Noah Goes To RISD

I knew time was going to fly by here at RISD. I really did, but even still I’m shocked at how quickly time is passing. I’m already more than half way through my 6-week summer at RISD. Wow. And what an experience it has been.

I’ve learned a bit about art, I’ve met a bunch of great, artistic, and supportive people that seem to all really want to be here. The enthusiasm and work-ethic here is inspiring—heck, it’s almost intimidating sometimes. I feel like a slacker more often than not. But it’s that sort of environment of collective improvement which is the primary reason I’ve wanted to come here.

I’ll break it down by classes.

2D Design

Our professor is awesome. He gives valid and insightful crits and useful assignments which we are encouraged to take in our own direction, strongly aiding self-development. I really think I’m learning a lot from it and it’s opening my eyes to how desperately I need to improve my compositional and design skills. Such things, as I see it, are some of the most abstract concepts to learn in art. Even the sure-fire rules taught so often in design are broken with such ease by master artists that one begins to question what exactly makes good design. I plan to independently work on this subject during my break between this summer semester and the fall.

Moving on to actual work, here are a couple things I have done for 2D. The first here is a simply insane drawing of hands. Roughly 200 of them (give or take 50). If anyone actually wants to count all of them, I would greatly appreciate it. For now, let’s just say it’s a lot.

I’m happy with how I drew the hands and the composition of the piece, but I’m not sure the extreme black & white contrast is helping. In fact, it seems to flatten the piece. Oh well, it was good practice. 16 hours later…

A topic terribly interesting to our instructor is the concept of “radiation structures.” That is, for instance, spiraling patterns and such. Look it up, because I’m too lazy to keep defining. Alternately, look at this pretty picture (that would look better if it was a good picture of it).

Drawing

Our professor remains a fiery ball of energy. In a good way. Her teaching methods, though a tad scatter-brained, seem to cover the bases of good drawing theory: perspective, negative space, lighting—all the important stuff. Our homework assignments have been… odd. But at least our in class work remains normal enough.

The following are a couple pieces I did in class. Both are charcoal on newsprint.

3D Design

Meh.

My work in the class hasn’t been anything remarkable, and in some ways this is my least favorite course. Perhaps I anticipated that as my comfort and enjoyment lean towards the realm of two dimensions, but I think I would enjoy doing figurative sculptures in clay. Alas, the assignments—though open-ended—have not lent themselves towards that end. Maybe next time.

A great decision

Coming to RISD was the perfect decision for me. Yes, it was right to take a year off, but this year it all feels right. And now, back to the thing that consumes my life: work.