Dani Saunders

Drawing 1
Spring 2019

In a sense, I believe my weakest piece is probably the directed self portrait or the figure
ground drawing. I didn’t execute these projects in the most successful ways I was capable of and
it hindered my final product. With the figure ground, I didn’t I allow myself to take advantage of
the simplicity of its nature and instead overworked it. I gave up and it became jumbled. The self
portrait, however, lacked realism. I involved too many playful elements and didn’t apply what
techniques we learned through the course.

My strongest drawing, confidently, was either the charcoal rope piece, the collage, or the
abstract rendering. With those I applied much of the skill I gained through the class and it
showed through the final products. I also spent the most time with them as well as had the most
fun. Fortunately they were some of the last projects- all except for the rope, which opposingly I
found a bit tedious. However, the absolute most of what we retained in this course came through
with this piece. Although it was lacking in texture, it became something I gave in to and rendered
to the best of my abilities. What strikes me as ironic is that with my complete loathing of getting
my hands dirty in work, the studio assignments done in charcoal seemed to be both my best and
my worst pieces of art.

When I signed up for this class, I expected it to be a simple course about drawing and its
basic elements with graphite and structure. For some reason, I didn’t expect us to apply so many
critical aspects of major forms in art. I also didn’t expect mixed media to the lengths of which we
applied- like conte, charcoal, or even straight ink. To put it simply, I think probably the most
straightforward lessons have stuck out to me throughout the semester. Drawing only what you
see and not what you know. Embody the energy of your piece. Apply scale, volume, and depth to
what you’re rendering. These thoughts help your mind create and envision your work more
realistically and thoroughly. They guide you along in ways they couldn’t if they were never
taught or expressed to you. As someone with little trained experience in visual arts, this class
helped me explore new areas and heights out of a close-minded view on my own selfish critiques
on art and form.