Thoughts on Drawing------Tiange Zhang :)

      I have always liked drawing, however, I had never taken any professional drawing classes until I came to Duke. I am not sure whether I am going to major in visual art but I decided to take this class simply because I just like drawing and when I thought about taking drawing class I got really excited and happy. This semester is almost gone, look back I have few thoughts which I really want to share with these who are planning to take drawing class. 

      As many other students would do, I also did some research before I took this class. To be honest, the first thing I heard about this class is that "if you have never done any drawing before then Don't take it because you will never get a A", of course this wouldn't bother me because just like what I told that person, I am taking this class not aiming for getting a A but what to learn how to draw, if I am always aiming for a high GPA, perfect score then I don't see the point of coming to university anymore. I think coming to University for me is more about challenge myself and learn new things and do things I like (since finally I can chose what class to take what not to) but not so much about thinking about my GPA. Of course I am not saying that we shouldn't care about GPA but what I am talking about is the attitude about learning and study. I am probably being very biased but I simply don't like the fact that most people will put GPA first before they consider what class to take. I do care GPA, but one thing I always believe in is that as long as I tried my best then I am peaceful with whatever score I get. If I get a very lower score then maybe I am still just not good enough to get a higher score or maybe that teacher evaluate students not in the way you thought they would do. I do think there are many factors which influence how a teacher evaluate her/his students. But even hard working didn't earn you a good score but you wouldn't feel shameful to ourself. 

     People usually ask me how much I learned about drawing in this class? How much time do I spend on drawing weekly? Actually these are the most common questions for those who plans take drawing class. The answers are: to the first question, I can't tell specifically what I have learned but just by looking at my drawing now I have to admit that I draw way better than before and there are many little things I learned from the professor and classmates by talking with them and looking at their drawing. As I mentioned earlier I never did drawing before and it is reasonable that I am not as good as these who has been draw for their whole life. There are many talented students whose drawings are already excellent. One thing I found really helpful is that never feel shy or shameful to ask your classmate questions on drawing. They know many different techniques that you may never know without asking them. I learned so much about how to do shade and value, how to draw trees and grasses through my classmates. I feel very thankful towards them. For each week I spend at least 4-7 hours on drawing because I am a beginner and i draw way slow compare to other students in my class I guess. But I really enjoy the time when I sit down and draw, I forget about time totally into my drawing and that feeling is just great. And I also think just like what my professor told me in the first class, you can only learn drawing by draw and draw and draw, I think all these hours I spent paid back. 

     The last thing I want to say is that I am very thankful to my professor, I could have taken this class simply because your encouragement, in our first class he said " he will not evaluate students by how good their drawings are but how much they improved, and everyone is treated equally." This made me stayed in this class and had the encourage to learn and be with these who are way better than I am. I like this class and I will continue drawing after I finish this class.