This class is a classic. David Gildersleeve was my professor, who is also the original creator of the class. He seems to be the quintessential teacher to take this class with, so it was obvious to enroll in it. There are plenty of assignments, but I love doing lots of work where a lot of it is left up to the artist. There is a lot of research and reference-shooting done for this class, so come prepared with a camera or 24-hour internet access! I loved this class, the other artists brought their A-games, and I had to bring mine, too!

Project 1: Savannah Building

I was very pleased that my first assignment came out this way. We went on a field trip and took plenty of pictures, so I had lots of reference under my arsenal. I gave a lot of attention the pipes in the foreground and the blinds, and the rest was just fillin in the page. I had a vision of the kind of character I wanted to draw. I had a Mediterranean guy in my head with a huge nose with a similar look to how French artist Rudolph Guenoden draws himself in comics. It came out exactly how it was in my head (which is pretty rare for me). I even drew him in the exact angle I wanted.

Savannah seems to come up in almost every SEQA class at least once, so drawing from life wasn’t too hard. After a while, you just start drawing the town from your head because you know it so well. You don’t just realize what landmarks or recurring images are in the town, you know the feeling too, and are able to incorporate the emotion of the town into the drawing as well.

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