Drawing 1: Week 1

You may have noticed that I've been updating less often. There are several reasons for that. I figure I can at least provide a weekly post of something I make/create with the adventure of taking a drawing class. It'll be fun.

Since I teach at the college level, I'm able to take free classes. This semester I decided to take a class called "Drawing 1". I'm not entirely sure why I decided to take a drawing class. Possibly just because it seemed fun. And also because I don't think I'm very good at drawing. People with very little actual art background take art classes, right? Sure they do.

Anyhow, the drawing class takes place every Saturday for several hours. The first day was just spent going over the syllabus and needed materials/supplies. (Note: art supplies are expensive.) We also were given a homework assignment. I had to find a drawing by a famous draughtsman,  make a copy of it, and then reproduce it using the grid method.

This is the drawing I chose:

It is "Study of a lily" by Leonardo. The photo copy isn't that great, but it was the best I was able to get from the copy machine. (For the actual drawing, click here!) I spent nearly an hour going through art books at the local library. Most of the books focused on paintings which made it difficult to find pictures of drawings. This drawing seemed relatively simple and I think it's lovely.

This took me a few days to draw because I have limited time to spend on it. Throughout the week I added a bit at night before sleeping. Here is my progress:

Day 1:

Day 2:

Day 3:

Final version:

I think it turned out okay. It's too dark and there are a few areas I don't like. The pencil was weird and I kept smudging everything with my hand. I'm not used to all these fancy drawing supplies yet.

And this concludes the first week of taking a drawing class. See you next week with another update on the adventure.