Packing up my backpack…

Ninja May 8th, 2007

Ninja says

I’m thinking of going back to school for illustration. When I tell people this, they respond with “Didn’t you already go to art school?” or “You already know how to draw.”

Well, the thing is that I did go to art school… But I didn’t really learn the basic techniques. Our teachers* were more concerned with us “finding our own styles” than they didn’t want to “hinder our creativity” and dictate what we should do. As a result, I can’t draw things in proper perspective and have no clue how to mix colors. Sure, I can draw pretty decently, but it takes me a lot longer. Don’t get me wrong—art school was good experience and a lot of fun. I just want to learn more and improve. =)

When I went to art school, collage and performance art were really big. My final assignment for my Drawing Fundamentals class was to make a collage from photocopies of an artist we liked. I choose Dali and made a 4′ tall portrait of him from photocopies of his art. The background of the portrait is from photocopies of his autobiography. For my Drawing 1 final, I had to do a performance piece (I still shudder to think that there are video copies of that floating around somewhere). So yah, you can see why I want to go back to school and learn how to draw properly.

In highschool, I didn’t take any art classes, save for Communication Graphics. My senior year, I opted for an Independent Study and made some weird stuff, like a 6′ Gillian Anderson portrait out of my fingerprints.

dali1.png

My final project for Drawing Fundamentals (freshman year of college).

dali2.png

Detail of the forehead.

scully1.png

Part of my Independent Study project (senior year of highschool).

scully2.png

Me on a ladder getting tendonitis.

* This statement doesn’t include my design professors. They were amazing! And they are still very active in the design community. Jeanne studied under Wolfgang Weingart and currently does brilliant work for non-profit organizations. Gerry has been published in dot dot dot in addition to exhibiting in galleries in London + NY. Jackie formerly worked at Pentagram, her work is recognized by the AIGA, Art Directors Club, Type Directors Club, + she’s a member of Class Action.

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  • Ninja
    Hey Jeff,
    Your viddy was pretty cool and way more advanced than what I had expected ;)

    Hi Jojo,
    It sure does seem like a long time ago, for me anyways. How are your photography classes? Congrats again on getting into the Marines!

    =),
    Ninja
  • Ninja
    Hey Jeff,
    Your viddy was pretty cool and way more advanced than what I had expected ;)

    Hi Jojo,
    It sure does seem like a long time ago, for me anyways. How are your photography classes? Congrats again on getting into the Marines!

    =),
    Ninja
  • mle!
    i totally remember your I.S. project from when you were a senior! ahhhhh, the good old days. it seemed life was simpler then. scary thing is, that wasnt all that long ago...
  • Jeff
    I was there when you were on that ladder... hahaha... good times. I remember posing on a ladder too. I was hanging a light for my ISP, but mine was faked cause I wasn't actually filming when they took that. Your ISP show was very cool.

    Your post makes a great deal of sense to me. I only took 1 drawing class ever, and it was exactly as you described. They didn't really get into technique because they wanted us to be "free to experiment". I admit that I would definitely have appreciated more fundamentals in that class.

    We didn't do any performance art in that class, because it was drawing only, but we did do some video installations in other classes I took.

    I think you'd have fun taking more classes :)
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