so i know that this is supposed to be a simple, one-paragraph write up detailing my experience and time in ECU's very first Illustration Senior Studio course. but honestly, keeping everything to one paragraph is pointless. there's a lot that has to be said. so you've been warned- this will be a bit of a ramble.
being in college classes for the past 5 years between two colleges, i've been used to juggling the usual barrage of assignments, from several classes. yes, it was a chore, and yes i often complained that such pressure to complete these assignments [most of the time nowhere NEAR applicable to my interests in the case of the College of the Bahamas], were detrimental to my own creative practice and thoroughly killing the urge to create something of my own. heck, i had the worst, longest-lasting artists' block thanks to the hell-on-earth that was my 3 long years at COB. soooo naturally, the prospect of having graduation classes SOLELY devoted to creating MY art became the most perfect of morsels i would savour at a distance. i had the perfect idea for the project i wanted to embark on, and i wish i was kidding when i assert that most of my summer was spent in preparation for the class. talking to past students, researching material, planning and planning and PLANNING AAAAAAAAH!!!!!!!!!
...yes, i was eager. could you blame me?
but there's something sooo different about hearing about another person's experience, and actually sitting through 14 weeks of the class that you thought would be a cakewalk.
well.. it wasn't quite a cakewalk.
i faced a lot of self-discouragement, opportunities to procrastinate [which i took more times than i care to admit]. my prized project very nearly became something that i didn't want it to become- a decoration on the wall of half-assed attempts to make a dream come true. developing a crippling case of tendinitis at the end of the year felt like the final nail in the coffin.
but despite all the physical and metaphorical pain i brought upon myself this semester, i was able to find a dimension in my project [exploring the concept of identity] that i had never considered as a 10th grader in highschool, and latch on to it. everyone in the class has been wonderfully supportive and receptive to the ideas i was trying to present. if nothing else, my classmates have helped give me the confidence that i'm not stabbing aimlessly in the dark at some abstract concepts. justin's insightful commentary while showing him my processes showed me that i have a habit of being a perfectionist when it comes to concept and harping more on that, than actually hurting my head on the artwork that should support and augment my ideas... a hard feat to accomplish when you've messed up your right arm drawing too much, mind you, but one i've learnt to take to heart [hopefully not too late, of course].
well, back to drawing and hopefully not killing my arm in the process!
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