Drawing 101

An article by Rachel    Comments Off

For a couple of years, I’ve wanted to take an art class from the University of Utah. However, lack of funds, time, or energy kept me from moving forward. This Fall the stars aligned, and I signed up for an art class. Now originally, I intended on taking an Intro to Design class. I thought I’d learn a few concepts/rules to help me design better stuff. Then out of no where, I decided to take Beginning Drawing.

At the beginning of the semester, our instructor made the point that with practice anybody can learn to draw to a certain level. We (non-drawers) just need to train our brains to preceive the world differently. While I never felt like I could draw, I gave myself permission to learn and have fun. Since then, I’ve had a lot of fun just drawing. I can even see an improvement in my skills.

So far graphite pencils are my preferred medium. I can even tell the difference between the different shades of pencil. I’ve experimented with charcoal. It’s not my thing, too messy. Next week we’ll work with oil pastels.

Now, I’ll share one-in-progress drawing, granted not the best pictures. This is a mushroom morphing into a gnome. Stage two and three are in progress, but not photo worthy quite yet.

The gnome and the mushroom are pretty much set. I just need to get the in-between stages. I shared my progress at class last night. A lot of people, including my instructor, thought my idea was a good one. Now I just need to make it happen. After I’m done with the picture, I might redraw the images on bristol board or illustration board so I can get a nice scanned image. It would a good way to spend my Christmas vacation.