To the moon, Mac! (not literally)

If I may, I would like to begin this post with a rant. A rant about technology and it’s limitations.

You see, I love my Mac. I would gladly sacrifice my dignity to defend it to any nay-saying Windows disciple out there. But right now all I want to do is rip the power cord out of the wall (even better if it takes a piece of dry wall with it for emphasis), stomp to my balcony, throw my head back and punt this piece of junk into the raging storm.

I won’t do it. I would feel guilty immediately. Mac and I have been through a lot together and I’ve become attached. I hear you can love someone without really liking them. I believe this is one of those relationships. Tomorrow it will probably do something really sweet and I’ll forget this ever happened. For now, it’s sleeping in the living room.

Okay enough rant.

I still haven’t posted my final two sculptures in my figure sculpture class. So, they’re not the Michelangelos I once said they’d be. I can say, though, I learned so much about the figure in this class and my drawing (and sculpting) will never be the same again.

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Figure Sculpture

WHY AM I BLOGGING I HAVE SO MUCH TO DO.

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Armatures R 4 Sissies

Okay, yes. I added a slideshow of my latest sculpture. It seems really dramatic and over the top but it was much simpler and less obtrusive than posting every single angle. Because I have to admit, I’m a little proud of this one. I’m just happy the whole thing didn’t topple over (it almost took a nose dive on 3 separate occasions). I should have been sculpting the full figure on an armature (if you don’t know what an armature is, ours look like this. It’s basically a skeleton that allows you to sculpt figures with more stability) but mine is in pieces in the trunk of my car. Long story.

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In other news, I’m back to the drawing board on my character design [see previous post]. After receiving some very constructive (and some very DEconstructive; perils of a community college) feedback from my peers I feel like he needs a few more tweaks. I like the basic idea, though, and if I don’t use the design for this character I’ll probably save it for another project.

Diane

Sculptification

Here are some more figure sculpture assignments from class. I can tell it’s getting easier? That may be an overstatement, let me try again. I now know what I will do wrong when I begin a sculpture. There. That’s more accurate.

I would apologize for the cell phone picture, but really it’s part of my secret plan to keep you from looking too closely at the flaws. Disproportionate? BAD PICTURE QUALITY. Sloppily executed? BAD PICTURE QUALITY.

Meager Beginnings

Okay I’m going to try my best not to ramble. I’m so tired I almost fell asleep with my eyes open and dropped my latte. SACRILEGE.

Here is official documentation of one of my first figure sculpture attempts:

Underwhelming? Just you wait ’till the end of the semester. This?

Child’s play.

Yard Sales

We had a yard sale today. The point of yard sales are to get rid of all the junk in your closest you don’t want anymore. We all know this. But when someone strolls through your tables of junk, picks something up, then puts it back down again, the first thing you think is, “what is wrong with you people?! How can you not want all this great stuff?!” and the next thing you know you’re running after them with a lopsided, handmade mug screaming, “BUT IT’S ONE OF A KIND!!!!”

At any rate, I sold two sculptures I pulled out on a whim ($5 a piece. That’s right. Look out, Jackson Pollock.), our house is much less cluttered and my body has recovered from the heatstroke I practically suffered in the sweltering California heat.

Speaking of heat, that stuffed duck didn’t quite make it:

Get ready, this post is packed…

This is possibly the last emotion we are sculpting in facial expressions. I call this “Mild Happiness.” Notice the 70s, I-Belong-to-the-Brady-Bunch feel. Totally intentional.

Okay,  I change my mind. Watercolor is not the demon spawn from some unholy center of the Earth. It is, in fact, a little fun and maybe kind of relaxing. But you didn’t hear that from me. Here’s a little something from class today (new model!).

And on a COMPLETELY unrelated note, I’ve been obsessed with “Glee.” I know, I know, me and the rest of the country. Well, along those lines, here is a little hilarious Jimmy Fallon action (who, with his show-tunes attitude and fancy choreography, has become kind of adorable. Go figure.). If you don’t want to sit through the whole thing, just scroll to the end.

Episode 1:

Episode 2:

Jimmy’s shirt gets kind of pretty by the end.

Facial Expression Mod #1

Let’s play a round of “Guess That Expression”. Go on, guess. If you get it wrong, I WILL SEND YOU HATE MAIL. But still, don’t be afraid to try. Hint: It’s supposed to be subtle.

Hope you all had a fantastic Easter vacation. Mine was blissful. I took some time to remember Jesus’ amazing sacrifice and the importance of Easter, I reunited with some friends, watched some mindless television and ate some candy (but not too much). Yeah, we should have one of these every month.

Clay.

I used to sculpt all the time. I sculpted a lot and I liked it. Well anyway, long story short, I hadn’t done it in a while. Part of my facial expressions class this semester involves sculpting the face. There’s something about sculpting it three dimensionally that makes your 2D drawings that much better. They’re more informed, like you’re sculpting your paper but instead of a wooden knife…thing…you have your favorite drawing utensil. I experienced it by accident during my portrait drawing class a couple years ago and now we’re doing it on purpose in this class.

I love it so much I could see myself doing this for the rest of my life. As a career? Who knows.

In this picture, his nariz looks extra gigante. I don’t know if that’s a flaw in my sculpting or the camera on my phone. Either way, it’s not really supposed to be that big. I should have taken a profile view.

As the semester goes on we’ll be changing his facial expression. So say goodbye to “neutral”. It’s the last time you’ll see him.