D-d-d-drawings!

Here are some drawings I did a while ago in a few model sessions.  I found that during the periods where I was doing live model sessions my drawing skills improved faster than any other point in my life.

I loved working on this top drawing.  It just has a freedom and looseness to it.  Some days I feel like I really need to fight with the piece I’m working on, but this one was a joy.

Working large, and fast, was a great experience, and doing it all from a live model meant that I really had to develop the ability to make tough decisions involving perspective and value.

I still have a difficult time with faces.  (Check out my first post ever for more on that) But I have been noticing that the process is becoming more and more intuitive.

In these bottom two drawings I tried to manipulate the background to add contrast to the figure in the foreground.  Where the figure is light, the background is dark, and vice versa.

So!  Christmas break is coming.  I was thinking of maybe challenging myself to sketch a face a day, or 50 faces or something over the course of the break.  Not sure exactly what I will do, 50 seems a bit ambitious, but it would be a great way to keep my hand sharp over the holidays.

Let me know what you think!

Toyo Ito Dog Bed

Here is a project I worked on with Christina Sicoli.  We designed a dog bed based on the the work of contemporary architect Toyo Ito.

One thing that this project taught me was the importance of planning.  We spent a ton of time drawing out ideas and possible designs. It was great working with another person, it forced us to communicate our ideas well and make sure we were on the same page for each decision.  As you can see below, we had a lot of decisions to make!

Here are some of our many sketches:

The idea was to create an architectural form that emerged out of the ground, much like Toyo Ito’s design for Grin Grin Park in Japan.  These are some views of our sketch models:

We ended up using blue foam to shape the form, and covered it in fiber glass.  It was so much fun!  It was a crazy learning curve as neither of us had used fiber glasses before.

Below is a video of our process.  If you look closely you can see my hands in some of the shots. ;)  I have to give a huge amount of credit to Christina for this, she edited the whole thing and did a really good job.

 Here are some more images of the completed bed, click on them to enlarge:

We ended up selling the bed at auction during ‘Pets in the Park,’ a fundraiser for the Edmonton Humane Society.  Glad to see it going to a good cause, I hope the owner is happy with it!

Nicks Leaves

A guy from my program at school put this video together.  It’s actually pretty cool so I thought I would throw it up on here.  The best part is he filmed it all in one night over the period of about six hours, leaf by leaf.  Talk about an all nighter!  The music is original too.

Check out below for an interview with Nick

5 self portraits

Here are 5 self portraits I worked on a while ago.  They increase in focus and definition from the first to the last, and I must say, I had a ton of fun working on these.  I used all kinds of charcoal, ink, and conte, a large paintbrush, a box cutter, and even a dustpan broom to make them.

The image below is of the studio as I was working.  Check out the powders and ink splashes on the floor.