Oh So Belated and Bloated

Well, I guess the idea behind weekly posts fell apart right from the beginning. (Oi.) But I digress.

Last time I left you with a brief Visual Thought. We've all seen the classic Vase/Faces image - the optical illusion drawing that is either a vase or two faces looking at each-other:
In the Right-Brain Drawing class that I took throughout May and June, our first assignment was to make our own version of the Vase/Faces image. As examples, he showed us previous student work, which ranged from simple variations on the original images to bizarre, complex designs. So, I decided to go nuts and try the bizarre, which resulted in:
It kinda looks like a weird tree-thing, but it's also two snickering devil creatures with fire for hair. (I have no idea where this idea came from - deep in the bowels near the colitis, I'd imagine.) Judging by the makeup of the class, I figured there'd be quite a few things like this. But, when I showed up for class the next week, only five other people brought their own versions, and mine was the only weird one out of the bunch. Which, naturally, was rather embarrassing - especially when the instructor asked me to make a copy for him to use as an example in future classes. Suddenly people started looking to me like I actually knew what I was doing, which, of course, I don't.

The remainder of the class pretty much followed similar guidelines as the Drawing on the Right Side Of The Brain book, though the instructor took his own sidesteps which were endlessly helpful to me. In the last two sessions, he taught us 3-D shading, which was extremely cool, and remarkably similar to the basic concepts of cinematography (use of light and shadow, depth-of-field, etc.) Below are two of my finished, shaded drawings done for the class. As always, click the image for a larger view.
I'm glad I keep everything. This nasty old shoe was a perfect subject.
This one I call "Hand Over Hand, or: MC Escher Kiss My Ass." I think I like the second title better.
This one is presently unfinished. I call it "A Stitch in the Hand is Worth Two Cans of Busch."

Needless to say, the class helped. Like, A LOT. Best of all, I can use the knowledge gained in learning realistic drawing, and apply it to un-realistic drawing, which yesterday culminated in my first self-portrait:
So Now Then, next week I'm off to San Francisco for the Animation Mentor Annual BBQ (I baked Snickerdoodles for the occasion,) and then, the week following, classes begin. So don't be shocked if there are no posts for the next couple of weeks.