Like first semester I continued attending art lessons at Apollo Art Academy for my CIP this semester. Because I go to lessons on Mondays instead of Thursdays, as I did before, I had to reintroduce myself to new classmates, but they were all friendly and I did not have much trouble interacting with them. Midway through each lesson there is a break time when students can drink tea, eat snacks, and chat with eachother. Most of the students were older Japanese people with a few younger university age students, however, in my new session there were several students from Russia and one from China. It was fun chatting with others and talking about what each of us were drawing. The older Japanese people usually explained the kinds of snacks we were eating during the break time as they were usually the ones who brought the snacks. I did not have much chance to talk with the younger Japanese students as they usually did not interact with others besides the teacher.
Besides the other students the person I interacted the most with was my teacher, Tanaka-sensei and the teaching assistant Takahashi-san. Tanaka-sensei would go around the room critiquing various people’s works throughout the lesson. Everyone usually works with different materials and draws different subjects, and this semester I switched from drawing mostly vegetables with pencil to drawing with hard pastels. As a result, I liked the pieces I worked on more this semester as I prefer working with color. Overall, I had a very warm experience with Apollo Art Academy’s staff and students; the school is not very large so there are plenty of opportunities to talk with others.
Lisa,
I’m glad that you finally got to switch from drawing just vegetables to hard pastels!
My question would be about the art in general (because I’m interested in it), How different is it when you use pastel to draw compared to using pencil? Do you still draw sketches before using pastel? Or do you just straight draw with pastel like a lineless art?
John,
When did my first drawing with pastels, my teacher wanted me to sketch it with pencil first, but I prefer just blocking out the shapes with pastels as my “sketch.” I feel like this prevents the colors from becoming muddy, but depending on what you need to draw a pencil sketch can be more accurate.
Prior to your lessons at the Apollo Art Academy, did you have much experience with the visual arts? Have you been able to significantly improve your skills during your time there?
James,
I started drawing more “seriously” when I was around 12 and have taken art lessons in high school and university. I’m not sure if I have significantly improved in my time here as lessons are only once a week, but I have gained experience in new mediums.