Sunday, August 29, 2010

Ecorche Workshop: Week 2

Last week we solidified our knowledge of the 3 dimensional planes of the muscles and bones of the skull. Week 2 was all about putting that information into use in our drawings. We posed the live portrait model and the skull in the same positions with the same lighting and drew both from life. Andy demonstrated on his own drawing.

Throughout the two weeks Andy gave some great lectures on muscles, bones and facial features.

It was hard to say to goodbye to Andy, he was a great instructor and a lot of fun to have around. When he's back home in California we hope he remembers the beer, oysters and good laughs we had. We're going to try and schedule him to come back! It was a great 2 weeks.



Ecorche Workshop : Week 1

Finishing up the sculptures took more time than we thought. Some of the tips that helped were using lighter fluid to smooth and refine the form and inserting toothpicks to keep the measurements accurate.

Ecorche Workshop: Second half of week 1

After completion of the skull students moved onto applying and refining the facial muscles. Careful attention was paid to the origin and insertions of each muscle. Andy constructed his own ecorche in order to demonstrate to the students how to handle the clay and the tools. Always ready with a joke or funny story - Andy made this concentrated study fun!

Saturday, August 21, 2010

Ecorche Workshop: Day 2

Day two was spent further refining our skull sculptures. Andy walked around the room helping each student with their sculpture and gave demonstrations periodically throughout the day. During each of his critiques he stressed the importance of learning to draw the skull, having a deep understanding of how the skull looks in order to improve our sculptures.

Friday, August 20, 2010

Saturday Classes

The Academy of Realist Art Boston is now offering a Saturday morning class!

Life Drawing Class
Saturday 10 a.m. - 1 p.m.
Begins September 25th

This 8 week course will address the early stages of figure drawing and it's challenges. Working from the nude model, students will use a step-by-step system that stresses proportion, contour and shadow line. Students will draw from 3 hour poses. All levels are welcome. The cost is $300. Register now for this course! It will be taught by ARA instructor Emmy De Musis. Her beautiful figure work can be seen in the Student Gallery on our website.

Our students have been producing great work. I'm very proud of all of you. If you just can't get enough academy info be sure to check out our blog at http://araboston.blogspot.com/

Tuesday, August 17, 2010

Ecorche Workshop: Day 1

Today we started our two week workshop with Andrew Ameral, the anatomy and ecorche specialist. We began by making an armature stand and massing in the skull with clay, blocking in the big proportions of the head. All of this is in preparation for the next step of cutting into the clay to further refine the structure of the bones of the skull.