With the second semester coming around and schedules changing with rapid pace, it seems like everyone’s looking for that one easier class to lighten the workload. Perhaps in the past, you’ve taken an art class in middle school and think to yourself, ‘hey! This drawing class looks like it’ll be a really easy A.’ But that assumption is totally false with the simple reason being, ART ISN’T EASY. This isn’t a bad thing though, because if you’re looking for an elective class that’ll really push you to do your best, Beginning Drawing with Mr. Steele and Mrs. Dellwardt is the class for you. 

Going into this class myself at first, I had very low expectations for what exactly I’d be doing. I figured that if I just drew something that looked pretty decent, I’d just get an A on it and move on to the next drawing. This wasn’t the case as I saw quickly with advice from Mrs. Dellwardt that she was looking for me to mainly put a good amount of TIME and EFFORT into my work. Considering that I’m a perfectionist and that I’m constantly trying to make my drawing better, the semester in this class has really been a struggle for me to not take two or three hours on a drawing when it should only take me an hour or maybe a little more. 

With that being said though, through the challenges of knowing the difference between gesture, sketch, and contour drawings, learning how to properly shade, and how to use my time on what aspects of a drawing, this class has taught me lessons I didn’t expect to learn from an art class. One of the biggest discoveries that I made was that I now have a new found confidence in my ability to draw not only somewhat correctly, but decently well. This goes hand in hand with the other lesson I learned which is if you just keep practicing something, even if you think you suck at it, you’ll slowly get better and better. 

So while this class may not be an easy A, Mrs. Dellwardt and Mr. Steele push you to do your best and show you that a simple sounding task like drawing isn’t easy, just like every other skill in the world. In conclusion, if you’re looking for an elective that’ll give you a new perspective on your potential talents and art, I’d highly recommend that you take beginning drawing. Go into it with a smile, a good attitude, a positive and open mindset, relaxing music for drawing, do your best always, and always remember to draw what you see… not what you know.