Draw3D: New Art By Chloë & Sophia
29 August 2017
As I've mentioned previously, my girls are doing Art coursework through the Emmy-winning Artist Mark Kistler's website, Draw3D.com. I've showcased some of Sophia's art here, but it's been a couple of weeks, so I thought I'd do some catching up.
I'll start with the elder girl, Chloë:
Now, I'm not going to lie: her "Manta Ray" is one of my least favorite of Chloë's drawings, and a lot of that has to do with the shadow underneath. Shading and shadowing are one of the hardest parts for her, so it will be interesting to see how she progresses in that area during the course this year.
I really, really like how her "Dinos in Cheese" turned out! The cheeks and mouths, especially, look really cute to me!
The "Clam" is one of several that Chloë colored, and at this point I wasn't sure how I felt about that. I love color, but for me, I was thinking it detracted from the black-and-white drawing somehow. I just couldn't put my finger on it yet.
On the other hand, I really like how the blue color added to her "Dolphin," so maybe it was just a one-time complaint I had with "Clam"?
"Coral Reef" turned out really nice, but again, I was having trouble with the color. I think what I didn't like the most was that it just wasn't solid enough color for me, which maybe was a problem with the quality of the (Crayola) pencils.
The "Jellyfish" were a little dark and purposeful, showcasing Chloë's constant need to press hard when she writes or, in the case of her Art class, draw. She and Jack are just alike this way.
Chloë's "Scuba Rex" was really good, I thought, with the detailed feet and wrinkles in the bent parts of his tail. I think she's showing some improvement in her her shadowing here, too.
Chloë decided to ink the "Seahorse," which I thought turned out pretty well for a first effort and especially over pencil marks. The drawing itself was rather nice, too!
Her "Hermit Crab" was nice, but then Chloë chose to color this one, too, and it's in this case that I objected and asked her not to color any more of the drawings. I just think it's a combination of the paper, the pencils, something... that just did not contribute value to her drawings.
Again, we have "Pencil Power," the inclusion of which in the course "Undersea Adventure" I still do not understand! but it turned out pretty well, I think, and showed continuous improvement from the beginning.
"Treasure Chest" was good, but I didn't understand, once again, the shading and especially the shadowing of the box in the sand. Something about it is just difficult for Chloë, I think.
The "Whale" was lovely - but what a huge blowhole! Sophia's turned out that way, too, so I guess that's the way Mr. Kistler intended it.
After Chloë finished "Undersea Adventure," I tried to have both girls doing the videos instead of the step-by-step drawings on Draw3D, but it went a little too fast for Chloë, so I switched her back to more Step-by-Step. Thus, meet "Marshmallow Mo" from the series Marshmallow Metropolis.
Now, let's switch gears and look at some of Sophia's work. Here is "Female Face" from the Heads and Faces video series. I think she turned out extremely well; do you think so?
The lesson "Multi-Directional Head" was next, and it showed several different angles for a face to be looking. I think Sophie did very well with this lesson.
Next, we switched to the video series, and I chose Intermediate Dinosaurs for Sophie's next course. This one was "2 Dinos," where she started to learn smudging to show a different kind of shading detail to her work.
I thought the actual drawing and smudging on "Bronto Momma" was great, but I don't know how I feel about the seaweed hanging out of her mouth. I felt like that could have been either improved on or omitted.
The next drawing for the lesson "Dino Butt!" turned out adorably well, didn't it? What a cutie.
I love the surprised, eye-popping look of the critters in "Dino Herd"! Really great work, Sophia.
"Pterra's Nest" is a different kind of dino, and I like it, though I thought that, to wrap up Intermediate Dinosaurs, Sophia could have been more definitive and less sketch-y in her lines. And I also wonder what those guys are looking at - food??
Finally, this one was a bit hard to photograph and see, but it shows Sophia's beginning drawing for the Home Improvements course, "2-Door Home." Frankly, I don't like the gerbils. I don't think it's her fault, necessarily, but I do think they could have been better. The habitat itself is cute!
So that's where we are with Art right now. I'm trying to find a good Aeronautics counterpart class for Jack, who has no interest in Art, but so far I don't see one that is well-suited to his abilities. We tried doing Circuitry for a bit at the beginning of the school year, but it just didn't take after two lessons. I know his limitations are real, so I will keep looking!
In the meantime, we're doing more school right now, and have some fun stuff coming up later this week - so stay tuned!
Fin.