Noodles on My Mind

My Digital Drawing from Observation class is one of my favorite classes. Not so much for the fact of what we do in the class (though I do enjoy the still lifes and figure painting), but for the atmosphere.

It's so quiet.

Usually my studio classes are filled with some combination of the chatter of conversation, the sound of lecture, and music filling the empty spaces. It's a lively symphony of noise, and as nice as that can be...

....there's a beautiful sense of tranquility in the relative silence of my Fridays in Digital Drawing. No music, very little conversation. Just the quiet hum of computers and the soft scratching of pens on tablets. Sometimes there will be the muffled sounds of someone else's music on their headphones. Not that we're not allowed to play music, I think people just become so focused on their work that they don't really notice the lack of music.

That's what's so great about this class. The concentrated focus, the zen-like state of being in the zone. I know I've said this before, but it's really quite relaxing to turn off the boiling, churning forces of imagination once in a while and simply observe and analyze. And keep those basic foundational skills of drawing and painting sharp in the process.

I got a chance to refine one of the speedpainted skulls from a previous session.

The great thing about painting digitally is that you don't have to paint over any silly stuff you find yourself doing when you get bored with what you're working on. :)