May 25th
You say, "The time is now 12 noon, it is time for class to start."
You say, "As we have so many students, we will have to try and restrain ourselves a bit so I can answer questions you may have. Please remember to raise your hand/paw/appropriate member before asking, and respect your fellow students."
You say, "This lesson will be in two parts. It will involve learning how to draw figures and faces from different and unusal angles - and therefore will be a lesson in learning how to think as things in 3-d."
You say, "This weeks lesson will be about ways to get you to start thinking of an object in three dimensions."
You say, "Now, the main obstacle we'll be facing is in here *taps his pawtip against his head* "
You say, "Drawing in three dimensions is not very difficult, the greatest obstacle in it is getting skilled in thinking about the object, and transfering it to paper."
You say, "The first thing we can do is to find a basic model for the furry head..something we can relate to as a general shape."
Kanada ummms and looks up at Piccillo "An egg kinda shape daddy?"
Piccillo continues. "Now the best models will be both simple and on hand so you can study."
You say, "Now there are a lot of things you can use. Stuffed animals are one, although the head is a bit complex for studying basic 3-d concepts. I have here something simpler, and a bit more availiable."
Piccillo holds up a pear. "Cheap and availiable, and a suitable 'reward' for after you finish your studies, a pear is actually a perfect shape and size for study of how to make a head."
You say, "You'll notice it does have a nice tapered shape, usable for the muzzle and head areas."
You say, "Now we are going to modify our 'model' a bit, so we can get a better concept of how and where things look at different angles."
Piccillo takes out a butter knife, and waves it a bit dramaticly while he says "Now I'm going to cut general shapes into the pear itself - be careful when you do this of course. Even a butter knife can cut if you aren't careful. And they are painful beleive me."
Piccillo deftly cuts two slits for the eyes, and one underneath to show the area where the mouth would be.
You say, "Now it does look silly, and expect to do some explaining if family members see you do it. :) But it does give you a very good 'species neutral' figure to work from."
You say, "Now while you could use a beanie baby as Yasha suggested, the pear is better in a few ways. It causes you to imagine where the eyes are, the mouth, the ear...in short, it's forcing you to *think* of the object in 3-d in your head - which is the point of the exercise."
You say, "If you use a stuffed animal, not only is it not streching your mental muscles, but you also are building your model off what someone else thinks is the proper placement, and not what you think. You are starting to adapt their style into yours, which is something you may want to avoid."
Piccillo rotates the pear in his hand. "It's also big enough to get a good look at, and let's you rotate it to all angles to get a view. If you don't mind ruining the pear for eating purpouses, you can also draw with a marker right on it's skin. Something you probably wouldn't do to a stuffed animal.
You say, "Although you can expect a few complaints about 'wasting food' from other household members. ;)"
Piccillo puts the pear down and sums up. "This simple exercise will help you think outside the '2-d' box and move onto a more '3-d' thinking. Any questions before we move to the next exercise?"
You say, "Now, once you've had fun cutting up a few pears and making faces out of them you might want something a bit more permanent to work with. So we will now go about constructing a 'species neutral' head to study from."
You say, "We want something that will be basicly uniform in shape from all sides to start off with. But we will also want something that looks uniform on all sides when it comes to shape."
You say, "So we will have to decide on what features we will need to express in a 'species neutral' head model, and how to go about making them."
Piccillo selects a victim for the talkative furs. "Telegrand, can you list some facial structures we'll need to copy into our model head?"
Telegrand murmurs, "Well, a muzzle, for starters."
Piccillo nods and listens, eating his pear model.
Telegrand ponders, "High-set ears."
Piccillo holds up his hand to Yasha, motioning for her to wait a moment. "Okay, anything else you can think of?"
Telegrand murmurs, "No, not right now, was trying to think of commons between predator and prey species."
You say, "Ok, now what is your question Yasha? "
Yasha-Myr subtitles... "a nosepad...?"
You say, "Well let's go over a full list of what is needed to be represented."
You say, "You will need the skull's general shape, and a general muzzle. A way to suggest eyes and ears, and cheek ruffs."
Pelronir speaks, , "What about dragons? Their face shape is a bit longer than a pear."
Piccillo nods and answers. "The pear is for giving you the general idea of thinking about 3-d...a non-specific species. The project I'll now be going over can be used to make one with a longer/shorter muzzle should you wish to make it so, so it can be made more 'dragon-like' for your studies if you so wish.
Pelronir nods. "Most of my dragons are kinda pearshaped anyway. Yes it does ^_^"
Piccillo nods. "Now, we will need to list the features and decide what is best, and most availiable to use to build our reference head. While I try to work as cheaply as possible, it will cost a few bucks to build it - it isn't something that's neccesary to do but it will help. It also requires the ability to avoid taping your fingers stuck to an object, and the skill to avoid gluing yourself to it as well if you use that
You say, "For the skull, any ball-shape will do. I'd suggest something about 6 inches to a foot in width. Too small and it's not easy to study, too large and it's unweildly. "
You say, "For the muzzle you want something long and slightly oval in shape. I'd suggest, for the cheapest alternative, a paper-towel tube (after you've used the towels). You can flatten it a bit to make the muzzle narrower or wider, and cut it to the length you desire - making your muzzle very long or short."
You say, "It's also cheap to replace, should it get damaged."
Kanada giggles "Do we need any sticky backed plastic daddy?"
You say, "If that's what you want to use Kanada, and if it's availiable."
You say, "For ears, you can get some cardboard and cut out triangles, or open-celled foam might be even better."
You say, "Cheeks can be suggested at with small round foam objects. A small ball made of open-celled foam (the kind used in some cushions), or just balled up newspaper that's been taped over can do."
You say, "Use what's easily availiable in your house to make it. Everyone has some junk they've refused to throw out 'because it might just be useful someday'. Now's the time to use some of it. ;)"
You say, "Be inventive in making your model. This is becuase as you are making it as a refernce work, you are also - once again - thinking in terms of 3-d and getting your mind used to the concept."
You say, "That is why I'm suggesting building it rather than buying a toy from the store. The toy is easier, but by building you'll train yourself to think in the way you want to think."
Ryoma has arrived.
You say, "Basicly, what you are trying to do is trick your mind into a new way of thinking with these exercises."
You say, "If you are particularly craft-minded, you might even want to make a fancier version. Perpahs gluing Velcro to the ball, so you can move parts about, or substitute different sized ears in different places."
Telegrand murmurs, "What about eyes?"
Kanada says quietly, "pingpong balls?"
You say, "They could be drawn in, or glued on. Buttons might do nicely."
You say, "Ping pong balls too, if you can attach them properly. :)"
You say, "Now we'll wrap it up with the third study-aid for a head, which is a stuffed toy animal."
Piccillo continues. "Now, as I've said the stuffed animal is probably the easiest to find. But it comes with it's own problems for being so availiable."
You say, "First off, it's not 'species neutral'. So you'll be using a model that's a specific species and not using your imagination as much."
Piccillo continues, again. "Second, someone else designed it along the lines of what they felt their doll should look like. Much like learning from studying someone else's art, you will begin to subconciously absorb their ideas into your style - along with any errors they made."
You say, "The benefits are : they are readily availiable of course. Plus, they don't need any work to get them ready for examining."
Piccillo chuckles. "Well, we all have things we need to do. I'm putting off building weapons with my brother for a bit to teach here this weekend. ;) But let's wrap this up first, before any more have to leave."
You say, "While you use them, just be aware of the dangers of having them affect your style. Like most problems, they will crop up only if you don't expect them and prepare for them."
You say, "Now, next week will be part two of this class. In that class, we will use the models we have gone over and apply them to our drawing work. We will also go over how to suggest 3-d in a 2-d enviorment (such as drawings),and how to translate the object you have in your mind onto your paper."
You say, "Now you don't have to have any models or things ready for next class, but it will help if you at least have the 'disposable' pear-model to look at while we work. ;)"
