Over the past five months, I’ve been attending studio drawing classes twice a week. The classes focused on still life drawing and introduced various techniques, including cross contouring and shading.

Most of the art I create on my own is digital, especially vector art. I enjoy vector art because I can create shapes exactly the way I imagine them. While I don’t do much hand drawing, I believe improving that skill strengthens my overall artistic ability.

Early Semester Work#

At the beginning of the semester, we worked with hard and compressed charcoal sticks. Charcoal creates much deeper, bolder shades than pencil does.

This was my first time using charcoal. They feel less precise than a pencil, but that might be due to my inexperience.

Mid-Semester Work#

Mid-semester we explored cross contouring. Cross contouring is a technique focused on drawing wireframe-like lines that wrap around forms to express three-dimensionality. The goal is to capture the shape and volume of the object, not just its outline.

I had never heard of cross contouring before this course, but it quickly became my favorite exercise. Emphasizing structure and spatial depth helped me make a noticeable leap forward in my skills.

Final Project#

For the final project, we combined everything we had learned into one complete still life drawing.

Everybody Can Draw#

One of the most quietly discouraging things I encountered growing up was hearing people say things like, “I’m a so and so and therefore I can’t draw” where so and so could be math instructor, accountant, doctor, etc. These kinds of statements, especially from authority figures, made me falsely believe that drawing required some kind of innate talent.

But that’s simply not true.

Drawing is a learned skill, like playing a musical instrument. It takes study, repetition, and practice just like anything else.

Closing Thoughts#

If you’re considering a drawing course, I highly recommend choosing one with longer class sessions rather than one that meets more frequently but for shorter periods. When you’re drawing, time flies and those extended hours help you settle into the work and produce something consistent.