Thoughts on Drawing - William Yang

Before taking this course, my experience with drawing was very limited. In fact, I could probably count the number of times I’ve attempted to draw something over the past few years on my fingers. However, learning to draw and being more engaged with art is something I’ve been wanting to get involved with in my free time for years. As a student majoring in Computer Science and Statistics, many of my classes over my Duke career have been highly technical. Coming into my last semester, though, I made to sure to open up a space in my schedule so I could take this course, and I’m very glad I did so.

This course forced me to finally start a habit of drawing often that I always procrastinated on before. As calming and enjoyable as drawing is, it does take some time to draw something, and it’s often hard to pause my other activities to make time for drawing. Furthermore, having little experience and little artistic talent, I was often discouraged from drawing simply because I thought I didn’t know how to draw. Once I started drawing for the class, though, I soon rediscovered the joy in learning a new skill and being creative. I really enjoyed exploring using different drawing techniques, from different shading techniques, to varying line weights and length, to using charcoal and erasers as additional tools to draw a variety of scenes and landscapes.

As my college career draws to a close, I’m glad that I was able to take a fun class on something completely unrelated to my majors and the work I’ll be doing in the future. For me, drawing is a new hobby that I intend to take with me wherever I go. It’s stimulating, relaxing, and enjoyable, and I hope that I’ll be able to keep up the habit long after I graduate.