How Drawing Plays a Role in My Life

THE BEGINNING

Recently I have made a point to look at little kids in restaurants- fighting over an iPad or Gameboy etc. and think back to what I did in their shoes. A marker pouch and pad of paper were essentials for every outing or event I was going to. At some restaurants I would be blessed with a paper table covering and move all the plates to the side as I filled the page with anything I could think of. There were dragons eating cars, elephants with trumpets as a nose, women with cats living in their hair and much much more. My mom read a lot of Dr. Seuss to me when I was growing up and that gave me this mindset that pretty much told me, "the weirder, the better."

I started writing picture books at around age 3. Due to my age and ability, these were not always cohesive (or legible) but were still quite colorful and interesting. I like to look back on how my style evolved with age and exposure to other artists.

INFLUENCES

My Aunt, Becky Hall Fehsenfeld, is a talented painter and I learned a lot from looking at her drawings and paintings. My mom is an avid doodler and has taught me that even To-Do lists should have a few characters to liven things up.

I went through a period from age 10-13 where I wasn't seen without a comic book in my hands. By comic book, I do not mean Spiderman, I mean the collections of comic artists found in the paper. Jim Davis's Garfield was hands down my favorite, I own every treasury and would practice drawing the scenes and creating my own comic strips. I explored many other comic styles from Far Side to Marvel and enjoyed learning about all the different ways people drew.

Jim Davis- Garfield

After I started high school, I shifted my interest to artists like Picasso, Da Vinci, Degas and Van Gogh. It was fun trying to imitate those styles with painting but from internet research and books at the library I also was exposed to some of their drawings.

Pablo Picasso- Head of a Woman

My exposure to photography (wink) during high school also ended up changing my style of drawing dramatically. I was drawn (I can't stop) to black and white images with a lot of contrast. It seemed that the more contrast in the image, the more power it had. I switched from pencil to more marker based drawings at this time. 

Robert Doisneau- La Dame Indignée 

Now, Frida Kahlo and Salvador Dalí are all I can think about. I absolutely love both of their styles and the stories behind how they became such influential artists. I am excited to see how this new inspiration will add to my style.

Salvador Dalí- Sleep

WHERE AND WHEN I DRAW

Every notebook of my academic career contains countless amounts of drawings. I used to use my excess energy in class by doodling and drawing my teachers and classmates as cartoons. I love to make myself laugh with what I draw so when I look back at these notebooks I crack up.

I am an avid travel journal writer. I have been lucky enough to travel a lot and every trip I keep a journal of thoughts, drawings and wonderings so I can relive the trip by reading it.

But my favorite use of my drawing skills is at my job. I work as a graphic designer and I constantly get to draw and create on the computer and in notebooks. It is thrilling to know that I can do what I love and possibly support myself on that in the future.