Day 4: The Art of Sketch

Random Observation/Comment #291: It’s always fascinating to see what people do with a pencil and paper in their free time. I’ve seen doodling, writing poetry, writing to-do lists, drawing diagrams, and out-lining stories.  Either way, it really shows what you’re thinking about and how you best express yourself.

Clemens Self Portrait

Drawing has been a long lost hobby of mine that had been replaced by studies and photography. I think my overall use of fine motor skills with a writing instrument have been reduced because of my constant use of keyboards, smart phones, and tablets.  Even my handwriting now looks more like chicken scratch than ever.  For whatever reason this happened, I am slightly unhappy that let this hobby slide in the back burner..

The Challenge:
Sit down and draw your own self-portrait for 3 hours.

The Reason:
I chose drawing my self-portrait as a challenge because I wanted to see what it felt like to be in a high school art class again. I wanted to sit down for a few hours and put my daydreams on paper. I chose the direction of “self portrait” because it shows how you perceive yourself and the things that are important to you.  Maybe in light of thanksgiving, you can draw the things that make you thankful.

The Result:
Here are some of my old drawings from high school (Yes, I was really into Cowboy Bebop). Towards the end you can see the picture I drew today:

The Conclusion:
Drawing is surprisingly liberating and slightly hurts my eyes from focusing on all the shading and details.  It’s the little things that give the drawing emotion.  Setting aside time to do this was definitely much better than the doodles I drew on the side of my notes at Cooper or during meetings.

If you do not draw on pencil/pen/paper regularly, I would recommend just sitting down and seeing what you can create. It’s a great release and I think I will include it into my routine in the future.

~See Lemons Sketch