(no subject)
Goddamn, son. Somewhat interesting patch of days.
Friday:
Me and a group from class went to the Natural History Museum in London as part of a drawing project. "Location Drawing". The teacher asked us to draw, specifically, "skeletal objects". Which were pretty much skeletons, though fossils and such were also acceptable. Could pretty much draw anything except the stuffed animals or plastic figures.
So I drew the skeletons of a Smilodon, a giant sloth, and a tortoise.
The Smilodon started out okay, until I got up from drawing and realized that the head was way, way to small for the body. The line-work is pretty good. It's just the scale that makes it a sucky drawing.
Now the giant sloth... that was pretty much an experiment in new materials. Tried out two materials I haven't used in a very long time: dip pens and charcoal.
Dip pens I've only ever used once, a long time ago, with little success. And with little success now as well. Something went horrifically wrong when it came to the skull of the giant sloth; it ended up ridiculously big and malformed. And since it's ink, you can't exactly get rid of it.
Still, disaster the final drawing was (and only the top part of the torso and half a skull), I did find using the dip pen oddly relaxing. I want to try again.
Compressed charcoal next. The drawing looked sort-of okay. The shoulder blade ended up squished and small, and the drawing was a failure in scale. Practically a whole A2 page taken up by the top of the ribcage and arm.
Still, somewhat please. I'd expected the charcoal to be a disaster.
So after, the second attempt at the giant sloth failed, I decided that I'd lost my nerve with the skeleton. I was too discouraged to start a third drawing of it, so I just picked up my stuff and decided to head for the reptile section. Earlier in the day, I'd seen a cute little skeleton of a chameleon, so I went to check that out.
Wasn't convinced with drawing the chameleon, though. I can't remember why, but I decided to check out other skeletons. Then I saw the tortoise. The part of the shell facing the person looking into the case had been sliced off so you could see inside the shell.
The reason I love turtle/tortoise skeletons is that the spine is attached to the top of the shell. Supercool, man.
I only had about 30 minutes to get this drawing done, since at 4 I had to head down to the cantine for a crit. I drew it with water-soluble pencils. This skeleton was the most successful of the day. Scale was almost perfect, and I'd almost judged the size of the drawing perfectly. I still had to attach a second piece of paper to the first one so I could draw the beak. Still, definitely one of the best drawings.
Sadly, it's unfinished. I wanted to put some shading on the darker parts of the skeleton (claws, beak, depths and ridges within the shell...), but I ran out of time. Can't finish it without my model, which I won't have for another couple of weeks, unless I actually go up to London and pay to get in the museum.
The drawings are pretty big, so I can't scan them. I'll try to find a way to put them online.
I spent the afternoon with Phoenix. We watched Wolf Creek (which I was pleasantly surprised with. Didn't love it, but it was better than I expected) and played a bit of Twilight Princess. I'm especially fond stabbing with the sword instead of slashing, but I'm pretty certain that's because I used to fence; fencing is mostly stabbing motions, and, even though I haven't fenced in two years, the way to used a sword is still programmed in me.
Phoenix walked me to the train station when I decided to go back to Kingston. I had my portfolio and toolbox with me. Some guy rushed by and bumped into me. Toolbox sort of crashed against my lower ribs, making me lose my balance a little bit, but I recovered. Didn't really care, but the guy saw my stumble and went back. He grabbed me by the shoulders with some firmity.
Guy: Are you okay? *tighten grip*
Me: Yeah, I'm okay.
Phoenix: *holding my arm, warily* Yeah, she's fine.
Guy: Yeah, she's lovely, isn't she.
Me: ... Thank you.
Guy: *walk off*
Phoenix: *some freaked out commentary*
Me: *slightly hysterical laughter*
...
It doesn't exactly do wonders for my self-esteem when I only hear that from freakish strangers that don't really mean it.
Saturday:
Went up to London again because it was the birthday of one of Phoenix's friends, who had come over for a not-very-wild celebration. Ate cake with (awesome) blue frosting and (delicious) chocolate cake.
When I came back to Kingston, techno-rave music was blaring from my flat. It was audible from the elevators, and not in the faint, distant sound kind of way. W and Dash had friends over, resulting in some drunken revelry and ridiculously loud electronica.
Hung out with them briefly, even though at least half of them were drunk or high as space-stations. Engaged in brief political conversation with the most inebriated of the group. And by conversation, I mean listening to his not-very-focused rambling, in which he sounded a bit racist (and at the same time insisting that he wasn't). He was far to off the path of clarity to make a decent case for whatever he was debating.
Got a headache. I'd been awake since 7 AM, which only a small nap after lunch, the smoke in the room was hurting my eyes, and the electronicrap was... electronicrap. Decided to just stay in my room, on the internet, until the music and people stopped making noise. At around 1:30 AM. Which is earlier than usual, considering it's a Saturday.
Went to sleep.
Still have a headache
--Exit
Friday:
Me and a group from class went to the Natural History Museum in London as part of a drawing project. "Location Drawing". The teacher asked us to draw, specifically, "skeletal objects". Which were pretty much skeletons, though fossils and such were also acceptable. Could pretty much draw anything except the stuffed animals or plastic figures.
So I drew the skeletons of a Smilodon, a giant sloth, and a tortoise.
The Smilodon started out okay, until I got up from drawing and realized that the head was way, way to small for the body. The line-work is pretty good. It's just the scale that makes it a sucky drawing.
Now the giant sloth... that was pretty much an experiment in new materials. Tried out two materials I haven't used in a very long time: dip pens and charcoal.
Dip pens I've only ever used once, a long time ago, with little success. And with little success now as well. Something went horrifically wrong when it came to the skull of the giant sloth; it ended up ridiculously big and malformed. And since it's ink, you can't exactly get rid of it.
Still, disaster the final drawing was (and only the top part of the torso and half a skull), I did find using the dip pen oddly relaxing. I want to try again.
Compressed charcoal next. The drawing looked sort-of okay. The shoulder blade ended up squished and small, and the drawing was a failure in scale. Practically a whole A2 page taken up by the top of the ribcage and arm.
Still, somewhat please. I'd expected the charcoal to be a disaster.
So after, the second attempt at the giant sloth failed, I decided that I'd lost my nerve with the skeleton. I was too discouraged to start a third drawing of it, so I just picked up my stuff and decided to head for the reptile section. Earlier in the day, I'd seen a cute little skeleton of a chameleon, so I went to check that out.
Wasn't convinced with drawing the chameleon, though. I can't remember why, but I decided to check out other skeletons. Then I saw the tortoise. The part of the shell facing the person looking into the case had been sliced off so you could see inside the shell.
The reason I love turtle/tortoise skeletons is that the spine is attached to the top of the shell. Supercool, man.
I only had about 30 minutes to get this drawing done, since at 4 I had to head down to the cantine for a crit. I drew it with water-soluble pencils. This skeleton was the most successful of the day. Scale was almost perfect, and I'd almost judged the size of the drawing perfectly. I still had to attach a second piece of paper to the first one so I could draw the beak. Still, definitely one of the best drawings.
Sadly, it's unfinished. I wanted to put some shading on the darker parts of the skeleton (claws, beak, depths and ridges within the shell...), but I ran out of time. Can't finish it without my model, which I won't have for another couple of weeks, unless I actually go up to London and pay to get in the museum.
The drawings are pretty big, so I can't scan them. I'll try to find a way to put them online.
I spent the afternoon with Phoenix. We watched Wolf Creek (which I was pleasantly surprised with. Didn't love it, but it was better than I expected) and played a bit of Twilight Princess. I'm especially fond stabbing with the sword instead of slashing, but I'm pretty certain that's because I used to fence; fencing is mostly stabbing motions, and, even though I haven't fenced in two years, the way to used a sword is still programmed in me.
Phoenix walked me to the train station when I decided to go back to Kingston. I had my portfolio and toolbox with me. Some guy rushed by and bumped into me. Toolbox sort of crashed against my lower ribs, making me lose my balance a little bit, but I recovered. Didn't really care, but the guy saw my stumble and went back. He grabbed me by the shoulders with some firmity.
Guy: Are you okay? *tighten grip*
Me: Yeah, I'm okay.
Phoenix: *holding my arm, warily* Yeah, she's fine.
Guy: Yeah, she's lovely, isn't she.
Me: ... Thank you.
Guy: *walk off*
Phoenix: *some freaked out commentary*
Me: *slightly hysterical laughter*
...
It doesn't exactly do wonders for my self-esteem when I only hear that from freakish strangers that don't really mean it.
Saturday:
Went up to London again because it was the birthday of one of Phoenix's friends, who had come over for a not-very-wild celebration. Ate cake with (awesome) blue frosting and (delicious) chocolate cake.
When I came back to Kingston, techno-rave music was blaring from my flat. It was audible from the elevators, and not in the faint, distant sound kind of way. W and Dash had friends over, resulting in some drunken revelry and ridiculously loud electronica.
Hung out with them briefly, even though at least half of them were drunk or high as space-stations. Engaged in brief political conversation with the most inebriated of the group. And by conversation, I mean listening to his not-very-focused rambling, in which he sounded a bit racist (and at the same time insisting that he wasn't). He was far to off the path of clarity to make a decent case for whatever he was debating.
Got a headache. I'd been awake since 7 AM, which only a small nap after lunch, the smoke in the room was hurting my eyes, and the electronicrap was... electronicrap. Decided to just stay in my room, on the internet, until the music and people stopped making noise. At around 1:30 AM. Which is earlier than usual, considering it's a Saturday.
Went to sleep.
Still have a headache
--Exit