dROARing class

Back in August, while on the lookout for a good fall art class I could take, I scrolled through Fleisher's adult art classes listing like I do at the beginning of most semesters.  I grazed over the Watercolor Technique class and the Figure Sculpture class, waiting to see if something really grabbed my attention this year.  I stopped scrolling when I reached "Dinosaur Drawing Class". As my eyebrows raised, I clicked on the link and read through the description.  This was exactly what I wanted to spend my fall doing.

I emailed myself the link so that I could meditate on it for a few days before investing in the class, as it was no small investment.  As I mulled it over, I realized that this class might be the first opportunity for me to learn from a professional how to structure an animal drawing from the bones on up. I feel like this could really benefit my accuracy in my drawings. In this dino drawing class, we would learn how to draw the bones first, then fit the muscles on, and finally lay the skin and decoration ontop of it all.  Yes, please! I signed up for the class.

The class takes place in the Dinosaur Hall of the Academy of Natural Sciences here in Philly. I had been to Dino Hall once before, back in the late winter. It was inspirational then, but now I get to sit and sketch the beautiful specimens after-hours, without gaggles of schoolchildren around me. That is glorious.

My visit of awe and wonder last winter

Dino Hall's full Tyrannosaurus Rex skeleton. You know. No big deal.

The first 15 min of class is warm-up. This little guy is a swimming dino.

This is a Torosaurus Latos female's skull from the Cretaceous Period

Last week, a journalist & photographer from the Philadelphia Inquirer came to class to gawk at us nerds.  They went around and talked to some of the students and I thought I was safe from them. But then while they were across the room, I heard a series of shutter clicks and knew that I had been captured. Looking up, I watched as the photographer checked out the photo, started to chuckle, and leaned over to his co-worker to show him the picture. They both started quietly laughing and then pointing at me. This has not happened to me in about 20 years and I got a bit flush.  They asked me some questions later and I guess they liked the most mundane thing I said, because they quoted it in the article they wrote a few days later...

http://articles.philly.com/2014-10-03/news/54603911_1_art-class-fossil-hunter-students

I'm not sure this picture quite captures the adoration for this creature that is in my eyes...

This is what I drew that day. We started by drawing the skull, then erasing the skull and drawing the muscles, then erasing the muscles and drawing the scaly skin.  Good thing I have thick paper.

This class is pumping me up this fall. I'm learning a lot and making a shit-ton of mistakes, but its a blast and I wouldn't spend my Monday nights any other way.  Also, if you have a dinosaur documentary you like, let me know what it is. I watched all the ones on Netflix already.