My fashion drawing instructor at the AAU always emphasized that spontaneity was the key to fashion illustration. At least, that’s what I think he said. With that in mind, I mindlessly slapped on all kinds of materials for my mixed-media final project. Fortunately, it seemed like my mindful spontaneity, or rather, mindlessness resulted in a decent fashion illustration.
The only thing I see is the nude model posing behind my drawing easel and the image I’ve built up on an 18” by 24” sheet of rough newsprint. The distant sound of baroque and classical music from my instructor’s loudspeaker radio hums with a harmonious tune that accompanies the scratching of charcoal sticks and pencils, grinding and marking; each click and scratch fills the silent and unbroken atmosphere. Charcoal powder fills the air with it’s musty aroma as I drift off into my artistic state of bliss.
With all those assignments and commissioned illustrations from the school newspaper, I decided that I should take a break from perfectionism and conformity to external requirements. Racking my brains for a sense of desire and something I wanted to see on the empty sheet in front of me, I felt an urge to draw some nice lips with some heavy red lipstick coating them, thick and glistening. Don’t ask me why that’s the case or how this sudden urge creeped into that slot in my brain folder labelled, “possible-junk-for-drawing.” That’s just the way it worked.
Background
I absolutely love this illustration. I think it’s fabulous, yet at the same time, a complete failure. In the end, it turned out okay, at least for me, and to a certain degree, for everyone else. I’ll try to explain. In this issue of the school newspaper, The Lowell, there is an opinion article about the Lowell Confessions page, a column where anonymous Lowell students can post their various struggles and thoughts regarding their student life. Some of these posts are quite silly and serve as a great source of entertainment. Some of these post are dark and twisted confessions from suffering students. The piece offered an opinion about about how the admins of the confessions page should follow up on these posts and find ways to help the students. Continue reading
Hello everyone! Introductions aren’t my specialty, but I’ll do my best. My name is Stephan and welcome to my column “Sketchy Pencil Point.” When I say sketchy, I mean artsy sketchy, not dubious sketchy. I love drawing and doodling, so if you haven’t already guessed, I will be posting my latest illustrations on a regular basis. Continue reading
SUNSET MEDIA WAVE 
