This week has been nice (as far as life drawing goes... the rest of my classes have been more intense than ever!!). There is a reason I am an art/design major, because everything is hands on. However, when Amy gave us a long lecture about the muscles and tendons of the human body, I was fully focused the whole entire time. I thought it was a very helpful and interesting lecture, and I have already learned more by just listening. The way Amy made us remember certain terms was exactly the way I memorize things, so I thought that was very fun and helpful to see! The whole class is structured in a nice and organized way that makes me motivated and excited to learn and become a better artist. I had a nice critique with Amy that made me realize how I could've gone about drawing my shell differently. (I had received a very difficult shell with lots of bumps and twists, and Amy showed me the most effective way of illustrating it with contour lines). I have already started doodling human figures in my sketchbook while sitting in other classes, and I can see how it is going to help me in the long run. I feel I have already improved in certain areas, and it will especially come in handy when I need to demonstrate how a product works and its scale compared to a human. Now we have to build the muscles part of a skeleton which will help me draw the human body. This kinda stuff really interests me, because I feel I actually have a use and interest for learning these things, as compared to other classes that are simply a waste of time. I have heard a lot of talk about how Life Drawing helps and that everyone should take the class, and so far I totally agree!!

Here are just some images of gesture drawings and observation drawings of live models.

Back to Menomonie; Back to Work.

This week has been extremely stressful for me. I was in Sweden over the whole summer, spending time with my sister and family, as well as working at a study abroad traveling agency called Blueberry. I came back to the US a week before school started, and I am still in summer mode! Before I knew it, I was back in a totally different country, having a schedule I need to follow! My brain has been all over the place and I feel I am having extreme difficulties getting back into design mode. Taking this drawing class has been extremely relaxing so far, even though it's only been 2 classes. I feel like it is helping me slowly get back into school mode, and it is really helping me enjoy what I am doing. It's like therapy. Being an industrial design major is extremely stressful and time consuming, that at this point I feel it's a pain, rather than a passion. Once I get back into the swing of things, I know I will be excited about my major again.

I was born and raised in Sweden until I was 9 years old, and I have been going back for vacation about once a year since then. This summer was the first time I actually lived in Sweden for a whole 3 months, which was a life-changing experience. For one, switching languages was very interesting. I started to think in Swedish, and I had to figure out a whole new way of speaking so that I could sound like myself. At first, I felt really awkward and I didn't really know how to bring my personality out in the way I spoke, but the more I spoke, I was able to joke and express myself in the way I wanted. With art, I am still getting to know how to express myself, and I hope to get better at it. There are so many different ways of communicating, and I think that I have learned a lot about myself by simply spending a whole summer speaking a different language.

Another thing I found interesting was design in Sweden. I have realized that my style is very scandinavian (when it comes to expressing myself with fashion, and design) without even knowing it! Everything is very minimal, contemporary, simple, organized and practical. That is exactly what I am trying to portray with my portfolio. So walking around all of Stockholm and going into design boutiques really helped me get inspiration and excitement about design. I went to Berlin last summer and was able to see a bunch of amazing design, including a store that was all white with nothing in it, except for in the very back of the store, there was a little table with 10 pairs of sunglasses on it! I feel traveling really opens your mind up and you get exposed to so many different kinds of art and design, and ways of living in general.

So now I am back in Menomonie, Wisconsin.

I am happy being back, but it will take a little while to get used to the change in environment. This drawing class is actually my favorite class at this point, and it is really helping me get adjusted. When there is so much else going on, it is nice to come to a class where your mind can observe and get lost. I think I have a lot of stuff to work on, but I say that in a positive way. I am super excited to become a better artist and be proud to show off my artwork. Something I would like to become better at is not being such a perfectionist. I am very clean with all my work, and it looks so perfect that it becomes boring to look at. These gesture drawings we do in class are gradually helping me get better and be a little sloppier, and feel that it's ok now. We'll see how the next few weeks go, with hope that I get back into creativity mode again. I'm planning on drawing the shell I got in class, while listening to good music, having inscents flowing, and cool lights shining in the background. :)

Why Life Drawing 1?

I am taking the course Life Drawing 1 this semester and I am very excited!

I started drawing people and cartoons at a very young age, which is what initially got me interested in drawing. Since then, I feel my skills have reached a plateau, and I would like to progress from drawing very flat, simplistic people to getting more rhythm, dimension and depth. I am majoring in industrial design, so by knowing more about the human body and drawing in general, I feel I will be a much stronger designer. I love drawing faces, but I always tend to stop at the neck, because it's what I feel most comfortable doing! So by taking this class, I hope to become better at drawing the human body and getting more emotion into what I draw.

I haven't been able to transfer my files to my new computer yet, so I have no images of my work to share! But if you're interested in seeing my industrial design work, you can check out my website (which is still in construction by the way) at http://cassiebjorck.tripod.com/