Drawing in my past...present...and future.

I have always enjoyed drawing.  I grew up in an environment surrounded by drawing.  I spent a great deal of time at my grandparents house as a child.  Some of my favorite memories from my childhood were spent drawing with my grandma, who was an incredible artist.  My grandfather is quite artistic as well, and the two of them created an artistic child.  My father, who currently does graphic design, is very artistic. When I was not spending time drawing with my grandma, she would show me my dad's art portfolios from high school and college.  One drawing of his that I adored was a self portrait of him sitting on the ground looking into a circular mirror.  Someday I would love to have that drawing hanging on a wall in my own home.  It may not be anything special to someone else, but to me that drawing is my all-time favorite piece of artwork.  I believe that my drawing techniques are very similar to my fathers'.  I enjoy drawing people more than I do architecture or scenery.  I am fascinated by individual's facial features, which is why I love drawing portraits.  My father was the same way.  His drawings are always focused on the individuals' expressions or facial features. I wish that we would've had the opportunity to draw portraits in this course, but at the same time, I am glad that we didn't.  This course challenged me in areas of drawing that I struggle with.

One aspect of drawing that I grasped throughout this course was working with lines.  I've learned how to visualize certain lines by making mistakes and then realizing where I went wrong.  For example, in my last drawing for this course, I struggled with the lines of a road.  It took me multiple attempts and a great deal of eraser marks to understand the way in which the lines of the road needed to look.  Another aspect of line usage that I attained was the depth and texture of a specific line.  Some lines need to be thicker, thinner, darker, lighter, etc.  Typically, I draw with a fairly heavy hand, making my lines much darker than necessary.  I've learned about various techniques to use in order to get the line wanted.

Although I am not the best at drawing, I still enjoy doing it.  I have always been a creative minded person, and every time I have a new idea, the first thing that I do is sketch it down.  Over the past year or so I have begun sketching fashion designs.  I have a great deal of work to do as far as the sketches go, but at least I am able to jot down my ideas when they pop into my head.  I also run my own fashion blog, and when I was coming up with various names and logos for my blog, I began the process with a pencil and a sheet of paper.

Drawing is a part of my past, and I believe that it will carry on into my future.  Whether I'm sketching the latest fashion designs or simply just drawing to relieve stress and clear my mind, it is something that I will continue to do.  If I can grow leaps and bounds from where I was one semester ago, then I'm sure my skill level will get higher and higher with every touch of lead to paper.  I will most likely stick to drawing portraits because that is my strong suit, but I now know that if I want to challenge myself, then I will tackle some sort of scenery.  I began this post by mentioning how great of an artist my grandma was and still is.  As she's nearing 90 years of life, she's faded away from drawing.  I can tell that she gets frustrated when her hands don't work the same way as they used to.  I've been able to bond with her over my various drawings for this course, hoping to inspire her to pick up a pencil again.