Wednesday Night 2D Design Class

I feel like I've been neglecting this blog! I've actually been doing a lot of art now that school has begun and I want to share some with you all!

Let's see.... I've been in this class for, oh.. about 3 weeks now. Tomorrow will be the start of the 4th week. This class has been rather challenging. It's completely non-representational. Meaning, all shapes and lines that do not form a familiar object. No dogs, people or houses. Impossible right? Really! No squares, circles or rectangles either. All organic shapes and weird free drawn lines. That is something I am not very good at. Our first in class assignment was to create "Three Significant Lines". We had to draw out in a thumbnail box (2" w x 2.5" h) three lines, all different shapes, sizes, thickness, forms and angles. The second thumbnail was just adding more details... the 3rd was changing the thickness and the 4th, 5th and 6th were to finalize the changes and pick the best one. Then we had to draw it out in an 8x10in box, and color it with a fine point sharpie.

This was my in class... My final, and all my thumbnails.

During the critiques from the class I was told I have an obvious style (umm excuse me what? I didn't think so. Do you see my blog tagline? That's the point of this blog! I guess everyone does have one... i'm glad that i'm getting close. I was also told that my lines were whimsical. Sounds good to me!)



The at home assignment was the same idea, except with larger thumbnails. This is my final!

 

AT HOME!  I got 12/12 points. A+  :)   

I'm very proud of my neatly drawn lines. I used a ruler, something completely unheard of before school. That's something I'm trying very hard to maintain!

We've since had to make "Three Significant Shapes"  and "Realism to Abstract" assignments. I will post those when i get around to taking photos!

This class has a ton of work and a ton of power point presentations... But I do like learning new things. I also have my Drawing I class on Tuesday Nights (tonight), but I haven't really been able to snap any good photos. We've been doing Contour drawings, Blind and Semi-blind. We're also drawing from still life, and (re)learning the Rule of Thirds. I learned it in photography, but it's cool to use it in more than just a viewfinder.

Anywhoo.. I hope you guys will stick around and see more of my classwork. The in-class critiques are very hepful, I'd be very happy to hear from anyone out there in the blogosphere!

Take Care & Wish me more luck. haha

- D

My First ATC's :)

From Wikipedia: 
Artist Trading Cards (or ATCs) are miniature works of art about the same size as modern baseball cards or 2 ½ X 3 ½ inches,  small enough to fit inside standard card-collector pockets, sleeves or sheets. The ATC movement developed out of the mail art movement and has its origins in Switzerland. Cards are produced in various media, including dry media (pencils, pens, markers, etc.), wet media (watercolor, acrylic paints, etc.), paper media (in the form of collage, papercuts, found objects, etc.) or even metals or cloth. The cards are usually traded or exchanged rather than sold.

A few months ago I joined the website Swap-bot. It's a crafting/ art website devoted to snail mail. For example: sending handmade postcards, quilting blocks, ATCs, buttons and tons of things that fellow crafters may need. I participated in a few. (Posted on my Craft Blog) 

Most recently I sent out a handmade Coin Purse and Yarn Earrings, and also a Potholder and I did a few email swaps too. This was my first real drawing, artwork swap. Which is why I am also posting it here on my Art Blog!


Most ATCs have themes, These two were alphabet themed ones. "I is for..." and " H is for..." 

 

I picked the word "Hats" for H. I sketched out some fancy Kentucky Derby-inspired hats and colored them with markers and colored pencils.

And for i, I chose "invincible"! I drew a little bunny in my sketchbook (Super Bunn, to be exact) . Cut him out and pasted him on yellow paper, and then pasted that yellow paper on some gold foil. Then I drew some little lines and wrote the theme up top. 

Both are attached to thick card stock similar to baseball cards that I got at Michael's craft store.

For the back, you must add your name, location and other info on the back. I decided to make mine on the computer. I was going for a Comic-book-y theme.  :)  I am really happy with how they came out. 

Since my partners have since received them, I decided to post them up! (I didn't want to spoil the surprise).

I encourage everyone to join swap-bot, or just trade things and art with fellow bloggers. It's fun to get mail and make things for others. 

Take Care!
Dara