Sappho and the Spotlight: A Drawing Adventure
The 50+ hours drawing
Building the courage to apply to the J. Kirk Richards Studio Academy took three years, but it’s been worth every moment. Revisiting the foundational skills I learned 20 years ago has been incredibly rewarding. The well-thought-out curriculum has helped me establish a solid art practice, sharpen my skills, and uncover more of my artistic voice.
One project stands out: a detailed drawing of a cast. The goal is to sharpen visual skills and accurately translate a 3-dimensional object into a 2-D drawing. I wanted a female figure, so my husband offered to 3-D print one for me. Forty hours later, I had this beauty: meet Sappho, a prolific poet from ancient Greece.
Getting the set-up right was an adventure, but an incredibly patient teacher made sure it was correct. I could only draw at night with a single spotlight for consistent shadows. This is how it worked: the cast was to the right of my drawing at the same level, I had to back up 6 feet to observe and measure before walking forward to put the marks on the paper.
For my first check-in, I spent hours measuring and checking angles, only to realize (with my teacher’s feedback) that the angle of the entire face was off. Should I start over? I wanted to, but instead, I learned to use each discovery to inform the next step. This long, instructive journey taught me patience, perseverance, humility, and perspective.
How could a drawing teach such valuable lessons, you wonder?
Patience: At first, I thought I had failed, but I learned that mistakes are fixable, erasable, and modifiable. Sometimes my eyes, hands, or whole body needed a break to come back with a fresh perspective. What I hoped to complete in a week took a few months. Often, the drawing needed to sit for a while to see how to improve it.
Perseverance: “Just change the angle of the whole head”, my teacher said. The drawing was mostly head. Measured twice -or maybe 30 times- erased 50, and kept going. When I heard “You are 70% there,” I couldn’t believe it, I thought I was done. I needed a break, but then rolled up my sleeves and gave it another try. Thanks Kirk for pushing me to improve and learn from the process.
Humility: I had done this before and thought I could do it faster, maybe even easily. Nope. I needed help seeing what I couldn’t. Feedback was essential, sometimes hard to swallow, but applying it made me realize over and over that I have much to learn. Yet, I was improving.
Perspective: Things look different from 6 feet versus 6 inches, but the big picture and the details work in unison. I know my drawing tendencies better now -I tend to elongate- so I need to account for the volume the shadow occupies. I’ve become a master at squinting to see values and shapes, notice subtleties like fuzzy and sharp transitions, and recognize shapes within shapes.
My drawing isn't perfect, but the lessons it taught me make it a personal triumph. I want to try again with what I know now, because when you stick with something for 50+ hours you are bound to get better. And I also realized the importance of knowing when to call it good and move on to the next project. I’m now applying what I’ve learned to my current work.
I'd love to hear about something you've practiced for a long time and what it has taught you. Would you share your story in the comments below?