Class Review

The semester is almost over. Thus, I took a closer look at my work and realized that I have made visible progress in my drawing skills. Besides Life Drawing I, I am also in another drawing class. In this class, we are concentrating mainly on still life drawings. Both classes were influencing my drawing skill in a different way. However this gives me just more options how to draw! This was my final drawing in the other class:

Still Life with Animals | Katharina Jourdan

I realized that drawing is first of all observing and analyzing not to report the reality but your personal view. A drawing tells not only a story about the image matter but also about the person how drew the image.

During the end of the Semester allowed myself more correction work during a longer study. I also tried different styles. I really like the simplification of outline drawings, especially if a graphic element is added.  But during the Semester I start to appreciate the contour drawings as well and focus more on contour lines in the second have of the semester. I still have to think more about composition before I start to draw. Right now for better or worse my compositions happens more by accident.

I created a Portfolio to present the best drawings from this Semester.

View my Portfolio here.

Final Shell Drawing | Katharina Jourdan

I’m glad that I had the opportunity to study abroad. It is a great source of influences. I always love to come to know a different culture better. It also opens my mind to analyze the positive and negative things in my University.  I enjoyed all my classes a lot and I’m happy with the result. I gained a lot! Back in Hildesheim I will take another figurative drawing class.

Thank you, Amy for the pleasant and productive time!

Katharina Jourdan

13. Week | Hand and Skull

On Tuesday, in Life Drawing I, we spoke about our shell homework assignment. For more information, have a look on the next blog post.

Hand drawing | Katharina Jourdan

Then Amy gave us a lecture about the bones of the hand and forearm. Afterward, we drew our hands in small groups to have a closer look at the hand instead everybody drawing from one model. Nicole and I switched every 30 minutes. Thus, both of us had the chance to study the hand twice in detail.

Both of Nicole's drawings are awesome. I struggled a lot with all of the plain changes and need to practice more.

skull sketch | Katharina Jourdan

On Tuesday, in Life Drawing I, we concentrated on the skull. As usual, Amy gave us a lecture on the board and then we started to draw from the skeletons. A skull is very complex. Thus, I was facing a lot of difficult decisions. My first two drawings didn't work well, but I can see an improvement in the last one. The most I struggled with was bringing out the cheekbones. The plain changes around the eye sockets were a real challenge.

skull sketch | Katharina Jourdan

13. Week | Third Homework

Shell drawing with pencil | Katharina Jourdan

The first image shows the first status of my shell drawing. I was drawing with different pencils. You can see how I improved it compared to my first homework assignment! The second image displays my final shell drawing with ink:

Shell drawing with ink | Katharina Jourdan

During the first 20 minutes in class on Tuesday, we spoke in a group of four students about our shell assignment, and in particular, our experiences with the ink. My image received a lot of attention. I was happy that my group appreciated my work because I spend time and effort on it. I think this pays off. I am satisfied with the result! The group was impressed by the strong color application. They spoke about the depth  and volume created nicely by using dark colors. The main critique of my group was that I may have overused the white crayon. The shell interacts well with the background. One student mentioned that the shell is "dancing" on the background. Maybe the droppings of the ink under the shadow pulls the attention from the shell.

I'm glad that we will have one more shell drawing assignment. In the next drawing, I will work on more clarity in the lighter and upper parts of the shell and integrate the white crayon better.

12. Week

On Tuesday, in the Life Drawing class, Amy gave us the last assignment about the mussel-clay work on our manikins. Until the end of the semester, we will be adding the muscles of the legs, shoulders and arms to our small skeleton. By building the muscles I will take a closer look at the complexity of the human body that hopefully leads into a better understanding and better drawings.

fast skeleton drawings | Katharina Jourdan

On Thursday, we dove deeper into the understanding of the contraction of humans bodies by drawing a skeleton. As we usually draw from a model, we started with faster poses and increased the time at the end of class. Before we started drawing, Amy explained to us the structure of the shoulders. Thus, the main focus in the longer pose was all of the shoulder bones. First of all, I realized that it is hard to start drawing again after a two-week break. My eyes had forgotten the critical view and my hand misremembered line variations. 

long skeleton drawing | Katharina Jourdan

The semester is already coming to an end and I just started to realize how complex the human body is. The teachers advised to always look for certain landmarks on the body and include them in the drawing. However, I feel like I need to practice human figure drawings more. Therefore, I decided to take another figurative drawing class back in Germany in my final semester at the HAWK in Hildesheim.

I would like to remind everybody in my class that we have the great opportunity to join the Open Life Drawing every Tuesday night from 7 to 10 p.m. Male and female models are changing every week. Take the last chance!

11. Week | Field Trip

This week, my Life Drawing I class, we went to our field trip. We visited the Walker Art Center and the Bell Museum of Natural History in Minneapolis. Unfortunately the bus was one and a half hour too late, thus we started our trip at 11:00a.m. instead of 9:30a.m. As we reached the Walker there was just one hour and 15 minutes left. So I had to think about that I would like to see. I decided to see the exhibition of the photographer Alec Soth. He shows images from the ordinary everyday life of people living in the Midwest.

from the series: Sleeping by the Mississippi | Alec Soth

Here you can have a look on the artist's website: http://alecsoth.com/photography/ 



Afterward I went outside to see the artwork from James Turrell. I was very excited about that. Last semester in Germany I went with one of my classes to a James Turrell exhibition at the Kunstmuseum Wolfsburg, which I liked a lot. At the Walker Art Center the artist created a room under the earth. If you entered the room you can see the sealing has huge frame though which you can see the sky. I expired the sky through the frame more intensive as I would do it without. After a while two birds entered the field of the sky. It seemed like two sea mull, but I was not quiet sure. Then in a sudden a bird of prey appeared. I was spectacular.



crane | Katharina Jourdan

Later the bus brought us to the Bell Museum of Natural History. There we could see a large, biological collections documenting Wisconsin's biodiversity. It shows all kind of animals like birds and fishes. Our assignment was to draw one of the animals. I decided to draw a crane. But I liked the beaver a lot to.

It was a great day!

10. Week

This week, Tuesday's class was canceled. Therefore, I went to the Open Life Drawing Class at 7 p.m. and enjoyed the quiet working atmosphere with a few other students.

first ink experience | Katharina Jourdan

On Thursday, Amy started with a lecture on how to use the ink for our next seashell homework. She showed us through the example of an online assignment what we have to pay attention to if we are using ink (e.g. the upper parts become the lightest parts of the shell and the curved in parts will be the darkest ones). In a drawing using just charcoal or pencil, the darkest parts are close to the viewer and the lightest parts appear farther away. Afterward, we used ink for the very first time. At first we drew a general contour drawing with pencil for half an hour, then we started with ink.

It was a lot of fun to bring color into the drawing. Colors are always my favorite element to express something. Compared to pencil, ink has a momentum which works on its own.

Poster Offensive No.5 | Exhibition Furlong Gallery

After class, I went to the Furlong Gallery to join the opening of the Poster Offensive No. 5 exhibition. It is a great exhibition showing political poster designs! I recommend everybody at Stout to take the opportunity to see it. I had an interesting conversation with the curator Peet Fetsch how he did an exchange program for a year at my university (HAWK) in Hildesheim, Germany several years ago. For more information, have a look on their website: http://www.posteroffensive.com/.

9. Week | Feet

On Thursday, Amy gave us an assignment about feet. First, she was explaining to us on the board the structure of bones and muscles. Later, we were drawing feet from the model. The teacher gave us time to work on one drawing for tow hours, but I couldn't concentrate for that long and was drawing several faster drawings. I tried to experiment with different drawing styles.

feet study | Katharina Jourdan

9. Week | Second Homework

This time in the Life Drawing Class, we spoke in small groups about our second seashell drawing homework:

Homework: second shell drawing (detail) | Katharina Jourdan

Besides the fact that my drawing is too small to cover the whole page, my group enjoyed my work a lot. They mentioned how the line variation supports my drawing. The dark lines of the drawing are creating main focus points. In other parts, lines are used sparingly. The lips of the shell get the most attention. My group helped me realize that I tried to ignore the broken tips of my shell and I should describe them with cross contour lines just like they are. My group appreciated that I used dark lines to describe which parts are closer to the viewer and which are on the bottom creating the illusion of width and depth. I used line variations in my first homework as well, but this time, I used them more consistently.

I was also impressed by improvements that other students have made so far.

Homework: second shell drawing | Katharina Jourdan

Amy wrote her critique on two cute post-its:

"- beautiful line work
 - wonderful cross contour work, especially around opening of shell and just behind that area, where lines are moving around the shell
 - continue to work in getting shell to fit in page
 - a thicker tool may help
 - back 1/3 to 1/4 of shell is confusing reach - I think it just needs more time spent looking and clarifying the form"

I agree with all of the points and looking forward to improving my drawing skills.

8. Week

On Tuesday, in the Life Drawing class, we made some progress on our Manikin work. On Wednesday, I went with my Painting I class to a field trip to Minneapolis. There, we visited the MCAD, MIA (Minneapolis Institute of Art) and the Walker Art Center. Inspired by drawings from an illustrator, Erika Olson Gross, I tried a different style when laying down my lines on the paper; we drew a pose for two hours on Thursday.

2 hour study | Katharina Jourdan

Open Drawing Class

Open Drawing class was a lot of fun this week! The model did an amazing job.
So, have a look at my work:

male model | Katharina Jourdan

male model | Katharina Jourdan

male model | Katharina Jourdan

7. Week | Reflection on the first ½ of the semester

reclining nude | Katharina Jourdan

It is mid-term. Hence, I reflected my improvements in the first two months of the semester. I am glad that I am taking the Life Drawing class this semester! I can definitely see some improvements. I prefer to use colors, mixed medias and collages to develop my illustrations. However, the Life Drawing class makes me experience the qualities of drawings. It will support my illustration work.

Besides the fact that I am aware of my developments, there are several things I will focus on to push them forward:

• I would like to allow myself more correction work during a longer study. I realize that I am often repeating the lines, which are already laid out on the paper, instead of looking for different angles or proportions to make the drawing more accurately reflect the nude I am drawing.

• I would like to focus more on the contour lines instead of the outlines of the figure. I will work more on my line variation. My drawings already include a span from thin to light lines, but this can be enhanced even more. There should also be a line variation with each single line.

• In longer studies, I have the tendency to draw the whole figure with the same level of detail. It would make a drawing more interesting to look at if there were areas with more detail and areas with less detail. This is important in order to create focus points to look at. There should be darker and lighter parts, which would also improve the impression of space in the drawing.

• There is no need to always draw the whole figure, thus I should think more about composition and what I want to have on my paper before I start drawing.

View my Mid Term Portfolio here.

image from my Mid Term Portfolio | Katharina Jourdan

In the beginning, my expectations for myself were not high. I know that I have other strengths. But during the last two months, I greatly developed my drawing skills. So, I am excited to develop my skills even more in the next two months.

Open Drawing Class

warm up drawings | Katharina Jourdan

study of seating woman | Katharina Jourdan

6. Week | First Homework

This week, we were discussing our shell drawing in small groups. To create a dynamic composition, I tried to draw my shell from an angle, which shows a log axis line. During the discussion in the small group, I realized that it could be even more dramatic. Amy critiqued this too. One goal of the homework was to draw contour lines instead of outlines. In the end, I erased some of my outlines, which first helped me to figure out the shape and then were not necessary anymore. In my drawing, there is already a line differentiation, but in the lighter part, it could be even more exaggerated. Everyone in my group agreed that a lot of plane changes are evident. In addition, my discussion group mentioned that there are some magic parts in my drawing and it has a definitive sense of life. Thank you for saying this! Next time, my wish is to have some more constructive critique that helps me to improve my work.

Homework: first shell drawing | Katharina Jourdan

Amy’s advice was to increase the contrast in the part of the shell, which is next to the viewer, and let the drawing have less detail and contrast as more of the shell moves away in space.

5. Week

There was no class this week, so I had time to focus on my homework with my shell:

4. Week

This week, in class on Tuesday, we started with a lecture on the muscles of the torso. Later, I found myself not able to draw. On my paper, the relationship between the torso and the legs was not right. It took me a while to realize what was wrong. I have the tendency to oversize the torso and make the rib cage larger than it is. At the end of class, we were introduced to our new homework. We will make large couture drawings of our seashell.

On Thursday, our motto was to draw as light as possible. To achieve this, we attached two drawing utensils together. Being no closer to the page than an arms-length away, we were able to practice drawing with our shoulders.

measure drawing | Katharina Jourdan

At the end of class, we spent one and a half hours on a measure drawing, connecting one landmark with another by using straight lines. 

Open Drawing Class

This time in the Open Drawing class, we had a male model to draw. As usual, we started with fast drawings and ended up with a couple of longer studies. Have a look at my work:

warm up drawings | Katharina Jourdan

3 minutes drawings | Katharina Jourdan

15 minutes drawing | Katharina Jourdan

3. Week

This week, in the Life Drawing class, we began both sessions with gesture drawings. Our challenge was to see and draw only the rib cage and the spinal column. It took me a while until I was able to see it and put it down on paper. We started with just 30 seconds per drawing and increased the time to five minutes.

rib cage and the spinal column drawing | Katharina Jourdan

We also did cross contour drawings. For me, it was hard to make the decision in which direction the cross contours should go, so I decided to publish my other drawing instead.

the other drawing | Katharina Jourdan

Open Drawing Class

Every Tuesday is an open drawing class, free for everybody to join. I was there this week and enjoined the concentrated working atmosphere. The following image is a 3o minute study that I think worked the best. I am glad there is the opportunity to join the free class and gain a  little bit more practice.

30 minute study | Katharina Jourdan

2. Week

This week we continued drawing a model. It is very helpful that we’re starting each lesson with fast gesture drawings, only concerned with the proportions and angles of the body.  By increasing the drawing time we were too focused on details hence it is easy to loose the view of the whole. I recognized a little improvement compared to last week, although there is a long way to go.

cross contour drawing | Katharina Jourdan

In our Life Drawing I class we will also work on a manikin. We are going to build the muscles from clay so we will gain a better understanding of the human body. On Thursday we started with the back.

1. Week

seashell | blind drawing | Katharina Jourdan

During out first week in Life Drawing I class, we received a shell. The individual and organic shapes of shells can be compared with the unique forms of human bodies. The first exercise was a blind contour drawing, forcing us to focus on the details of the shell. I had a close look and became acquainted with my seashell. The second exercise was to draw a contour drawing without lifting our pencil from the page. I realized that details of the shell were lost because I focused more on the paper.

fast gesture drawing | Kathairina Jourdan

At our second meeting we started with drawing models. First we did very fast gesture drawings and increased time more and more. For the last drawing we have had 30 minutes. For me it was difficult to draw the whole body in a short time and get the correct proportions.

I am excited to develop my skills.

Introduction

Since my childhood I like to paint and do collages. My grandma was a great drawer. She often drew animals for me and I really enjoyed coloring them. Actually I was more interest in colors than in drawing. So I made the decision to study color design. But after studying color design for one year I figured out that I want to be involved in the whole process of illustration.  I have a strong need to express my view of what is going on in the world nowadays. Because of this I changed in to graphic design.

dog and his owner | Katharina Jourdan | collage | 2009

At my University in Hildesheim, Germany my favorite classes were an illustration class and illustration project. The illustration class was taught by Barbara Koenig. I enjoyed it a lot because she really knows how to support each person personally and its skills in a familiar way. Thus, my illustration work turn out the best I have done so far. For example we have done a series of dogs with their owner, above you can see one of them. The illustration project taught by Andreas Hess I liked because he gave us a political theme to work with. This is the field I would like to go into with design. The second image shows women in Gaza, Palestine.

 crime scene Palestine | Katharina Jourdan | collage | 2009

I chose Life Drawing I because my grandma gave me her passion for drawing.  From this class I hope to enhance my drawing skills and have a better understanding of human forms. I want to be able to achieve that my illustration will look like I have them in my mind.

When I graduate I would like to work as an illustrator. I would prefer that some Illustration Agencies link “2 Agenten” in Berlin would take me in their portfolio. Thus, I will be able to make illustration for actual politics, newspapers, and magazines as well as book cover illustrations. I also would like to use my experience to travel through Asian countries and combine this with graphic design.

The last images shows the view of my window in Hildsheim:

view from my window in Hildesheim, Germany, Katharina Jourdan, drawing, 2008

If you would like to see some of my graphic design and illustration work, please have a look at my website:  katharina-jourdan.com. This is my work that I am most proud of. To design and build the website took me several months and includes some of my first self-made java scripts. I created the website last semester during my internship in a web design and graphic design company in India. Soon I will provide the text in English too.

This is a blog to present my drawings and portfolio work that I am going to do this semester in the class Life Drawing I at UW Stout.