Thoughts on Drawing - Morgan

     I consider myself an avid doodler but have never really taken an official drawing class, there always seemed to be something I found more exciting like jewelry making, or painting, or photography. But as I got farther along in my major requirements (I'm a visual studies major), it became more and more obvious how fundamental basic drawing skills are. My doodles have always been abstract, geometric designs, and that is still what I enjoy drawing the most, but I always considered myself pretty terrible at realistic drawing, especially drawing from life rather than a photograph. In this sense, I surprised myself in this class. I by now means claim to be the next big thing, but the fact that I was able to, for example, draw a squirrel that actually looked like a squirrel or a a still life that had close to correct proportions was not something I expected to happen. I entered the class sort of grudgingly, viewing it as a sort of pre-requisite for someone with a creative major, but I really enjoyed this class much more than I thought I would and got more out of it than I expected. 

     One of the things I found the most challenging was perspective. Getting the right angles to successfully show an object in the right perspective and right with everything around it. I still struggle with this element of drawing, but I think I have improved. I've learned to not over think it and draw what I see more than drawing what I think it should be. I regret that I wasn't able to draw more in my sketchbook as I think doing so would have helped me improve on this even more, but going forward I hope to keep up the sketchbook as a place for more sophisticated, intentional doodling rather than swirls and zig-zags on the side of my notes.