Module 5 Chapter 7

Bodies and Movement

I started by dividing my sketchbook page into eighths and then drew in the sections of the body as shown in the coursework instructions.

I then made an articulated body using card and split pins.  The first one did not last very long, his arm and leg fell off but the second one was much more robust, not sure why, they were both made from the same pattern and same piece of card.

I then started to draw with them, still using my sketchbook.  I hope you can see these, they are very feint.  First I did single figures.

Then I went on to do several figures on each page.

I then did more groups but coloured them in.

These figures are coloured in pearlised water colour with Koh-i-Nor background.

This took a lot of working out and the effect is not quite as bold as I thought it might be.  I refered back to Module 1 and the patterns I did then.

I photographed these and then loaded them onto the computer and took the first of these two photographs and cropped it to enlarge the picture.  I then started changing the colours and textures.  I attempted to do this with the second picture but it meant clicking on every square to change the colour.

The cropped picture

Colour change.  This didn't completely change the colours as there must have been some breaks in the connecting pixels.

Here I have put a chequered background to the figures.

Then I put a venetian blind effect over the top.

This is a polished stone effect which has changed the colour of the yellow.

This was a shaded blued effect which went over all the picture except for the one black leg which I left as I thought it stood out so much.

I then tried the second picture using distortion tools instead of colour changes.

So here is my original which I have cropped.

This is the kaleidoscope tool.

This is a wavy edge tool.

This is curlicule. I liked this one.

I then did a couple of pictures using cut out models.

When I found these two papers in my box I thought they might look like people at a gym class in their lycra outfits so that is how I place them.  Afterwards, I looked and thought that they are more like groups of two people fighting.

The background to this is a photograph I took at Yellowstone Park where the trees are defoliated and killed off by the acids in the ground.  I thought it looked a bit like a WW1 landscape.  The men are cut from a book 'Testament of Youth' which is set in WW1.  The yellowed pages did not stand out against the background so I gave them a light wash of red watercolour.  I hadn't deliberately cut them out to make this row but when I started to move them about I realised that this was a good arrangement.  They could be men falling in battle.

I enjoyed this more than I expected.  It was interesting how colour made the figures come to life.  It was also interesting to see how you could make the figures interact with each other.  It's funny how you give the shapes a gender - the purple gym figures were female - but when you place them together, their body language can change that perception. My purple ladies became men because they appeared to be fighting.