Versus Sketches

 So, exciting news! Come February 4th, I will be participating in my first Gallery Show! Random I know. I was invited by my amazing friend and the curator: The lovely Daisy Church. The theme of the show is Versus. and while I don't want to spoil anything, my piece will be Of Head and Heart Depicting a figure torn between the pull of her heart and the force of her will. I'll write more of what I'm talking about for the final piece but for now that's it. In the final illustration her heart and brain will emanate through her skin, radiantly glowing in contrasting colors. To emphasize the conflict, blood vessels shall ensnare the brain while nerves fetter the heart. I am trying to convey more subtle queues to echo the conflict to. As she is fighting the feelings of love internally so she is externally; one hand weakly veils one breast while the other is exposed. As the one hand holds the blanket feebly, the other forms a fist: palm pressed against the head in frustration.
 Because of the heavy anatomy in this piece, I spent some time this past week, doing studies of both brains and hearts for my sketching assignments. It was honestly a lot of fun, and also honestly, I hadn't planned on doing studies until I drew my first brain sans reference and realized how off it was. doing the reference studies actually helped a lot in my final drawing. Anyhow, Here are all of my sketches, and a life drawing from Bvrlingame to boot.
I feel a little better about the quality of this week's post. But I still feel like it is mostly sub-par stuff. I've been reading Mastery and The Perfect Bait simultaneously. they're good books so far and I know through a sort of osmosis that most of what they're positing is the best way to become a stronger artist. I am trying to embrace the advice as best I can, but by its very nature it will take time. I'm in this for the long haul. I really want to be the best artist I can be. Mastery, advises one to stop seeking the 'level-ups' in his quest for mastery; to learn to enjoy the plateaus, I am having the hardest time with that part. I want so dearly to see my work improve by just a modicum. But nevertheless I remain on my plateau. I'm starting to imagine that succeeding in loving the plateau will actually be my next "level-up" as it were. Regardless, I must continue. This piece will be certainly be a challenge for me, I must complete it by February first. I relish the challenge and I am eager to begin vectoring it. wish me luck!

Possibly final sketch before vector? I may still play with it

One of the process sketches, refining the pose

Brain studies

More Heart Studies

Heart Studies

A 20 min life drawing in Burlingame

This is your brain on no reference

Cross-section of a heart study