Thoughts on Drawing -- Caroline Breaux

Growing up, I have always had a love for art.  I loved any type of craft or DIY activity and first fell in love with watercolors.  I viewed it as a hobby and after middle school, I never took another actual art class.  Instead I would devote my free time to art, however, I had really only been exposed to painting.  With that being said, I knew that I wanted to make a change in college and do more of what I actually like to do (rather than what I was required to do like in high school).  I thought art classes would be a great way to balance out my STEM heavy schedule.  Originally, I probably would not have been drawn to a class that solely focuses on drawing, considering I had never concentrated on it before.  Due to Drawing 199 being a prerequisite for other classes like painting, I realized I would have to take it if I wanted to do more in the future and ended up enjoying it more than I thought I would.  

I think the reason I had never focused on drawing before was because I thought it would be too difficult, especially drawing from observation. Taking this class, now I know that it is just something that takes time, and you get good at it the more you draw.  I was intimidated at first, but I think the way the class is structured helps in easing that anxiety.  I like how we learned the "foundational" rules starting with line drawings and each week took it further.  I also like how you can look back at the end of the semester and compare your beginning projects to the later projects.  I think it really shows the progress we've made and the amount of work we've put in. Although the assignments each week took many, many hours, I always looked forward to it because it didn't feel like work to me.  It was a nice break in my schedule and often it was a relaxing process.  My only complaint is that the last few projects were much harder in terms of coming up with what to draw.  But then again, that is a good thing because I learned the importance of narratives and how you should always try to tell the audience a story through your drawing.    

I'm glad I took this class because it made me go into learning how to draw with an open mind, something I probably would not have chosen to do if I was still doing art as just a hobby.  In fact, I probably would have stayed within my comfort zone and only stuck to painting if it was up to me.  I look forward to continuing to draw and keeping a sketchbook at the very least.  I surprised myself this semester in my willingness to finish every project to my best ability.  Overall, I think this is a great class to take and I can see why it is a prerequisite to other courses -- it teaches you a lot about drawing and about yourself!