Homework

Homework #15 – Sketchbook Prompts Assignment Check – April 23rd, 2021

Feel free to go to the “Sketchbook” tab to view all of my prompts. Enjoy!

Homework #14 – Response to The Secret of Drawing and Caitlin McGurk’s presentation – April 6th, 2021

Response to The Secret of Drawing 2

I really enjoyed watching this episode of The Secret of Drawing. I was able to explore different sides of art that I did not how artist created and explore things that I did not know they existed. Daniel Clowes’ work impressed me by the way he draws, how he developed his skills during his life, and showed his feelings and emotions through the drawings and stories.

During the video, they say images is an easier way to understand ideas, points of view, and when they showed artists who were able to express political ideas through cartoons it really impressed me and made me think about how difficult it has to be for someone to draw a cartoon and at the same time make it explicit the idea the artists want to show.

Misako Rocks’ work also impressed me since she never went to art school and does everything by hand so easily and quickly. I thought it was very interesting the pen she uses which allows her to make thin and thicker lines, and the fact that Clowes’ work influenced her makes me think how broad this comic book area can be, bringing together different types of artists and different styles of comic books.

The part of the episode that stood out the most for me was when they talked about J. Todd Anderson. I think it is an awesome role that he has during the movies, but this is something new to me, since I never realized there was someone picturing the frames into visual language. It is very noticeable how passionate he is with his work when he talks about George Clooney’s movie.

This episode changed the view that I had about comic books and it made me interesting to explore different kinds of them. I appreciate the different styles, and how diverse and interesting stories can be, just by the different ways artist draw their cartoons.

Bullet points about Caitlin McGurk’s video

• Billy Ireland Cartoon Library & Museum at the Ohio State University is the largest collection of cartoon art in the world.
• Milton Caniff was the most celebrated and successful cartoonist in the history and he went to OSU.
• Bill Watterson was turned down at first with Calvin and Hobbes and a newspaper suggested that he showed the main character’s face.
• Disney sued a cartoon that had its characters and made fun of the characters putting them in unusual situations. People became curious to see the cartoons and they became collectible items.
• The Billy Ireland Library had different names which changed over time and it was named the way it is today back in 2009.
• When Billy Ireland died, Columbus Dispatch full cover was about him, showing how important he was.

Homework #13 – Sketchbook Prompts Assignment Check – March 30th, 2021

Feel free to go to the “Sketchbook” tab to view all of my prompts. Enjoy!

Homework #12 – The Secret of Drawing 3 – All in the mind – March 23rd, 2021

After watching the documentary generate a 250-word response and upload to Carmen.

I enjoyed watching this episode of The Secret of Drawing because I agree when it says that drawing is a reflection of our mind and it is a mix of conscious and unconscious. After watching the third episode, I was impressed how artists are able to express themselves and actually put their emotions into their drawings. The experiment done by John Tchelenko was able to explain, in some parts, how this would work with his eye tracker which allow him to understand how our mind gathers information to produce a drawing.

George Grosz’s work impressed me when he tries to show what the people in his drawing were feeling. If they were mad, he was able to represent it and when people like me see his work, we are able to understand more in depth what Grosz tried to represent. Another interesting part of the video was about Pablo Picasso when it says that he was the turning point between the conscious and the unconscious. Picasso tried to merge the old way with the more modern way of drawing, which was difficult for him to relearn how to draw like a child. This was very curious to me because he was so well trained and high skilled.

The Creative Growth Art Center in Oakland, California amazed me with all of the artists that go there. For me, it summarizes what this episode was about, which is showing how drawing can be a way to express thoughts and emotions in our mind. The director even said that people who are not able to speak are able to express what they are feeling.

It was a fun episode and very rich in information. Drawing can be and is a way to express what the artists feel or even a way to communicate. Even though it is something that I agree with, it is a thought that I had never had before watching the episode. Now, when drawing, I will think about the video and let me emotions jump right into my work.

Homework #11 – Response/Reflection to Module 4 (Gesture) and Module 5 (Collage) – March 21st, 2021

Both modules, 4 and 5, were really interesting and different to what we had been doing since the beginning of the semester. I liked the idea of the gesture drawing and the collage. Collage was something that I had never tried before, and in this kind of drawing you can play with the tones of color and pictures you add to your work. I believe my work fulfils the criteria of the modules, considering that I have done what the assignments required. My strength in these two modules was my creativity which allowed me to do Project #7 and Project #8. I still think I could improve the details in my drawings, the idea of my drawings is good, but the final product can be better if I detail more. Again, talking about details, I had difficulties when I needed to draw larger and more detailed sketches in Exercise 6.

Homework #10 -GE Assignment Writing and Drawing Draft – March 14th, 2021

This is part of the GE Assignment. Feel free to go to the “GE Assignment” tab to view all of my work. Enjoy!

Homework #9 – Sketchbook Prompts Assignment Check – March 3rd, 2021

Feel free to go to the “Sketchbook” tab to view all of my prompts. Enjoy!

Homework #8 – Response/Reflection to Perspective – March 3rd, 2021

I really enjoyed working with perspective, because it is a type of drawing that gets close to the reality when you look at it. My work fulfills the criteria of the assignment and there is a sense of depth. I think the composition activates the page because when you look at my work you can actually feel like you are inside of the room looking at it or outside looking at the house, and that is because it shows depth where closer objects are bigger and farther objects are smaller and with less details. I believe the strength of my work was the straight lines that gave the work a clean look and similarity to reality. On the other hand, I should get better at adding details to my drawings, because it can really increase its composition and makes it nicer.

Homework #7 – GE Assignment First Draft – February 19th, 2021

Alice Neel

Alice Hartley Neel was born in Merion Square, Pennsylvania on January 28^th, 1900. Daughter of George Washington Neel, one of the signers of the Declaration of Independence, Alice joined art courses since young and began to study at the Philadelphia School of Design for Women. Her portraits were recognized since she was at school, receiving awards from her portrait class twice.

Alice was known for her portraits of close friends, family members, political figures, artists, lovers and common people, even when abstract expressionism was relevant, and portraits were considered out of fashion. She does follow a pattern of painting people in chairs, tables or couches, with colorful clothing and explicit expression in their faces. She struggled with her mental health after her daughter’s death after turning one, and her second daughter being taken to Cuba by her father. Alice was sent to a suicidal ward after attempting suicide.

After her first husband, Carlos Enriquez abandoned her, she had many other lovers with ups and downs. In 1930, Alice became a member of the Works Progress Administration and in that time, she used to include left-wing activists in her work. In 1938, she moved to Spanish Harlem where she took her time to paint portraits of normal people and she focused on showing a true representation of what she saw. An example would be T.B. Harlem (1940) which is a portrait of an ill man in the bed showing expressions of suffering.

In the 1960s, she moved to the Upper West Side trying to reintegrate with the art world. In this phase of her career, she was painting portraits of artists, gallery owners, art critics. One of her famous paintings include Andy Warhol (1970). Her work started being well recognized in the art industry around 1970s, when she became a member of the National Institute of Arts and Letters which means a lot for artists in the US. In 1976, she received the International Women’s Year Award and due to her magnificent skills in art she received the National Women’s Caucus for Art Award.

Alice Neel had colon cancer and the last years of her life she spent with her family members, going to the hospital to take care of her health, teaching art and also attending interviews and presentations. On October 13^th, 1984, she died in her New York apartment and her family was there with her. She was buried in Vermont close to her studio as she had previously requested to her family.

Her artwork was very unique. It tried to capture everyday moments of people’s life and the fact that she painted portrait she could express their emotions to the painting. The use of different colors made it very interesting and caught the attention of the viewer. She was reviving a portrait style during times that abstract paintings were in fashion. Her courage to bring back something that out of fashion paid off and now she is considered one of the greatest American artists of the twentieth century.

Works Cited

“Alice Neel.” Alice Neel Biography – Alice Neel on Artnet, www.artnet.com/artists/alice-neel/biography

“Alice Neel.” Encyclopædia Britannica, Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc., 24 Jan. 2021, www.britannica.com/biography/Alice-Neel

Kennaugh, Stuart. Alice Neel, www.aliceneel.com/biography/

Kennaugh, Stuart. Alice Neel, www.aliceneel.com/home/

Homework #6 – Read Perspective article and watch YouTube videos – February 11th, 2021

7 Bullet Points:

• The horizon line will always be at the viewer’s eye level. Using this technique is very useful when drawing in perspective.
• The vanishing point is located on the horizon line and that is where the lines will meet when drawing in perspective.
• Parallel perspective uses one vanishing point (1-point perspective), while angular perspective uses two vanishing points (2-point perspective).
• It is possible to use three vanishing points (3-point perspective). In this case the sides of the object/figure/building are not parallel to the plane and distortions are more visible.
• To draw a circle in perspective, we should first draw a square in perspective. Then, divide the square in eight parts. After that, we should draw an ellipse so it can touch all 4 sides of the square (reference points).
• It is important to consider that when drawing in perspective, objects will vary in size and in details. If they are closer, they should be bigger and more detailed. If they are farther, they should be smaller and less detailed.
• To draw a room in perspective, we should start by drawing a rectangle, then draw diagonal lines. The vanishing point will be right in the middle, where the lines meet. The lines will mark the floor, walls and ceiling. After that, any object will be drawn based on those lines and vanishing points.

Homework #5 – GE Assignment Research – February 5th, 2021

Long list – 7 artists:

1. Alice Neel
2. Hannah Hoch
3. Wassily Kandinsky
4. Egon Schiele
5. Honore Daumier
6. Arthur Dove
7. Louis Wain

Short response to 3 artists’ work:

Alice Neel:

• She was an American artist from Pennsylvania. Most of her paintings were portraits of people close to her. I find her work really interesting because she follows a pattern of people in chairs, tables or couches. The portraits are colorful, and I liked it because she pays attention to the clothing giving details and focus to it. I identify with her work because while it is very simple, it gives a very realistic look.

Hannah Hoch:

• She was a German artist whose work is very different and unique. She used to include different images and texts, and combine them into the same picture, which I think is very interesting. It is noticeable that she includes some critiques about society into her work. I identify with her work because I think it gives a very modern look when combining cropped images from different places.

Wassily Kandinsky:

• Wassily was a Russian artist. He created first modern abstract painting and his work is most of abstract images. What I like about his paintings is the colorful shapes and background that he always did when painting. I identify with his abstract work because I enjoy this kind of shapes when I am drawing.

Homework #4 – Sketchbook Prompts Assignment Check – February 3rd, 2021

Feel free to go to the “Sketchbook” tab to view all of my prompts. Enjoy!

Homework #3 – Reading, bullet points and drawing – January 29th, 2021

Homework #2 – “The Secret of Drawing” – January, 17th, 2021

After I watched the video “The Secret of Drawing”, I was able to see different ways that drawing can be helpful in our days. It showed me different ways that drawing can be a good ‘tool’. The video made me realize how important it can be when it comes to Science. At the beginning, when it showed Francis Wells, a heart surgeon who uses drawing as a learning tool for him and for others in the medical field. It amazed me that at the end of the surgery, he has the ability to draw and plan for next surgery in 3D, which makes it easy to analyze.

As the video continues, Leonardo Da Vinci is introduced being Dr. Wells’ inspiration for drawing. Da Vinci began to study anatomy way before Science could come up with things like he did. What really helped Leonardo was his studies of liquids which helped him to understand the liquid engineering of the heart. His work was very detailed, drawing skulls and muscles. What amazes me is that Science and technology were not that developed yet and even with the circumstances, Da Vinci was able to do such amazing work. This shows us how passionate for knowledge he was and how curious he was about things around him.

George Stubbs was another artist who caught my attention in the video. Artist who went to a farmhouse to study the anatomy of a horse. He used the ability of drawing to help him with his studies, observing all the carcasses until they rot which was good to understand all the stages and make a full and complete observation.

Overall, the video showed me that drawing is much more than a hobby for some people. Drawing can be really helpful when it comes to things that surround us, and that observation is very important when we want to get to perfection. This makes me even more curious about what this class is about to help me and improve my ability to observe.

 

Source: “The Secret of Drawing” Episode 1: “The Line of Enquiry” 2005

Homework #1 – January, 17th, 2021

Create the blog!