Advanced Figure Drawing Stuff

Wow. It took forever for these pictures to upload... but I think it will be worth it. (hopefully..) 

Aside from my current frustration with technology, things are going pretty well! I am working on a couple freelancing projects this week. I can't even begin to tell you how much fun I am having this summer already! ^-^ drawing is the best thing.

So this post is a bunch of stuff from my Advanced Figure Drawing class this semester... it's all the in-class work that I never got a chance to show you guys.

I also was a little lazy and didn't crop the photos.. I figured you guys don't care... right?? There are a couple funny things you can see in the background... like the Christmas card my family sent out last year. I'm wearing reindeer antlers. Look for it, you know you want to see it.

 

Fashion illustration attempts... it was definitely my weak point in the class.

A creepy smooshy-faced girl... but look at her boots! Makes me want to draw comics.

It looks like she is wearing a mask.. I did it on purpose/accident. She is secretly a hideous creature underneath.

The prompt was to draw the model as a queen... this was definitely one of my favorites for the semester.

This one is funny cuz we had to draw the female model like a guy with a mustache and a top hat (heh heh)... isn't she dashing? 

 

Weird poses...

.... and more weird poses.

Practice with expressions... the pig is the best.

Probably the most realistic figure drawing I did all semester. The class was a lot different than I thought it would be, but it was so much fun!

cheers,

ashley brooke

the most tired human.

What in the world happened to me? Oh, well first off, I moved. Second, school is the craziest thing. 

BUT SPRING BREAK IS NEXT WEEK! WOO!

So hello! Glad to be back in the groove of things... quick update: my new house is cool. still settling in, though. Attempting to catch up in school and producing a lot of work. But most importantly -- I am turning in my portfolio tomorrow to see if I get into the illustration program! Send good vibes my way/cross your fingers/wish me luck/whatever it is you do!

I am so excitedly nervous.

 

One of the pieces from my acrylics class this week. We had to do implied textures, which basically means it looks like it has texture, but if you touch it, it really doesn't. I did this one with hydrogen peroxide.

 

I did this one with salt and some oats (haha)... it was really fun to experiment with different items to see what they would do to the paint.

 

Just a quick fashion sketch for my sketchbook...I have been really into stripes lately. I'm pretty sure I've said that on multiple occasions... but whatever.

And lastly, I had to do a children's book illustration-type painting for my figure drawing class... I had a lot of fun with this. I think I might tweak the grass so that it is a different color, but for now, I am extremely pleased with how it turned out! :D

cheers,

Ashley Fairbourne 

coconut should be put on everything. probably.

I am just now realizing how much I love coconut. It's becoming an obsession. 

Also! Hello fellow earth-dweller! 

This week has been "blah," but that's definitely better than stressful! For a little while, I think I will update my blog on Wednesdays during my lunch hour. :) I'm sure that will change soon though!

I also want to go off on a little tangent (for those of you who read these little rants...)

Things have just been really tough lately regarding my artwork and confidence therein. I also see all of the students around me lacking in artistic confidence and it sucks! Luckily, I have wonderfully supportive people around me to help me through those times... and I just wanted to say thank you! You rock and deserve so many cookies. On a similar note, support those around you, guys! I think that too often we assume everyone is strong enough to make it through, but it's nice to have a little push now and then. 

Okay, now enjoy the pictures, cuties.

 

Week 5 of these paintings... the bottom two were done with blue, magenta, yellow and white... the purpose of the assignment was to get super bright color and super dull color, in order to teach us how to better control paint and color. I was really happy with how they turned out, even thought it was a bit of a struggle at times!

Here is another fashion illustration snippit... currently working on a big fashion illustration project, so you can expect to see that on the next blog post! I am so excited to work on it!

I sat in on a basic figure drawing class this week to help fill my sketchbook. This is one of the sketches from it... I really love using brown colored pencils recently.

cheers,

ashley fairbourne

note to self: life is pretty crazy

This week has been insane! 

I am not even sure how i survived... but look! I did it. And I am still breathing. 

So if you were curious, I am probably going to be moving in with one of my friends, so things might be a little discombobulated for a couple weeks or so. I will try my best to keep my posts consistent! 

Any-who, we started our fashion illustrations in advanced figure drawing.. and I am having a lot more fun than I thought I would! Today we got to draw from a model with watercolors and ink... I got a little carried away. ^-^

 

Lets be honest...I just love any excuse to splatter paint.

And here are the weekly paintings! We painted with red, white, and blue this week (how patriotic).. I really enjoyed crosshatching a lot of these pieces... I think I am going to start trying to experiment more with my techniques for acrylics. That is what the class is for anyways... so... 

LOVE YOUR GUTS!

cheers,

ashley fairbourne 

my eyes feel like burning.

Hello! Late post.. sorry about it! Good news is that I have a lot of fun stuff to show you all! :D

 

  

So this first piece is a little excerpt from a clothing fold rendering I had to do for my advanced figure drawing class. I am so excited about that class! We are starting to do some fashion illustration, so I should have some fun stuff to show you guys in a week or two! 

 

Random, but I thought this picture of the veins in my arm looked pretty rad. I got this cool app on my phone called VSCOcam... if you haven't heard of it, I would definitely check it out! It allows you to take some pretty sick pictures.

I am really happy with the way this turned out! It was done for my drawing for illustration sketchbook... a deer with some freaky twig legs.

Since Valentine's Day is coming up, I thought I would doodle something up for it. I did this with colored pencils, markers and pens. I had a lot of fun with it and think it could make a cool final piece for a notebook design or something of the same nature! Maybe when I start my Etsy shop up this summer I will include this as a print! Who knows!

Here is a picture of me with the cutest puppy to ever walk the earth. Don't you just want to squish him?!?

Finally, I made a name tag for work... it was nearly impossible to keep it simple. haha

I hope all of you are having a fantastic week! Thank you all for stopping by and being so supportive! 

cheers,

ashley fairbourne 

spending money i dont have and other things

Hey cuties! How are those lives of yours going? I hope they are spectacular.

Not much is new... just went to the Utrecht store and bought some new supplies... the ones I am most excited about are the Utrecht design markers! They were having a great sale, so I got 12 of them! Here is the first thing I drew with them:

  

Ta-da! Here is week #2's paintings... the assignment was to only use 3 colors: black, white and yellow ochre, which created monochromatic paintings :D 

Here's to a great week! 

cheers,

ashley may

finals are [almost] over!!

Hello! Hope finals are going okay for you dudes... mine are almost over!

First things first: I got a smartphone! Weird, right? Since that happened, I decided to get an instagram for my art! Follow me @ashleyfairbourneillustration, cuties!

So, I'm planning on making a holiday post next week.. maybe a demented Christmas illustration? Who knows. But then the following week, I will show you all the projects from class I never got around to posting! Weee! 

Until then, enjoy a couple lil pieces I did recently.

 

This is my figure drawing final :) It's quite hard to tell from the picture, but all of those orange spots are in the whites as well... I just took a picture with my phone and for some reason it made it look splotchy. The idea was to add a single color to make the flesh look more like flesh. I am proud of how it turned out!

These 2 characters were fun little ideas I had floating around in my brain... the girl is supposed to be a ghost or something. I might make a small comic about their relationship, but who knows? I am going to try and start bits of weekly comics... if everything goes as planned! 

cheers,

ashley fairbourne

snowy weather isn't so bad..

Oh, well hello friends! Hope your week has been going well. :) 

So, I've got a few things to share with you guys tonight... my figure drawing class has been teaching me a lot about form and proportions, which is great, but it also takes a lot of practice... which is exhausting me! But yesterday we started drawing on some toned paper and this is what I had by the end of class.

 

Then this figure drawing was from a week or so ago... a little off, but I really like the look of the smeared pastels.

And guess what, dudes? It snowed today! I was feeling sort of indifferent about Christmas coming... but now my whole mood has shifted since the snow happened : ) I've always loved the snow... it's so magical!

... finally, here was my latest project for my photography class. The assignment was to do a series of photographs that all have a similar theme. I chose to do portraits of people with wet hair... I just wanted to capture the awkward side of my subjects, and I think it worked pretty great!

 

I love hearing from you guys! You rock and thanks for being so supportive! 

cheers,

ashley fairbourne 

frustrating projects

So, its technically Thursday now... but happy yesterday! I hope it rocked. Also, I hope today is wonderful for you as well :) 

Today (yesterday) was one of those why-can't-I-do-anything-right kind of days.. you feel me? So I wanted to post the 2 projects I had been working on that caused so much frustration in my guts.

 

This was the first culprit.. my figure drawing class at 8am. Yikes. I worked so hard on this drawing, and then once I got to class, I realized all the problems with the proportions and some of the shadows. I'm trying so hard! I'll get it right one day and you will be so proud of me that you will cry. Or maybe I'll cry cuz I'm so proud. Whichever works.

 

 I'm not too proud of these photographs... but this blog is about sharing my progress as an illustrator, so lets talk about them! I am in photography 1 (not my strongest suit) currently and our assignment was to take documentary photographs to convey a deeper meaning. I decided to photograph people with their phones and other electronic devices to illustrate the idea of the internet and social media isolating us from real-life interactions. The first photo is of my roommate... I really love the artificial light that is cast on her face.

Then... this one is of my cousin and her husband. I am really proud of this one. The lighting turned out perfectly. We haven't discussed these in class yet, but hopefully everything goes well. I just felt so overwhelmed with this project... I think I made the most of it and the product isn't half bad!

I am also working on a commission that I am super stoked about! I cannot wait to show you all! (I will be making prints... and hint! hint! it's fan art. You should be so excited right now).

sleep tight, don't let the bed bugs bite.

cheers,

ashley fairbourne 

the first figure drawing I actually like!

I am so happy about this drawing!

It's definitely going in my portfolio when I apply to the program this spring :)

 

cheers,

ashley fairbourne