Lesson 4: Drawing Side Profile

Today's lesson was a little different. Instead of drawing objects, we are finally drawing people. When I first heard that we were going to draw our course mates, I thought, "OH. MY. GOD. I will never be able to do this."

We had 3 twenty-minute sessions to do our drawing and had to spend another 3 twenty-minute sessions acting as "models" to be drawn by our course mate.

It was an interesting experience because I realised how adaptable we really are. The first twenty minutes of "modeling" was sleep-inducing. I felt like falling asleep at many points. The second become easier because I have started on my drawing and spent the time observing the contours, shadows and lights on my model's face.

The third session was even easier as I spent the time strategising, thinking of the next step I would take in my drawing. I heard myself thinking, "Maybe I should proceed with the nose later. It has two gentle curves and a slant. The bottom portion of the nose has a darker shade. Her cheek is also lighter than the bottom portion of her face."

Drawing was tough. I had a hard time getting started and my really wonderful instructors gave me a lot of help. The thing about drawing humans is that there are lots of contours and curves. I'm super bad at drawing curves that are natural. It turns out looking like a semi-circle. HAHA! Nicola talked to us about moulding the curve when we adjust the contours of the curve slowly to shape it to realism.

I stayed back to complete my picture and was utterly shocked when I stepped out of the class that it was already 3pm! Was feeling so "paiseh" that I had taken an extra hour of my instructor's time without even noticing it. *APOLOGIES!*

It was then that I realised that I had entered into a state of Flow where I was fully absorbed in the activity and was immersed in a feeling of deep concentration, involvement and to a certain extent, bittersweet enjoyment. This is something I have not experienced even in my piano playing days.

The thing that came closest to the flow I experienced in drawing was the time I spent reading intensely on the plane and spent 4 hours completing the novel. I felt like I have not connected with a book in that way for a long time. 

Anyway, my side profile portrait. My friend is definitely prettier than this. But seriously.... I cannot believe I have drawn something vaguely resembling a human side profile.

 It makes me feel that I'm not that much of an Art retard after all. 

We're drawing our self-portrait next. I've got a feeling I'm going to miss these lessons once it's over. 

Lesson 3: Connecting Lines, Edges

Lesson 3. 

Things are getting better and I don't struggle quite as much. I realised that I had not been doing the comparison of length and slants in the right way which explains why I had problems with the drawing. Think I am getting a better picture. Glad that I could identify at least some kind of cause for my struggle. 

My Wonky Drawing

My picture still looks wonky but at the very least, the process is getting more and more automatic and I don't feel quite as helpless. 

The instructors were very patient with me and were extremely encouraging. They also helped me to feel less apprehensive about my incompetence in drawing and told me to focus on investigating and discovering instead of on the end product. 

Even though there were moments where I had to consider which step I could take next, I felt more confident about trying and restating the lines I am drawing. I have a habit of erasing the moment I make a mistake. Tricia reminded me that the lines could be a point of reference for me to correct the lines. 

The instructor talked about some of the participants' works and said that Jacintha has very sensitive shading. Was wondering how I could make my lights and shadows more natural instead of having stiff blocks of light and shadows. Asked Nicola about it in the later half of the day and she told me to take note of colour gradient. Shall take note of it in my next drawing. 

I realise that I could be switching to the R mode when I hear myself saying things like "This portion of the balcony is lighter. This shade of grey is darker than the other. Take note of edges." IN MY DREAMS! Looks like I am FINALLY starting on my journey in the R mode. 

Verbal Chatter is dying. FIGHT ON! 

You're too mathematical

Spoke to my brother about my struggles with drawing and he told me to practise.

He also said, "Draw with your intuition not mathematics. You are too mathematical in your drawing process."

Hmmm.

I can see but I cannot draw it.

Lesson 2: Perceiving Negative Spaces

Man did I struggle with this.

I was only able to complete the picture with the extensive help of my instructors. They had been super patient with me. I don't know if I would flip the tables if I were in their position.

Why did I struggle so much? Thought I should analyse before I attempt to draw another chair. 

1) Verbal Chatter was overwhelming. I cannot stop it from flowing in. I wasn't just the usual: This looks like crap.

It comes in different strands: 

• God, what am I doing? 
• Shit. What should I do next? 
• Gawd. I must be the worst artist in the world. 
• This looks wrong. CRAP.
• My instructor's here to help me. What is she saying? QUICK! Pay attention. What is she saying? Do I know what she's saying? Oh dear. Crap. How do I respond? How do I respond? (Inner turmoil) 
• She's looking. Okay. Comeon, Grace. Measure the slant. Put it on your paper. CRAP. Do it again, Grace. How long is it? (some attempt at art language) 
• How much time do I have left? How much time?
• Crap. Don't look at my neighbours. Don't look or I would be so stressed. 
• Oh no. My instructor's here to help me again. How do I respond? Would she mind that she's spending so much time with me? It seems unfair to the rest of the participants. 
• Oh dear. Seems like the rest of the participants are already shading. Concentrate. Comeon, Grace. 
• Gosh! I must be the worst student they have ever taken. 
• Is there something wrong with my visual spatial skills?
• I can't do it. BLEAAAAAHH! 
• I wanna give up. 
• Look determined. Look determined. 

2) Too quick to draw. Never take the time to examine the contour of the negative space. 

3) Proportions. Cannot seem to get that right. 

4) Slants. --> GOSH. Bane of my existence. 

5) Memory is bad. Especially when constantly interrupted by verbal chatter.

Perceiving Edges Practice 1

Given my encouraging first attempt at realistic drawing, I decided to give it another try before my next lesson.

I realised how dumb I was to not bring my course package home. How do I practise without the course materials? *whacks head* So I bought a set of pencils and erasers and realised how difficult it was to find the graphite stick.

My brother loaned me his charcoal slabs and I could make do with it with the use of the eraser to lighten the background. We don't have a pencil sharpener at home as well. (DANG IT!)

So today, I tried working on my second piece of drawing (without Nicola's help). I decided to work on something simpler, my inhaler.

The initial phase was frustrating. Nothing looks right and measuring seems far too mechanical for me. My internal chatter was ruining my motivation to continue. But I pressed on against all the chatter. Slowly, the chatter diminished.

I worked on it for about 1.5 hours and honestly, it's far from fantastic. I walked into my brother's room and asked him what he thought of my drawing and he said, "Is that a hair dryer?" So you get the picture.

The proportions are not right and it's due largely to my laziness and unwilling to do the approximation. As a result, the body of the inhaler is far too thick and not quite long enough. The bottom portion of the inhaler, as you can probably tell, is a nightmare. I'm not able to show the depression in the side or the shadows. 

The side of the inhaler is also as bad. The clear lines marking the side of the inhaler was not seen. The Ventolin bottle is slightly off-shaped. 

And so you have it. My inhaler drawing. I am definitely still at the FRUSTRATION stage of realistic drawing.

Satisfaction: 3/10
Frustration level: 13/10

How do I draw without a view finder?

Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain Lesson 1

In the first lesson, we learnt that our brain has two hemispheres, the right and the left. Trained by our educational system, we tend to favour using the left hemisphere which is primarily used for verbal and logical processing. As a result, it became difficult for us to draw or make perceptual distinctions.

Drawing Right refers to the activation of the Right hand mode of thinking and removing the interference of the Left. We also looked at the different phases of drawing. The scribbling stage, symbolic stage, narrative stage and realistic phase. Children usually give up drawing at the age of 10-11 when they realise that they are not able to draw realistically and became frustrated.

We were then asked to draw, paying attention to the edges of an object. Of course, we made use of the view finder and the grids to help us with drawing.

The drawing process was frustrating and daunting at times. I was just stuck and cannot overcome the disgust at my own drawing. The instructors, Nicola and Tricia, were very patient and came to guide me and encourage me to look at specific lines and to take note of the space between the edge and the crosshairs.

Reading my Lee Kuan Yew book because I only took 10 minutes to complete my pre-instruction drawing. 

I have to admit that the picture was only possible after much guidance from Nicola. She pointed out to me the lines I could draw when I was mentally blocked and helped me with the shading (which I cannot help but cringe in disgust while doing).

When I was almost done with the drawing, a classmate came over and told me that I had done a great job. I did not know how to respond. Great job? This piece of crap? But when they took my work and put it up on the wall, I was kind of amazed at the picture I had drawn. It's far from perfect but it has been better than anything I had drawn in my life. I cannot stop grinning from ear to ear like a cheshire cat.

I know. It's not perfect and it looks like a bunch of sausages. But it's quite an achievement for someone like me.

My fat pig-like fingers

Feel a sense of accomplishment.

Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain

I started on a series of lessons entitled Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain. I used to hate art. I find it cumbersome, tiring and silly.

I concluded that I'm just not made for Art.

But as I grew older, I began to find solace in the silence of the Art museum, looking at contemporary art and contemplating the meaning of the art pieces. As a result, I soon develop an intense inclination towards Art. Nonetheless, apart from some silly cartoons, I am not able to translate what I see into realistic pictures.

Drawing Right was recommended to be via Facebook's suggested post system. Somehow, through some complex computer algorithm, they manage to gather that I'm probably someone interested in Art. THANK YOU INTRUSIVE AND SOMETIMES ANNOYING FACEBOOK ADVERTISEMENT SYSTEM. I became intensely interested after looking at some of the pre-instruction and post-instruction pictures.

It occurred to me. I bet my pre-instruction drawing is not quite as bad. Will I be able to achieve this standard of drawing after 5 sessions? It sounds almost like a miracle!

Isn't the change quite amazing?

I felt like I had to give this a try.






I tried to register for the weekly course in August but realised that I could not commit because I would be down for duties on two separate Saturdays.

But finally, I signed up for the September course which began on the first day of my sept "holiday".