Week 5 - Life Drawing - Proportions

Very similar to the directed study on the same topic for the 1st semester, I drew both male and female characters in side and back view(and the male in front view) according to the idealistic proportions.
The 1st sketch seems to be off, mostly because the marks for a head unit along the body are smaller than the head actually is. This makes for an unnatural feel for the whole character. Also, there is kissing along the entire edge between the arm and the body on the left side of the sketch. In addition, the musculature on the inside of the legs seems completely overlooked - there is a simple straight line separating the legs. In overall - bad proportions and bad composition.
The rest of the sketches have generally good proportions, with the hips at the middle of the characters, the waist at one head unit above the hips, the shoulders beginning at 1/2 head units under the chin and reaching  the widest section of the body at 1 head unit under the chin. Also, the knees are just above the middle of the legs and the width seems correct with 2 head units for the female and 2 and a half units for the male. The muscles seem to be defined a bit better, except for between the legs in the front view drawings and the front of the female's hips in the side drawing.
I have to note I really like the way the shoulders are shaped in the side drawings. Unlike the ones I had in the sketches in the 1st semester, these actually show a smoother transition from the thinner part at the very end of the shoulders towards the chest where the body is thicker. Still, the male ones might need to be just a tiny bit wider, so that there is an even smaller difference between the front of the shoulders and the male's breasts when looked from the side.

Week 4 - Still Life - Foreshortening and Oblique Angles

From these drawings, the book is probably the most interesting example of a drawing at an oblique angle. It is noticeable that the top-leftmost short edge(the one across the thin side of the book) is shorter than the top-rightmost, because it is further away from the drawing position. However, the leftmost vertical edge is longer than the closest vertical one. This is because the edge closer to the drawing position is at a very small angle, while the other one, being further back, is at a slightly bigger angle, revealing more of the length of the real edge. Both these may make the drawing seem wrong in terms of perspective, but according to the explanation above, it is logical that the edges look this way.
The pencil drawing shows effective use of foreshortening with the back being smaller than the front and without the proper texturing, making the pencil seem shorter.
The same goes for the drawer. The front side is obviously larger than the back one due to perspective. Again, a texture along the sides would aid in showing the depth of the drawer.

Week 3 - Still Life - Composition

These are the four compositions I came up with using these five objects. I'll refer to them as 1, 2, 3 and 4 counting left to right, top to bottom.
N1 has some very strong vertical lines which seem to interfere with the almost horizontal lines of the tube on the right. There are no clearly defined implied lines. The negative space line is very angular, resulting in an intense and rough feeling. All of these issues make the composition slightly disturbing and rough. Objects also seem to be focused on the right side, which puts the composition out of balance. All of these flaws make the composition unpleasant.
N2 has some really nice implied lines that are marked on the drawing itself. Again, the line separating the negative space is very complex making for an intense feeling. The two implied lines don't seem to be enough to soften the look and guide the eye. The cup on the right and the tube behind it are positioned very nicely, as they don't obscure each other, but they don't "kiss" either. The cup on the left, however, is at a very bad position - having it so close to the book and parallel to it, confuses the viewer even with the slight overlapping apparent. The pyramid is also at a bad position, being far away from the other objects, making it seem like an orphan object.
N3 appears to be the best composition amongst the four on the image. It's got an interesting, yet calm negative space line. There is also a very subtle implied line formed by the top edges of the two cups and the tube. Having three of the objects facing a similar direction also helps soften the scene, because it gives a more natural feel to the setting. The pyramid's top edge is almost kissing with the book's edge behind it, but again the fact that the objects are laying on their sides seems to give enough reason for the pyramid's position. Even without an image frame, there is a rule-of-thirds focal point forming at the top of the pyramid. There is an obvious mistake in the form of the leftmost cup, but this is not a composition issue.
N4 attempts to create an interesting composition by setting the objects in a very unexpected way. However, having the book support one of its corners on the pyramid makes it bend, which in turn appears as a mistake in perspective without the shading to reinforce the bended feel. The cup on the left seems to be positioned well, as it is not kissing any objects, nor it is left too far from them. The tube is showing an edge under the bended book which is confusing to the eye. In overall, this composition seems unpleasant, because the objects are situated in a way, very unusual to real life.

Week 2 - Still Life - Form and Shape

This is my drawing(drawings) for the topic of "Form and shape". The top one focusing on form of the objects by showing the shadows and shading and the bottom one focusing on the shape of the objects by showing only the space they occupy.
The top drawing shows the form of the bananas with the subtle difference in the shading that is apparent along the bananas width. Notice how the shadows are darker just before the subtle edge a banana has along its lenght. Tha shadow on the branch however is solid because it has almost no dents on it. The darkest patches on 2 of the bananas sugest that there these surfaces are facing each other, while the brither patches sugest that they are facing away from the composition and they dont have anything nearby obscuring the light.
The shadows also successfully show the position of the subjects in an environment. Even without any defined objects around, it is clear, that the fruits are not floating in mid-air.
The orange might be a pour example of representing form because of the interfierence that the shadows cast from the bananas cause. They make a dark arc along the orange's shape and might confuse the viewer about the orange's form.
In comparison, the bottom drawing shows shape by ignoring the shading over the objects and showng only the space they occupy. This makes for an easier evaluation of the overal compostion. On the bottom drawing it is easier to notice that there is a lot of empty space on the right  side of the drawing. It also rises concerns about the bottom lines of the bananas merging and confusing the viewer. Having all the objects in black also makes it easier to se where kissing between objects may appear, in this drawing this is where the orange overlaps with the bananas.