I’ve always been a color type of
girl. When I was young, every Christmas list included a wish for a fresh 120
pack of Crayolas with the handy sharpener on the back, a replacement for last
year’s pack that had since become dull and broken. I spent hours coloring
various characters and scenes in coloring books, even to the extent that I can
still identify half of the ridiculously-named colors, such as “Macaroni and
Cheese” and “Purple Pizzazz,” and can differentiate between “Green Yellow” and
“Yellow Green.” I was ecstatic when my parents registered me for art class and
I was introduced to the magic of watercolor and acrylic paints, a passion I
have continued to enjoy and have expanded since. My friends and family always
ask me about naming specific shades or matching colors, and I love helping
people decide on paint swatches for house walls (or, to be honest, playing with
color swatches in general).
Hence, I overlooked “Introduction to Drawing”
when I was considering an art class for this semester because my eyes were first
drawn to painting, photography, and digital classes. However, in discussing my
art class choices with a similar-minded friend who had taken Drawing 199 last
semester, I reconsidered my choice. She raved about the class’s ability to
bring down stress level and discover new ways of thinking. Though I had never
taken a classical drawing class or really learned any techniques of drawing, I
wanted to expand my boundaries of art. At first I was hesitant, anticipating an
entire semester of creating art that only consisted of blacks, whites, and
shades of gray, but I soon decided that this could be an aspect of the art form
to embrace.
Though it has been especially challenging with
an overloaded schedule, deciding to pursue drawing was definitely a decision I
do not regret. With so much varied work for my other courses, whether writing,
reading, analyzing, computing, studying, etc., it was sometimes frustrating to
force myself to spend four—or later in the semester even ten—hours total with my
drawing board. Rather than thinking of drawing as a break, it took me a while
to come to the realization that drawing work, though of a very different type,
is an equally legitimate use of my time as working on tasks for other classes. At
times I had to force myself to sit down and make a conscious effort to block
out stressful thoughts of everything I had to do for my other classes and focus
simply on putting the graphite or charcoal to the paper. It takes so much
concentration and thought to fix something that isn’t working out “quite right”
and to render objects as you see them. Yet, there is something inevitably
satisfying about taking a step back from a piece after endless hours of
meticulous work and knowing that you have accomplished something worthwhile and
to the best of your ability.
Throughout the semester, I have learned to fall
in love with drawing and embrace its unique identity as an art form. Rather
than expression through color, I now appreciate the subtleties of shading, line
variation, textures, and values, all of which I hadn’t explicitly thought about
before. Because of the class, in some ways I see the world around me
differently. I’ve found that I better appreciate the complexity of architecture
after spending hours trying to mirror it on the drawing pad. Rather than seeing
expanses of grass, pavement, or stone as empty planes, I notice the nuanced
textures and think about how they could be rendered on paper. I pay attention
to shadows, especially how they differ from objects themselves and change
throughout the course of a day. I see interesting shapes for the negative and
positive spaces that they create. In all, the class has been invaluable for me
not only in expanding my artistic boundaries but also in altering the way I
interact with the world as a creative individual. Thank you, Professor Fick,
for enabling and encouraging this transformation and for a great semester!
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