Blog Assignment #2 Thoughts on Drawing

I used to draw a lot as a child, focusing mainly on pausing the the tv while watching a cartoon and then drawing that. However, since those elementary and middle school days, I have not consistently drawn for a long period of time. The only major drawings I have worked on recently occurred in high school wen I made a poster sized Ironman drawing for my geometry class. I like how good it turned out, so I later decided to do one more poster sized drawing of bumblebee (from the transformers movies). Those projects took hours upon hours of drawing and coloring, and I still have not finished the bumblebee project. With that in mind, I am very thankful that I took this drawing class. It has forced me to develop my talents and draw on a very consistent basis; and looking back, I see that I have become a much better artist. Initially I was a little bored with the in class assignments where we drew the same piece over several weeks. The initial assignments also didn't particularly pick my interests since the subjects were just everyday objects in our room, I will say that I really like how my shading and value drawing come out, particularly the dress shirt because it ended up being more difficult than I expected and I spent a lot of time on it. After that, I really started enjoying the class when we were given longer 2 week  projects that started with the perspective view. I also really liked the sketchbook because I could draw whatever I want, and I was able to stretch myself by drawing subjects like humans, practicing using charcoal etc. Comparing my later sketches to my initial ones, I do believe that my drawing skills have improved. Part of that is from gaining the realization of the importance of the tools and materials used in artwork. Previously I had always simply used #2 pencils and white paper for my drawings. Now as I am attempting more difficult and realistic drawings, I see that I will need to expand the tools I use (pencil types, different erasers types, paper materials etc) in order to be successful. I also realize that I have gotten faster at drawing (this was one of the things I hoped would happen coming into this class). Looking in my sketchbooks, some of the drawings that took me 1.5-2 hours in the beginning I can now probably do in 45min to an hour. The reason for this is that my approach to making a drawing as changed. Before I always leaned towards making an overall outline and then going in to draw the inside details, but one day I realized that it would me easier if I start from a specific detail and then work my way outwards. With this method, it is much easier to keep the proportions in the drawings because I have an initial reference and work my way out from it. With the former method, it is almost impossible to get an outline shape exactly on the first try, and I would end up constantly erasing and redrawing certain parts as I added in details, greatly increasing the time used. So overall this is been a very good experience for me, and it encourages me to want to draw more in my free time and develop my talents.