time well spent

Raggedy Ann
Originally uploaded by Opiliones.

A long time ago in a bedroom far, far away, I spent the summer of my 17th year working on a drawing of my beloved Raggedy Ann. I propped her up in a chair facing my window and, for a couple of hours most every afternoon, sprawled out on my burnt orange carpet and carefully recorded with my No. 2 pencil every flower on her dress, the lace on her bloomers and grain of wood on her chair. I was so absorbed in my study, the shifting light was my only indication that time had passed.

Drawing is one of the few ways I truly find myself lost in the moment. Many of my design classmates look at rendering as a chore and often comment on how much effort I put into my work. What they don’t understand is that I actually enjoy that part of the process. While I can’t take the time to detail to the extent that I did with my old Raggedy Ann, I always try to spend enough to do a respectably thorough job. Seeing my design vision come to life in a perspective drawing is what finally brings it all together for me.

And rendering with markers takes me back to being a kid with my well-worn box of crayons (btw, the mixed bag banner pic is my box of 48 from the 4th grade). What’s not to love about that?