My iteration of a classic 2D design assignment---a self-portrait that's been divided into 1x1 inch squares, each square limiting the drawing to a mark-making system of one of seven 'found' textures. The textures I chose to use are all derived from food: the cross section of a red onion, a pint of tomatoes (or perhaps couscous as the mark-making gets smaller), grains of rice, the roots of garlic, curly kale, and the veiny striations of a leek. Each depiction of texture isn't so much a representation of the actual food item, but instead the visual/tactile sensation one might experience when looking at or touching it---for clarity, they were parsed down to the barebones elements required to convey that sensation. 

With that concept in my head, I thought it only right that the portrait I work from be of me doing something food related!

Each of the forms in the nine combined compositions of this piece are made with type: the font Bodoni 72, in bold. It's clearer in some compositions over others, but the second two photos in the carousel above---the in progress photos---might shed some light on how each was composed. It was overall done in steps---compositions with one letterform, those same compositions with one or two more letterforms added, and then those same compositions modified to create negative space where the forms intersect, with the introduction of a grey value to some parts of those forms. Each of those three stages was done such that the compositions could stand on their own, and as a group.

My favorite compositions of the nine are the top-middle and middle-right!

These are selections from drawings done in my second semester in a life drawing class. To me, life drawing has become an unlikely love. It's the proverbial stereotype for a college art class ("do you paint naked people??"), but holds oodles more depth than most would think. The portrayal of complex emotion, conflict and irony, vulnerability and strength, multi-faceted possibilities for storytelling---these are all things that are natural to life drawing. There isn't a more human medium of expression.

These are all studies---attempts at grasping a particular technique or medium. Most are done with less than an hour drawing time, some with as little as fifteen minutes.

Selections from my first semester in a life drawing class. See the above item for an account of my experience with the medium.

For this piece, a contour drawing of the still-life scene was made, and then a graphite ground was introduced onto the paper by rubbing a stick of graphite deeply over the entire piece. A subtractive technique (erasing) was then used for highlights and surfaces brighter than the graphite ground, and an additive technique (introducing more graphite) for surfaces that were darker. A subtractive technique is uniquely conducive to depicting reflective objects, which was the major focus of the exercise.

This piece was first drawn in graphite with distinctions of light and dark mapped out with dashed line. An ink pen was then used for light and shadow effects. It wasn't intentional in the setup of the still-life, but I loved the implication that the model hand was dialing the phone, and that the skull was making the call.