College opened my artistic eyes.

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One of my first still life drawings at Grays Harbor College 11/2008

I started college at Northwest College of Art and Design, NCAD, in 2009. One day I looked around the room and sunk into my chair. I was in my mid-20’s and there were very few students closer to my age. It was not that I was slinking away just because of my age but I was starting to finally see other student’s art ability. I was totally floored. I had already attended a community college—which took me 6 years to complete—where in the final year I went I took as many art courses as I could. I wouldn’t say I was horrible artist, in fact so many times I would surprise myself, like the first painting I did actually wasn’t half bad, but I knew at that moment that I was not on the level of the other, younger, fresh out of High School students. (I didn’t have art in High School and if I did anything it was all on my own.)  A that moment I was probably among the least skilled at drawing of the whole 2012 graduating class. I was feeling a ton of self-doubt.

I watched, I listened and I learned. I got better. I listened to critiques and applied them. I practiced more and more. The first drawing class that first semester, I was opened up to a whole new level of skill but I had a long way to go to get better. In this class the instructor required us to keep a sketchbook. A sketchbook!? I had one, I used it, sometimes. At the end of the semester we were to turn in this sketchbook.

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Final still life drawing at Northwest College of Art and Design. 12/2009

Drawing in this sketchbook was like pulling teeth! Not fun. I struggled with things to draw, both in assignments and the sketchbook, I wanted each drawing to be perfect. I saw other students sketching all the time. Funny, cute, weird and interesting things. A lot of them drew fan art but it was still sketching. They did it with such ease and here I spent an hour at night and just would end up with a page of swirls. But the more I pushed myself, the better I got.

There are some amazing artists in my college alumni and I felt it a privilege to have attended with them. I continue to admire them and work hard to be on par with their talents. Fast forward 3 years post college. I’ve had successes and failures, but here I am working on my own business. I still surprise myself all the time.

What’s happening now?

Recently, I decided that I wanted push myself more, open up and really be more creative and do more than just graphic design and photography. That creativity fuels me and propels my graphic design and photography skills.

Part of my new experience is I am now teaching art to home school students. It has been an eye opener, as I see them where I was at 6 years ago. 6 years ago I was as if I were just starting High School art. I was learning things for the first time that those younger college students learned back in High School. I can see in these young teenagers I am teaching the same talents and frustrations I felt when I started college. They are great artists but need that barrier to be put down and to push their artistic ability in order to get better. It’s been a challenge and I’ve been doing it with them.

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Listening to music and just sketching what comes to my mind. Feeling and not thinking. ALimages 2015

The other day as we were sketching to some music, my goal was to get them to sketch without worrying about it being perfect. I told them to listen to music and sketch whatever comes to their mind. One struggled, the other did better and I did fantastic. I did fantastic and it opened up the ability to just sketch. Don’t think, just sketch.

I also realized that I really need to sketch more. It is the most difficult thing for me to do. I’ve attempted few times post college to try and sketch more. But I get in my head and just stop. I have been graduated 3 years and I feel I haven’t progressed much in my graphic design and fine art abilities. Time to get better and that starts with opening up, allowing that creativity to flow and a good way for that to happen is by sketching.

So here goes a challenge to sketch every day.

Share with us! Do you sketch everyday? How do you get inspiration?