Thoughts on Drawing

Drawing throughout this semester was a scary, intimidating, experience but overall one that I am extremely grateful for. When I considered taking this class, I thought of how much I loved painting with acrylics on canvas. I hoped that some of that feeling would translate into drawing, and that some of my previous experience would as well.

After the first class I realized that while similar in some ways, drawing is a completely different sport. My messy brushstrokes translated into a more messy and dirty drawing. But it was in transitioning from one to another that I found so much joy in the actual struggle of learning a new skill this semester. One of my biggest challenges was making my work neat and my shading not overly expressive. Through doing this and consciously evaluating this skill on every piece, I think I vastly improved and more importantly, came to own my own style of dawning and shading. 

My favorite tool that I learned this semester was using negative space. While the negative space looked amazing when filled in with deep velvety charcoal, it was the skill set I gained in learning how objects related to one another that I used for the remainder of the semester. I was able to more accurately draw objects because the space between them became more accurate.

I sometimes felt intimidated by the skills my classmates possessed. Also, some weeks I was just off and wasn't able to produce a final drawing that I was 100% satisfied with. But I am unable to deny how much my classmates pushed me to be better, and how I began to understand throughout the semester the amount of time needed to dedicate to each piece in order to accomplish fully what I was capable of. I am excited to continue drawing in my sketchbook and this summer work on even bigger pieces at home.