Thoughts on Drawing

When I first signed up for this class, I honestly didn't really know what to expect.  Walking into the first class, I mused that my mediocre drawing skills wouldn't measure up to some people's since I was never serious about being an artist or the like.  My mom had been a sketch artist and was a phenomenal artist, but I had inherited maybe half of her talent, if that.  I had taken ceramics in high school and thoroughly enjoyed it, but I knew that aside from drawing animals, I had no chance at sketching humans, buildings, or even creative doodles.

After walking around the room the first day when everyone had completed their study drawings, I knew I was right.  What was I doing in this class?  In the beginning, I couldn't say I loved the class, but as I developed more of the basic drawing skills (that I never learned from formal teaching), I began to enjoy it.  As much as I loved the getaway from menial, everyday biology problems, a part of me hated that I always took so long with drawing as my (slight) OCD caused me to pour over every single detail of a drawing.  And when all that time added up going over every detail of a huge sketchbook page, I have to say I did rush parts of my drawings sometimes.

In the end, though, I think the pros of taking this class outweighed the con of spending a lot of time on it.  For example, in high school, I always loved reading into the messages of literature.  Near the end of our class when we started to delve into creating messages and themes into our drawings, I enjoyed exploring the ways I could utilize my new drawing techniques to convey what I wanted to say to my audience.  I also found it interesting that nearly every other person had their own style and way of delivering messages through their pieces - whether intentional or not.  Creating titles for my last two drawings was a fun task and I'd like to say I had a knack for making up witty or clever titles as well.

Thoughts on Drawing

Before this class, I had never really drawn. My best drawing was really close to something that kind of sort of maybe looked like a stick figure. Maybe. I had always wanted to learn how to draw, and I even looked into some courses in my hometown, but it never fit with my schedule. When I learned that there was a class at Duke that taught drawing, I wasn't sure if I would have enough skill to take it and pass. On the first day, my fears were confirmed when I saw all of my classmate's sketches. I couldn't even draw a table. A TABLE. I remember literally spending the entire class working on how to draw the table: aka, the thing that was holding everything else every one else was drawing. hahah BUT, I did not get too discouraged, and I am glad I kept with it, because now, I can produce works that I am proud of. I even post some of them to my social media pages, woo! Also, my mother has begun messaging me every wednesday night asking to see my drawing.

However, aside from having a tangible work to be proud of, I am glad that I took this class for the skills that I have learned. I am so much more observant now, and I see my environment differently. I really began to notice this when we worked with negative space and shading. Realizing that there is more to an object than its details has helped me to analyze better in all of my classes. I have learned a lot of different analytic thinking approaches this semester in all of my classes, and this class helped me most to think about problems in a larger context. I can sometimes go to far with the intricate details of things, but this class helped me to see the larger picture.

My ultimate goal is to be able to draw a picture of a friend or family member. While I certainly do have a long way to go before achieving this, I am amazed by the progress I have made this semester. I compare my first sketch with my last and cannot believe I drew both of them. I always thought that drawing was a skill that could not be learned, but Mr. Fick, you proved me wrong! You were so right when you said learning to draw comes with just starting to draw. I plan to continue drawing and working with charcoal (pencil wasn't my thing.... haha). I'll send you a picture of my first portrait when I finally perfect it! hehe

Thoughts on drawing and our class

Growing up, I was always surrounded by art. My father was a biotech researcher by day, self-proclaimed artist by night. The walls of our apartment then were always full of his Chinese-style paintings of bamboo, chrysanthemums, chicks and roosters that symbolized good luck. I adored those paintings as a child. I couldn't get over how he could start with a ball and end up with a chick, or how individual segments that looked like bones,when put together with a few additional seemingly carefree but deliberate strokes, so remarkably resembled bamboo. It was my own personal form of magic.

While my father's pursuits piqued my interest in art, it was the painting class they enrolled me in and the various art classes I took henceforth that really helped my budding intrigue bloom into passion. I got my parents to buy me sketchbook after sketchbook, to fill my desk and drawers with countless colors and weights of pencils, colored pencils, markers, paints, and pastels. I absolutely loved going to art  supply stores, and could spend hours in them fantasizing about what I could do with the materials inside.

Yet over time, art lost its grasp in my life. It wasn't that I had lost my passion for it. Other things just started taking precedent. Schoolwork, extracurricular activities to boost my resume, sports. Hanging out with friends. Art is time-consuming, and as a middle schooler and high schooler, I didn't want my friends to leave me behind just so I could draw. But that didn't mean I didn't miss it.

That's the reason I took this course. I wanted to bring art back to my life. I enrolled thinking it would be fun and a destressor, a nice break from all the papers and problem sets of my other classes, and it was. I thoroughly enjoyed all of my assignments in this class. However, this course also reminded me just how time-consuming drawing can be. There were a couple of nights where I just couldn't see the end of a piece of work, where I wanted to just toss in my towel and withdraw. I was overloading after all, and with classes that weren't exactly light in course load. But I found that persevering helped me as grow and ultimately I am thankful for this class.

This class taught me to go out of my comfort zone. I had never drawn on such large canvases before, and was skeptical on how they would turn out. By dedicating the time to figure that out, I regained my love for drawing, for creating and recreating what I saw as beautiful. I also had shied away from creating my own art in the past. My sketchbook helped my get over that hump. Through my sketchbook I was able to explore things that I had considered a weakness. Drawing trees and faces, the human body in general. But also the ignoring the impulse to make everything perfect. I dedicated a number of my sketchbook pages to Sharpie drawings. I wanted to work with something that I couldn't erase so that I could slowly learn to deal with the fact that my drawings were imperfect. That way I would in general draw more, because one of tree main things holding me back is how long it takes me to complete a drawing because of how much I nitpick over details.

Overall, this course has taught me that I can make time for art in my life. It may have taken me over half a decade to come to this realization, but I am determined to hold on to it.

Thank you Professor Fick!

Thoughts on Drawing

When I first signed up for this class, I wasn't sure what I was in for. I have dabbled in drawing and other visual arts but I have never had the opportunity to try and hone any sort of skills, and I thought this was the perfect opportunity. Although I quickly realized that my ability was nowhere near that of the other students, I did really enjoy the class. It was hard for me to see my work, which I knew still needed a lot of work, hanging up next to all of the beautiful drawings other students had created. However, this did help me to stop comparing myself to the work of other people, which I have been struggling with in many classes other than drawing. I stopped looking at what everyone around me was doing, and focused on the progress I was making. And I saw that I did learn a lot. I think that the shaky, sketchy drawings I started out creating are much different than the final drawing I produced. And though it was hard after seeing where everyone else had ended up, I did leave the class proud of my final drawing and my portfolio and of all the work I had put into them.

Through taking this course I also realized what kind of drawings I enjoyed. I realized very quickly that I do not enjoy drawing landscapes, but I do enjoy drawing the objects around me. I also realized that I prefer cartoon-ish drawing. I have found that my drawings turn out much better when I employ this style. I'd never really tried to draw things as I see them, and this class forced me to do so which allowed me to explore other techniques. I found it really difficult to produce the drawings on a deadline, but I know I would have spent two months on a single drawing if I was allowed to turn them in whenever I pleased, so I realize deadlines are a necessary evil. I don't think having a deadline had any impact on my enjoyment of drawing, but the pressure of grading might have had a slight one. Drawing is something I had only ever done to make birthday cards or other insignificant things, so by working toward a grade I felt more pressure to get everything right and a lot of frustration when I was just unable to do so

In the end, I am really glad that I took this class. It was really fun and a good way to start every week. Thanks for an awesome semester!

Thoughts on Drawing

The main way I was introduced through art is through my girlfriend of 5 years. She is a fine arts major and I have always been surrounded by art, although I have never had much technical skill at it and I thought this class would be a great way to build a solid foundation. I feel that I did gain a good technical level of skill from this class and I really liked the focus on drawing from observation. I particularly thought using negative space to help guide drawing was especially useful to me. 

My main creative outlet before drawing was producing music and film. One small thing that I noticed that made drawing enjoyable was that I could listen to music while drawing which is kind of ironic. While editing film or producing music, it would be impossible to listen to music because you have to be listening to what you are working on, so I really enjoyed that aspect of being able to relax and listen to music while working.

However, I found that working under deadlines was very stressful and I usually work on creative endeavors outside of academics so it was difficult for me to get used to that. Also while I liked the way the class was structured, I felt like it was a bit limiting creatively which made it a bit harder to be motivated to draw. I also felt a lot of anxiety, which happens a lot when working creatively, especially under deadlines. I felt fear of failure. Having little confidence in my drawing ability, I would get anxious about starting a drawing knowing that it probably wouldn't come out the way I wanted it to. So often I would avoid starting it leading to procrastination.  I think having more confidence in my drawing and also more patience will help me not get so frustrated.

Thoughts on Drawing

I have habitually used Visual Arts as an outlet, so I was naturally engrossed in taking Drawing at Duke for one of my elective courses and potentially minoring in Studio Art. I knew that transferring from a small, single-sexed school in Philadelphia to Duke's Pratt School of Engineering, where seventy percent of the students are male and the academics are basically all math and science, was going to be a major adjustment. This made me even more engrossed by taking Drawing, because I was able to preserve my outlet when being in a whole new environment.
Once I arrived in Duke, people were a little confused as to why I was taking this course because generally it is considered to be incompatible to engineering, but I believe that they instead coincide. As a student interested in science, visual arts, and mathematics, I have always been intrigued by engineering's unique emphasis on blending innovation and creativity with real world pragmatism. Drawing has enabled me to think conceptually, thus allowing me to best capitalize upon my ability to alternate from engineer's natural was of thinking analytically. Moreover, taking this class would improve my dexterity, which is an important skill to have as an engineer. Since I am considering majoring in Biomedical Engineering and potentially pursue a career in medicine, the ability to have excellent hands on dexterity is critical.
Although I knew that being in Pratt was academically demanding, I did not understand the full extent. This semester I have been in three courses with a lab along with being consistently sick, which ultimately deterred me from immersing myself into my drawing assignments, especially in the beginning when I was adjusting the new workload. Instead of an outlet, drawing for a certain deadline just exacerbated my stress. But once I learned how to handle the obscene amount of work from my other classes, I was excited that I was finally able to dedicate more time to my drawing assignments. When there were times that I was able to focus on my drawings, I particularly enjoyed drawing freely in my sketchbook. In my sketchbook I finally drew facial features for the first time ever along with random objects. Although I will probably not be able to minor in Visual Arts, I do hope to take another class in the future when my other classes are not as demanding.

Going Back to the Nature of Drawing

It’s O-Week, everyone’s in a feverish spree of getting to know each other, and from whomever you talk to, you always end up getting this question: “So, what classes are you taking this semester?” Whenever I mentioned drawing class, half of the questioners said “oh” and revealed that they also loved to draw when they were young.

I was intrigued by how at one point in their lives, a number of people loved drawing. When I was young, I also loved drawing without a doubt. But somehow, as I got older, drawing became something more complicated. I began to worry about what others would think about my work, compare mine to others’, and draw in a standardized way just to fit into other people’s expectation. Even a small scribble had to become a complete work of art for me. I was beginning to lose Elaine who just loved to express herself through drawing. And once I started to lose her, drawing became a burden instead of a fun activity.

I noticed that change within me during ArtsConnect activity while teaching art to elementary school kids. To the kids, the definition of art seemed to be “making a mess.” But however crude their forms were, surprising creativity and imagination stemmed from their small hands. And they were obviously drawing whatever they wanted to draw, enjoying the moment instead of worrying about other people’s reaction.

I used to have trouble expressing myself even on the sketchbook for the drawing class. But ever since learning from the kids, I began to really think about what I liked to draw and express it. For instance, I like capturing the atmosphere of a human being. My sketchbook is full of humans in different postures with different expressions. The sketchbook became a ground for me to draw freely. That is how I think I took a step closer, even just a bit, back to the nature of drawing.