Crafting Contours homework

Crafting Contours homework - student project

Practice assignment for "crafting countours" lesson.

 

I only had one sweet potato for this assignment. I tried to change my lines a little bit for each iteration. Next time I go shopping I'll be hitting the produce aisle to buy some interesting shapes to practice :-)

The good thing about practicing on cheap tissue paper is that I have absolutely NO CONCERNS about wasting paper. (my grandparents went through the great depression and they've instilled an aversion to "wasting things" that is really hard for me to shake).

Attempt 1 December 29 - flat room light.

Crafting Contours homework - image 1 - student project

Attempt 2 - Dec 29 - with a desk lamp

Crafting Contours homework - image 2 - student project

Above is the same potato, but I exaggerated the contours as an experiment (the actual potato is pretty boring).

 

Attempt 3 - 29 Dec - with a desk lamp

Crafting Contours homework - image 3 - student project

 

Attempt 4 - Dec 30 - flat room light.  I experimented with trying to get more "potato-ish" blemishes and using very fine contour lines. Contour-wise this one is the most true to the actual potato.

Crafting Contours homework - image 4 - student project

 

What I notice when I upload these photos is that I subconsciously reacted to the flat vs. directional light (even though I wasn't actively thinking about that). You can see a lot more "contour" in 2 and 3 compared to 1 and 4.

As a beginner, I'm also noticing that there is SO MUCH to think about! So many details, so many decisions! But there are some things that are already becoming more "automatic," which frees up more cognitive space to think about a new challenging aspect of what I'm doing.

 

It's a clear example for me of how -- as you move up the ladder of expertise--  you get better at quickly taking in and analyzing details...to the point that at some stage you're processing an enormous number of details almost automatically, without realizing that you're even doing it.

One of the great things about Brent's teaching is that he explains the kind of things he's thinking about and the decisions he's making as he moves through the stages of a drawing. It's not always easy to take this "tacit" knowledge gained over years and years of experience and put it into words that a beginner can understand. I'm already eager to go through this same course again from the beginning...I think it's something that I'll get more out of each time I repeat it.