone structures when doing the human figure and it helps identity where the light is coming from. When the light is accurate it makes the human figure seem as though it could be touched and come to light. Ribbons, block-ins, and lighting are great skills to have when drawing the human figure and wanting to have it look precise and amazing.
Briana Betts
Interdisciplinary Art H E Block
January 18, 2012
Blog Assignment
In beginning a cast drawing there are four steps, the first being the Block-in where all of the proportions are heavily considered until completely mastered. Secondly, the artist will begin to find their darkest darks and their lightest lights and make sure not to touch those light spots, and to really sink in their darks to add form. Thirdly, the artist will use their light considerations to better mark the form and really pull out the values as they render the shapes of the block in. Lastly, after the artist has exhausted all efforts to make their drawing as realistic as possible, has mastered all of the proportional relationships, and used spherical concepts to build the correct shadows for each figure, blending and finishing touches may occur.
In the picture entitled “Entombment” by Michelangelo Caravaggio uses various connecting forms to complete the composition to lead the viewer all around the picture. These lines are also called “ribbons” and the idea being that the curvatures around figures when they are broken down within a work of art, that it leads the eye. In this work every person’s body is in focus with a minimum of negative space due to the eyes being led by flowing ribbons. The light considerations are the lightest on the man in the front and also hit on the women in the back to complete the composition.
The skills in which I arrived with coming into this class were absolutely not what they are currently after drawing rigorous and complex figures. It is absolutely certain that this course has helped my artist capabilities progress because there was a main highlight on the more awkward and difficult artistic subjects I tried to avoid in the past. Things like the hands, feet, facial features, and drawing people that I know were all slightly frightening to me until the block in was mastered. I did not believe anything in the course was redundant because in the end it just made the final products of my studies come out to be a lot better after mastering the basics, like the sphere. I would love to relearn the processes of drawing people because I made such progress the first time around but also I am not exactly where I would like to be in my abilities. There are numerous visual “breakthroughs” that were made for me by taking this course. I can see subjects as forms and a drawing rather than trying to go right along and tackle their most prominent features like those of a caricature or cartoon.
Consider pasting the images and prompts into Word to streamline the process.
Question 2:
Michelangelo
Based on what I have observed of this sort of work, it is likely that he began the painting with a series of studies of each figure. This would allow him to explore how the shadows, light, and folds of the clothing work. After this, I would suspect that he sketched the figures in, modifying the sketches as needed. This would serve as the block-in aspect. I am not sure whether he would have drawn the figures or the background first, though the background coming first seems more likely.
As a pencil and ink artist, I am not extremely familiar with painting, but most likely, Caravaggio laid down basic colors, rendering and building the value of each figure. As he did this, particularly when clothing was added, compositional “ribbons” were formed. He also had to ensure that each figure faded with the correct hardness or softness into its surroundings. One can also surmise that when completing the work, he must have had to ensure that the balls of the feet, among other spherical areas,
to be continued :- /
-Morgan Silver
Drawing comes with many needed skills and at times it may be hard, you either can progress or not progress due to the particular challenges. Certain skills that have helped me improve many assignments was edging and blocking in. I have never been able to get my background correct when trying to make my composition look how I desire, but taking this course has helped me significantly. I have been able to learn when blurry edges will be necessary along with sharp ones. I used to struggle when picking how my background will look because of the fading.
Blocking in was also another improvement for me because I have never done a block in or even heard of them throughout any of my art courses during high school. I learned to take my time and have patients when trying to make my work perfect because if you do not add as much detail it will become less like it is suppose to look. I struggle the most with doing portraits because I have never been good at doing that. I used to be able to draw people how I prefer to draw them without all of the extra steps, so being introduced to that really put stress on me and made it a challenge.
The coursework I found to be really basic was the sphere and the artwork we chose on our work. I thought the sphere was basic because I have made spheres many times so I knew how do it and the assignment we got to create on our own didn’t take as long as I imagined but I enjoyed it. What I found to be really hard was the portraits and the horse cast drawing. These were harder because I needed to make block-ins which is difficult and also because I needed to make it look as real as possible. I would undertake again the portraits if time was longer lasting so that I could make it look real and not so sloppy because of how limited time was. Visual breakthroughs I experienced during this course was how to take my time and learning to not shade with such force. Doing those two techniques made it more simple and complete. Taking your time and enjoying the assignment can make everything much easier and fun.
Ribbons are meant to look like they are flowing with such agility. When an artist wants to start a painting such as, Caravaggio’s “Entombment” the ribbons are clearly evident. A ribbon in art is meant to look smooth and fitting. The painting of Caravaggio portrays many different ribbons such as the women’s arms reaching up and the head of another woman perfectly aligns with it. The man who is carried by other’s arm is hanging up when traced over from the outside it ribbons with the man in orange’s back.
To create a human figure it involves blocking- in because the figure of a human needs to be exact in order to get it to look realistic. When doing a block-in of the human body it can be time consuming, as I have learned with just drawing the face of the peers in my class. If a person’s part of their body is off by a slight amount can cause it to look completely wrong and disfigured. The block-in requires erasing and reading pieces repeatedly until is it precise. The best way to make a figure look identical is by first adding as much detail as possible including the lighting and other small features.
Lighting is a technique that makes it look completely genuine since it adds different tones to the figure. The lighting brings out muscle and bone structures when doing the human figure and it helps identity where the light is coming from. When the light is accurate it makes the human figure seem as though it could be touched and come to light. Ribbons, block-ins, and lighting are great skills to have when drawing the human figure and wanting to have it look precise and amazing.
- Morgan Silver (posted before w.o name)**
prompt 1: Dorian Iten endured a rigorous process to accomplish the outcome of his presented drawing. With help from Mr. Kefor and his Interdisciplinary Arts class, I am enlightened with the proper process of using formal drawing techniques. These techniques are used to produce all realistic drawings. The basic elements of the process are creating the block-in, edging, rendering, and the final realistic touch ups.
Iten began this drawing by creating a block-in. Through a series of spherical shapes and lightly stroked lines, the head and it’s features are established in the correct positions. Once the block-in is fully complete, the edging process can begin. The light source provides light and dark values throughout the head to be highlighted in this process. After these two steps are complete, the realism of the drawing becomes richer.
The basic form has been completed, so the rendering process can begin. During this process, Iten shaded the larger areas by using the light source to shape and render the realism of the man’s face. Spherical concepts are considered during this stage because the lighting on the head is the same as it would be on a sphere. As the drawing starts to become more realistic, the final touchs can start being applied. Through these depicted steps, a realistic drawing can be formed.
prompt 2:
Michelangelo Caravaggio produced an impeccable composition in his painting “Entombment”. The darkness of the tomb and the lightness of the people are distinctly edged to the hair on their heads. Due to the rendering process, the light source is captured realistically and religiously. Jesus’ body is the main focus in the dark tomb because he is the “light in the darkness.” The work Caravaggio put into every step of this painting established a flawless composition with an even deeper emphasis.
Caravaggio displays a prodigious amount of effort in each phase of the formal drawing process. To create the position and proportions of the painting, the block-in process was done thoroughly to enhance the structure of the painting. The edging process was profoundly executed because every detail is able to be seen from the darkest to the lightest areas made by the light source. Caravaggio’s rendering is the most impressive process due to the picture-perfect composition implemented. He used the light source to map out the shadows of their spherical and realistic features. Lastly, final touches were made to complete the realism for unity of the painting as a whole.
prompt 3:
My coursework from Interdisciplinary Arts has been to the best of my ability or just flat out non-existent. I came into this class not very motivated to get involved, but second term took a turn for the better. First term, I did main drawing projects to the best of my ability and it began to increase my skills in drawing. Due to senioritis, I slacked on some of the writing assignments throughout the semester. As the semester progress, still-life drawings were beneficial for my progress throughout the semester. I created many drawings that I would have never believed I created just a few short months ago.
2. Balancing profound elements of light and shadow with a strategic drawing process, Michelangelo Caravaggio employs multiple compositional pieces with his approach on “Entombment.”
Connected and flowing is, arguably, the best way to describe Caravaggio’s painting. From the arms to the head of each person in the piece, there is a sense of connectedness provoked by the underlying compositional “ribbons.” These “ribbons” control the overall flow of the piece; from the highest to the lowest points made by the models, everything is entangled by these “ribbons.”
Like nearly all artists, it is safe to assume Caravaggio approached this piece one layer at a time – “block-in”, rendering, and then shading. The “block-in” is the most important aspect of this piece adding to the overall realistic depiction. Within his “block-in,” Caravaggio used various spherical elements in each of the bodies portrayed in the piece. Adding to the overall realistic depiction, Caravaggio introduced a light source coming from, what appears to be, the front of the piece. Through these various elements, Michelangelo Caravaggio successfully develops “Entombment.”
3. Arriving with no previous artistic experience, I was unsure of how I would do in Interdisciplinary Arts. At first, I believed that it would be a fairly simple class – I was very wrong.
Although the course was particularly challenging, there was a lot I learned and benefited from throughout the first semester. I have progressed from not being considered an artist to producing decent artwork. Learning the “block-in” is arguably the most important lesson I can benefit from. From the “block-in,” we were taught to search for the shape of what we were drawing and not to continue until it was found.
One assignment I feel as though I did not completely grasp was the drapery study. I feel as though drapery is important when working “ribbons” into drawing, but I feel as though I did not fully understand how to incorporate this element with everything else we were taught. Overall, I feel as though there was a lot that I learned and I’m very glad that I took this course.
1) Dorian Iten approached the drawing with ease. She didn’t overthink the drawing or overcomplicate it. To draw this item you must think of it as just simple lines.
Blocking in the sculpture is the first step to drawing this. Without a sufficient block in, the drawing will not look proportional. The block in is the most important step in drawing a realistic looking picture. During the blocking in stage it is good to go over your lines multiple times, and not erase. In the final product these lines will not be noticeable anyways. Relax look over your drawing and check if the block in looks correct. Stepping back and looking at the drawing sometimes finds errors and mistakes.
Rendering and building value is the second step in building a form such as the one that Dorian Iten created. In this step the artist is making the drawing look real and alive. In Dorian Iten’s picture of the sculpture you can tell he spent countless hours building the form. All the steps eventually go back to the first one, blocking in. Without the correct block in; all will not look well. In this step it is good to stick with one part of the art. Dorian iten probably took on the eye or such, and worked from there. Realistic looking faces compared to anime faces can be differentiated by the edging step. There are no lines on our faces outlining us. Good edging will make the drawing flow and connect all throughout. The fourth and final step is just a glance at all the parts the artist has completed. This step can easily be completed by shading the drawing.
When all these steps are completed the artist should have a sophisticated appearance for your work of art. Rushing through any of these steps or not taking your time will give you mistakes.
2) In the picture Entombment Michelangelo approached the drawing by drawing ribbons for a block in. The ribbons outlined the picture and showed all the key points for the painting. When all the ribbons were in the correct spot he began to groove them more, and include more detail. Every concept of this drawing goes back to the sphere. Since this was probably a still life drawing; it was good to know where the light was coming from. Michelangelo wanted to complete as much as he could at a time so that the light would not change. Painting the picture would be the final step.
3) Art has been an off and on class for me throughout high school. I had taken 3-D design and art 1 before this class. I had a basic knowledge how to prepare for a drawing. The two methods that helped me become a better artist were to block in and take your time throughout drawing. Rushing through pictures will never be the way to make a drawing look perfect. I benefited a lot from drawing the still life students in our class. This task demonstrated patience and a good sense of improv. Nothing in this class was easy to draw or simple. The drapery and the sphere seem easy, but they ended up being very difficult.
- chris mccready
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