Introduction to Drawing 1020
This class provided a strong foundation in the basic principles and practices of representational drawing (recreating three-dimensional reality on a two-dimensional surface). I participated in various drawing assignments that helped me to develop an accurate understanding and application of 3 basic areas:
- Observational drawing
- Linear perspective
- Value
final projectsObservational Drawing Final 1
Linear Perspective Drawing Final 2
Value Drawing Final 3
weekly assignmentsThese drawings show my progress in the class each week.
SketchBookI kept a sketchbook throughout the course and drew in it every week.
Final EssayCan anyone learn to draw?
Why or why not? I started this class with low expectations. And I was very nervous because I had never been to college before so I did not know what to expect. I was afraid that I would be made fun of because I had no skills in drawing, (I could only draw stick figures and deformed bananas) but what I found was that some of the other students in my class were on about the same level as I was and everyone was very kind and helpful. I've always wanted to paint, but I could never draw things realistically. I didn't think that I would be able to draw, but I was hopeful that taking this class might help me, with my painting. After my first class, I came to realise that I could learn how to draw with the right guidance. And with each new week my skills progressed little by little but it was working I started to get more and more confident with my new skills and now I enjoy drawing so much that even after this class ends I will continue to draw and with more time and practice I know I can become great at drawing. After getting the question for this essay: Can anyone learn to draw? Why or why not? I was going to say No not everyone could learn to draw because I was thinking about people who have a disability as for some examples: People who are Legally blind, or people who have no hands. However after awhile of researching people with disabilities and if they can or can not learn to draw I had found that there is a lot of people with a disability out there who can and did learn to draw and they are very successful at drawing and some are even famous! I was very interested in learning more about the Legally blind artists because even though I now know that it can happen I was still confused on how they can create something that they had never seen before with their eyes. So I found some artists that are blind who can draw and paint. 1. Eşref Armağan, the artist with no eyes. Eşref Armağan was in born 1953 he is a contemporary Turkish painter who has been completely blind since birth. Armagan is married and has two children. He has displayed his paintings at more than 20 exhibitions in Turkey, Italy, China, the Netherlands and the Czech Republic. He can paint detailed pictures in bright colors and 3-point perspective without assistance. As a professional artist and painter, Esref needs complete silence while creating his work. So he will often work on his paintings at night. Esref understands how things look by having models or drawings of them with his hands. Sometimes he would have someone trace a picture an object or thing that he couldn't feel like a cloud or a waterfall, he could then feel the grooves in the paper to understand what it is that he would be painting. Colors are simply memorized; He doesn't know what red looks like, but he knows that it is the color of an apple or the inside of a watermelon. Esref describes it as: To me color is only a name. He will ask other people for help from time to time to see what colors he should use for different objects. He will also use a nail to make groves into the canvas and he then goes back over it feeling his way using his fingers to determine where to put all the different colors of paint to create images he has never seen. I still feel it's hard to believe that he has never in his life seen actual scenery but can paint beautiful realistic pictures. 2. Michael Anthony Williams Michael Anthony Williams was born in 1964. He is a self-taught blind artist. Michael has been sight impaired since birth and took to art at age of 10. He had become interested in art after watching his mother create colorful marker drawings. Michael works with different types of mediums, pen and ink, watercolor, acrylic and oil. He loves to create art with these subjects: Architecture, landscapes, space scenes, river scenes, landscapes, cityscapes, street scenes and transportation. He has been a self-published artist since 1985. He has several series of pen and ink and watercolor prints. He remembers printing only 100 black and white prints per series and he would also use a hand held magnifier to hand paint each print. Which is pretty cool if you ask me. Michael is also an award winning artist. During the early 80s, while, in high school, he had won art competitions and was awarded “outstanding Art Student” at his high school. He then continued on to college to receive an associate degree in business management and sell most of his art to staff and students. Recently, Michael submitted his works to an international art competition in Louisville, KY and won 3rd place out of an estimated 400 entries with an original painting titled “Evening Tow” and in 2010, he had won 2nd place with his art piece “Bountiful Tow”. Micheal has been in a number of newsletters, newspapers, radio and television for his sight impairment. He likes to encourage others to be creative and productive as well in his blogs: “Blind Not Idle” and “I Am Blind Unique”. Michael thinks of himself as an artist because of the challenges he has had to take in seeing colors. "I can see the primary colors of brown, yellow, blue, green or red. But, if you ask me to tell you the different shades of these colors or arrange them from dark to lightest of a blue or green, then I have a problem in doing so. However, I create through imagination and instinct. I sometimes utilize memory or photos, depending on how complex or how much detail I choose to include in a painting." Michael Anthony Williams So my answer would be Yes I think and know that anyone who really wants to learn how to draw can and will find a way. |