Abroad in Baltimore #28
WIP: Work In Progress
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Like it or not, finals are upon us. If you’ve survived the semester so far, these upcoming weeks shouldn’t be terribly different from the previous ten. The hard part is juggling everything as the heat turns up, and I don’t just mean the weather. The further along you get in your college career, the more there is to juggle. Managing school, working part-time, applying to internships for the summer, etc. It’s a lot to ask of students who don’t get that much sleep to begin with.
In my experience, the hard part isn’t lifting something heavy, but sustaining it for an extended period of time. Most people can get something done in a pinch, but when it becomes a part of your week, that’s when the real test comes in. For the past few months we’ve been chugging along at an even pace, but now when our strength is just beginning to waiver, we must buckle down and give these final weeks our all.
I only started to actively use the Procreate software this semester, but until recently only really knew the basics. I’d been hobbling along on just 2 brushes, one I found floating around on the internet, the other came free with the software. Much like the wrong paintbrush debacle from last semester, I didn’t want to get to finals without at least exploring some other options. After $35 worth of brush packs and bugging my illustration major friends for their tips and tricks, I was ready to declare myself properly equipped up, and just in time for finals.
This past Wednesday I had the most fun in my character design class yet. We met in small groups, so there were only four of us and the professor. I was very lucky to be with people I’m friendly with, and for the next hour we had a blast. My critique, in one word, was a triumph. Jimmy, our professor, told me, “These are my favorite drawings you’ve done so far.” I was so ecstatic I wanted to dance around. This class has pushed me in all the ways I wanted it to, and I’m just starting to enjoy the fruits of my labor.
As students, we get so used to the constant state of improvement we can forget to enjoy the here and now. I’m the type to hold myself back because I’m afraid of putting too much heart into any one project so when it inevitably gets stomped on, I won’t be too disappointed. But that’s no way to live and it’s certainly no way to make art. So with this last project, I was determined to be ambitious and sincerely give it my all and then some.
We’re at the point in the semester where you’re deciding what kind of finals week you’re going to have. While I usually take the full Friday and Saturday off, that had to stop if I wanted any hope of going to bed at a reasonable hour during the week. I’ve found that if I dedicate almost all of Saturday to chewing through a substantial piece of my final projects, it makes the rest of my week go so much smoother. Only three more weeks in the countdown, let’s make ‘em count!