Wk4 – Drinking & Drawing

I found this activity somewhat frustrating. It has been a long time since I’ve actively practiced drawing. As a kid, I loved to draw and would draw often. As shallow as it is to say – I think since I felt like I was “good” at it when I was younger I enjoyed it even more. Now that I am older and we live in a digital age I can compare my art to that of working professionals or those that are naturally gifted. Looking at wonderful art has had a negative effect on my motivation to draw. I felt like I might never be as good as the artists I admire so why practice? However, I do think that if I practiced for one hundred or one thousand hours my work would improve greatly. Comparison does nothing for my own happiness or the quality of my work, so I should very well just throw the concept away and enjoy artwork without pitting my own creative endeavors against it.

Being a Health Science major I believe simple sketching can be very useful. For example, if I am educating a class or group of people on human anatomy it might be helpful for visual learners if I was able to draw the areas of the body that I am describing.

I certainly think that drawing is a language. Those who are skilled in drawing can convey complex ideas with a single piece. Or provoke deep thought with a single piece. When one is skilled in language they are able to convey specific ideas to their audience and I believe the same concept is true for drawing. If someone is perhaps not as adept at drawing you may not recognize their drawing of a person as well, a person at all. However if someone is particularly skilled at drawing you may not only be able to recognize a drawing as a person but a specific person. Not only that, but they also seem to be feeling sad in this drawing. Furthermore, their clothing appears dirty and worn. The viewer wonders why they are sad, alone, and unkempt. Has this person lost their job? Are they a wandering traveler on hard times? All this to say that someone who has mastered the language of drawing can tell an entire story with one sketch.