Cast drawing finale

A short break from unvelope posting (but not linking!). Saturday was my final cast drawing class, sadly. I still can't quite believe I spent 6 weeks on this ear... and it's "finished," but I could easily have put two more weeks of work into it at least.  I got the overall picture but I never got the hang of shading as smoothly as some of the other students.

As skeptical as I was about it at first, the coolest thing I learned was to avoid falling for optical illusions by giving everything a pre-determined value based on what direction the plane is facing, rather than based on how the cast looks. It seems weird while you're doing it but it all comes together in the end.

It was a great and very different experience, compared to most of my drawing training (especially figure drawing) that has emphasized speed.  I really wish I could fit more things like this into my life.  If I had unlimited time I would definitely take their core program (once again, it's the Grand Central Academy of Art). At least, I'm hoping for a cast for Christmas so I can continue on my own, in a variety of media.

Nicholas Hiltner was my instructor, by the way.  Pretty amazing work!