In-Depth Blog Post #4 

Welcome back to my blog, so here’s blog post #4! Hope everyone is doing well. 

Progress and what I’ve doing these past days: 

I didn’t draw as much these past days since I had a bit more math homework and extra curriculars to also worry about. But I did do a bit of sketching. Besides some drawing assignments my mentor gave me, I’ve been mostly doodling, such as faces and basic gestures. Not really focusing on any studies this week, just doing it to have some fun and to take a break from work.  But I can totally see that these small doodles have improved from my doodles before, due to my earlier gesture studies. Next week I’ll try to focus more on the anatomy of the face so I can consistently draw heads well, especially at the tougher angles. 

Here is one of my quick doodles: 

And here’s one of my contour line drawing assignments (drawing the outline of my hand) had a lot of fun with this one (10 min) 

I’m also still on that digital hiatus, I haven’t found any motivation to start since right now I’m pretty well invested into traditional art, in which I have to purchase another sketchbook because I’m running low on paper. 

Still trying to find a consistent art style still as well. 

One thing that’s been bothering me however is that I’m almost at an art burnout. I haven’t been taking any breaks from drawing whatsoever, and I feel like some of the work I’m doing is getting repetitive, and that I’m also running out of solid ideas on what to draw, etc. Art “burnout.” So somewhere soon in the future I might take an art hiatus period (not just digital.) 

In conclusion, my art and character designing journey is going smoothly and on the right road, though my car is running a bit low on fuel, so I’ll have to recharge soon.  

My Mentor! (and How to Have a Beautiful Mind): 

So, this time, I had, you guessed it, the third meeting with my mentor. This meeting in summary was discussing more about contour line drawing and gesture drawing, building off upon our last meeting, and also discussing future meetings, homework, and ideas. 

Proof of the meeting: 

So how did I incorporate listening into the meeting with my mentor? Even though Bono didn’t really mention it, I tried my best to keep away distractions during the meeting, so I could do my best as a listener. I made a habit of reiterating what my mentor said in my own words as to tell her my understanding of what I was listening to. I made sure not to rush myself and let my mentor talk first, and I let my mentor do the majority of the talking, because I knew that as the mentee, I should spend more time listening to my mentor. As I wasn’t the one teaching my mentor.  

I basically made my best effort to pay full attention to what was being said during the meeting, so I could also commit what my mentor said to memory and to practice, which is something I struggle with, even now. I’m someone who’s easily distracted, and words easily go in one ear and out the other. Which is something I’ll have to try hard to fix. 

I also think good listening helps avoid arguments and disagreements, in the sense that there won’t be any misunderstandings that would have to be resolved, because you listened. Listening is a very important skill that I’ll be sure to better myself at in future meetings and future period. 

Now during these past few meetings, I’ve failed to ask questions. Don’t get me wrong, I have asked some questions, but they’ve only been to either reiterate what was said previous, or small shooting questions, such as, “Can you sketch in a contour line drawing?” (which the answer is yes, since you’re just drawing the outline of the object).  

Besides these smaller questions, I’ve found little opportunity to ask any larger, or rather, fishing questions, since meetings have either been tight on schedule, or I have just subsequently forgot to ask any. I also haven’t asked any multiple-choice questions. 

I understand that asking questions is the key to interacting as a listener and mentee, and it’s also a key component in growing your understanding, which is key in art. I’ll make sure to ask way more questions, specifically fishing and multiple choice, in later meetings, and I’ll make sure to quote those too. 

Thank you for stopping by,
Justin.