Monday, February 14, 2011

The Wrong Place

I’m taking an Illustrator class this semester. When the instructor showed samples of what was expected, I panicked. I’ve never actually done a drawing in Illustrator, and my first attempts made me think I might be in the wrong place.

Our first assignment was to make an illustrated graph. It could be on any subject, as long as it showed a comparison of data using illustration. As the student next to me started drawing up some lovely French fries, I struggled to make this:


Unless I could come up with statistics on paper clip catastrophes, I was in the wrong place.

The teacher worked his way around the classroom. One student had already formed a slice of pizza complete with toppings, another had a perfectly proportioned hamburger on a sesame seed bun, and the guy next to me was now coloring a box for his French fries (can you tell this class is just before lunch?). By the time the teacher came up behind me, I had managed to create this masterpiece:

Oh yeah I might be in the wrong place.

The teacher frowned. “Is that supposed to by candy?” The only lame response I could come up with was to state the obvious.

“I’m new at this.”

The teacher didn’t look surprised. What I meant was I’m really sorry for taking up space in your classroom. I wanted to redeem myself, but by the end of the class period, the best I could come up with was this sucky rose:


I’m in the wrong place, and that rose looks like it could hurt someone.

Fortunately I had time to work on this at home. It turns out when I’m not hungry or surrounded by people who’ve been using computers since they were in diapers, things start making sense to me. I might not be in the wrong place after all. Even my bees don’t look like they’d hurt anyone!


Just pay no attention to those numbers. They’re totally made up.

18 comments:

Bish Denham said...

Good job! But graphs in an art class? (Sounds like math to me) I'd be panicing too.

Kelly Polark said...

That is exactly why you are taking an illustration class: to learn new things! And look how much you improved in one day! I love the final rose sales illustration! Heck, I thought the candy was cute, too!
Good for you for going out of your comfort zone.

Lisa said...

You made me chuckle Adrienne.

I never imagined to make a graph like yours, how pretty and it illustrated clearly. I just did an "illustration" too at my post. Hope you come see;)

cleemckenzie said...

Well, I'm impressed. I love your bouquet, statistically inaccurate or not. Keep up the work and don't let those kids intimidate you, you'll do fine.

Kimbra Kasch said...

What a beautiful bouquet :)

Ara Burklund said...

Wow! Talk about progress!!! Cool way to do a graph! You deserve an A+!!! : )

ICQB said...

Oh, wow - you have a fast learning curve. That's a beautiful illustrated graph!

Isn't it weird to be a student again? When I was taking classes a few years ago, it was always funny to be assigned a lab partner my son's age. I was definitely what was called a 'non-traditional student'. But one of my Calc teacher pointed out exactly how many of us there were once, and then I didn't feel so alone. There are scads of us all over campuses these days!

Anne Spollen said...

Wow, very nice!

My brother is an illustrator so I know about these classes.

And isn't it so much easier to figure stuff out when you're home and not surrounded by other folks?

Rena Jones said...

Oh, that's awesome! What do those people know anyway. Look how far you went from start to finish! WOW!

sruble said...

Your roses are great! It looks like you've figured out how to draw in Illustrator. I've never been able to make it work (I use Photoshop). Your class sounds like a good way to learn (despite the fact that the others are more familiar with Illustrator). Good luck with your class! I hope it ends up being the right place for you.

Sharon K. Mayhew said...

WTG, Adrienne! You put your self out there and tried something new and...made a lovely product. Nice job! Keep up the good work. :)

Suzanne Casamento said...

I LOVE your rose sales graph! Sooo cute!!! Nice work1

LW said...

I can only copy and paste …
Computer drawing is baffling; give me a pencil any day.
Good for you, I knew you were in the right place.

Louise

Mary Witzl said...

I think that's a great bouquet, but I particularly admire the shading on the vase (or can). And the bees do too look like they could sting.

Whenever I'm struggling with some concept on my computer, it's humiliating that my 16-year-old can come over and click around a bit, completely solving the problem. She can't believe I don't understand. It's worrying that she can do just about everything I can do, but better.

Thank God she can't cook, though!

Lily Cate said...

Classes are for learning!
I'm working on the same stuff right now. I resisted for sooo long, but it's time to expand from strictly hand drawn work.

C.R. Evers said...

wow! You're so talented! awesome work!!!!

Unknown said...

Great progress. You'll soon be making leaps and bounds. So keep at it.

Nora MacFarlane said...

That's fabulous!