Week Eight

This weeks lecture took place at Leeds City Museum where we had the chance to draw non-human anatomy of taxidermy.

This is my drawing of the Tasmanian dog. The overall proportions and shape are all nearly correct, for example, the body of the dog is the right distance away from it's paws and the head isn't too big for the animal, the tail is possibly too small though as it looks slightly odd. The best part of this sketch is the head and face, it looks very life-like (even though it is dead). The overall shading isn't too bad, although you can tell it has been slightly rushed and the stripes could have been made longer and blended into the body better. This drawing (although a stationary object) has a good sense of movement and this picture clearly shows where the animals muscles and bone structure are. Overall, I am fairly happy with this 34 minute sketch, drawn with a 2B pencil.

This is my drawing of the badger. It demonstrates good form and uses correct proportions. The angles of the badger are mostly correct. Although the drawing does not look realistic, because a badger wouldn't usually be seen in this position, it still looks life-like as you can tell the drawing is a badger, and the shading very much helps with this. The shading going down the stomach of the badger is especially good as it follows the hair lines and flows nicely around the animal, adding dimension to the 2D plane. The arm underneath the face looks very odd and looks as though it comes straight across the badger, when really it doesn't start there. This in turn has made the bottom of the head look strange too. The tail doesn't looked attached to the body though has a nice texture to it. Overall this drawing took 23 minutes, using a 4B pencil.

This is my drawing of one of the skinny-legged long beaked birds. The angle the bird has been drawn at is very interesting and shows foreshortening as the beak looks the same size as the legs, when in reality it is smaller. The curvature of the lines are very effective and have created some very nice shapes that are pleasing on the eye. The curvature really makes you follow the bird along it's body. All the proportions are nearly correct, although the back leg and feet may be slightly off. The basic shading of the beak has worked well and only very partially shading in the body and around the wings has made a nice contrast. The overall composition of the bird is very pleasing to the eye and has been laid out on the page nicely. Overall it took 20 minutes using a 2B pencil.