Collection
Deviation Spotlight
Sheltered -- Mother and Child by Observer14, visual art
- Sep 19
- United States
- Deviant for 17 years
- tryonsculpturearts.com
- He / Him
I am still amazed by the pure joy I experience when I have my hands in the clay. I find that my work communicates on many different levels, from the practical and utilitarian to a simple reflection of the beauty I see around me. It may expresses a response of hope or fear or love, or it may be a simply reflection the little kid inside of me at play. For me, clay and sculpture become a language to express thoughts, emotions, or insights for which I have no words.
As much as I love to create with clay, I also love to teach others to experience that same joy. Young people are naturally drawn to clay, even when their technical skills are simple. With a little bit of instruction and encouragement, they quickly gain the confidence that they too can create something of value. Clay is such a malleable material that the art flows naturally from their active imaginations.
More recently, my journey has been discovering what it looks like to integrate the truth of my relationship with Christ, and my expression as an artist. I am learning to let the creative process develop in such a way that it reflects the complicated dynamic of my Faith–something which is not always pretty or positive or well understood, but which carries underneath it the reality of Hope.
Thus the theme, “Reflecting faith, hope and beauty through art.”
Current Residence: Fayetteville, GA
Facebook: www.facebook.com/baggins14
Blogspot: baggins14.blogspot.com/
Arms and fingers and legs, oh my!
Spam Bot accounts?
WiX Sites?
Profile Comments 323
There is NOTHING like drawing from life. I had five or six years of almost weekly drawing from life sessions with a local artist here. He started organizing informal classes with a model (clothed, usually in dance outfit). Unfortunately, after doing this for more than 20 years, he's finally bowed out. 
You can get a little closer by using either videos (some free online resources on Vimeo/YouTube like https://vimeo.com/croquiscafe and https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCA9o111IH1VD8Kxz0YLn8_A) I like videos better than still photos because it forces you to act like you are in a live session. You get a lot more of a 3D feel, rather than just tracing out a still image.
Going to something like Proko.com is also hugely beneficial. They have a huge collection of videos (humorous, but right on target) both for free and some premium content for a price. They have collections of reference photos (I can email you some), and a LOT of anatomy lessons.
I'll also give my own personal bias that you still draw with more fluidity with a pencil than you do with a computer. I know people who do absolutely amazing work on the computer, but I think they first learned with a physical drawing tool. I haven't done much with charcoal (the real stuff), but it forces you to focus on the flow of the form rather than fiddly details.
Body types? Well, some of that is just keeping your eyes open and watching people, and forcing yourself to DO it. Draw lots of clumsy pictures, and eventually they start getting better. I have a pile of little scrap papers that I draw on sometimes. The fact that I know it's a throwaway drawing somehow makes me loosen up a lot!! My wife works in a print shop here, so she collects lots of fragments (eg, quarter sheet size) with slightly heavier paper, so it's better than plain old copier paper.
Hmmm... You'll have to try the Proko link again. I tried it and it seemed to work fine.
Yeah, there's a balance point where you always try to draw a "good" picture, but you're not shackled to the perfectionism of it.
(And yes, drawing/sculpting natural looking breasts is an interesting challenge... 
)
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