This was an illustration I made in junior college. I had some really good art teachers but my favorite was Kevin Grass. He was a photorealistic painter and illustrator. He was a tough teacher, demanding the best from his students and grading accordingly. Sensitive students found him difficult, but I knew I could learn a lot from him. I constantly asked him for his honest opinions and criticism of my work. He taught me how to shade and how to approach anatomy. My skills improved so much in that class.
For our final assignment he had us recreate a sketch from a master artist from one of our books. I chose a sketch by a French artist named Jacques Callot. The drawing had to be close to life size so I got a huge piece of brown paper and taped it to the dinning room wall. It took several hours but I was pleased with the results. When I brought it to class I noticed that several kids had done the same illustration as me, but mine looked the best. I will never forget when Kevin Grass walked up to my picture. He looked it over and said "I'm going to give you a B because the shading on the leg is a little off". He wrote my grade down in his grade book and casually stated "You did a really good job, it looks great". Coming from a man who rarely gave praise, that was a huge compliment. I was so proud of that B.
No comments:
Post a Comment