Schedule 11E

Four tacks, this time. Kimon suggested that I should redo this schedule. I agree, it probably would be helpful. And I probably will redo it--when I start the book over, again. For now, I press forward, not because I have mastered anything, yet, but simply because I know that if I stay here too long, I'll stagnate here.

Schedule 11D

Schedule 11C

I managed to mentally scale this one to actually fit on the paper. That's an accomplishment in itself. Shallow folds kind of bother me. With my eyes, I pick up on them, no problem. But with four colors (no shading), I don't believe I'm really expressing where the folds are. The only places where I'm feeling halfway positive about are the places with a lot of movement and the undercuts.

Schedule 11B

Only one, today. Plenty, I assure you. I actually spent an hour on this one. Yes, I stared at a curtain for over an hour. While listening to the Tyrian 2000 soundtrack (which you can get for free at GOG.com [Yes, I felt like plugging an excellent site]). Anyway, after a day break I'm guessing something was percolating in me, because I found this drawing to be a little more skillful than my previous three.

Dude, this soundtrack really is quite nice. Doodilydoodilydoodilydoodily

Schedule 11A

"Welcome back," says the man to himself.

After a year hiatus, I decided to pick the book up, again. I was debating whether to start over again or continue where I had left off. I decided to go with the latter because I figured that I had better odds of actually completing the book that way.

Schedule 11 is the study of drapery--something that had always eluded me. Actually, I don't believe I can say with confidence that I've arrested well any of the studies, yet. Anyway...

My studies are a hybrid of the two Kimon suggested: the quick study, and the long study. I'd like to spend more than ten minutes a piece on each drawing, but I don't have anywhere to hang a drapery undisturbed for several days (neither do I want to look at the same piece of fabric in the same position for that long). So, I spent around thirty minutes with each drawing. I think.

Kimon said that I should observe the drapery as having four unique structures: a top, sides, a base, and a "undercut"--where the drapery folds under itself. Along with these structures, four colors are attributed: white, light gray, dark gray, and black. Only with the undercut is shading allowed. I was having some difficulty defining each of the structures, and so I figured I'd move on to another drapery.

I feel the first one came out better. I was getting a little frustrated at this point. I felt that maybe I was trying to draw too much, and I decided to start over, focusing just on the center folds.

But in all honesty, I think that that idea proved the worst. I imagine (hope) that the mild mental struggle is opening up my understanding of drapery and that I'll do better with the next ones, because there really is something quite attractive about drapery.