In our school, she was probably the youngest teacher I’d ever seen. Then I went to Catholic School and she must’ve been the oldest Nun there! Ah, but here’s the punchline! They taught me to see! I mean really see, the beauty all around us. It may be a machine of war or peace, or just the world around us. Frinstance, didja know that if the sunlight strikes them just right, the teensy Hummingbird is an Explosion of colors?
I kept this knowledge close to the vest and drew Pictures of everything I could think of. In Public School the teacher wondered why I always drew Sailing ships and Boats. In catholic School Sister Christina always wondered why I drew Fighter Planes and Bombers in flight. In High School it was Buildings, Cars and Bridges! As a matter of fact when I got to spend time with the wife ashore while employed by Uncle Sam’s Navy, I painted, Yup, Real time Oils and Acrylics. What did I paint? Reefs and all the Finny Folk that called them home.
Funny thing though. I never could draw or paint a face or fully formed Human character. Of any Kind, even cartoonish! It was always of Nature or Man-Made stuff.Then somewhere within all that I got into models. Boy, did that change the way I saw stuff! I was very flustered when my S.S. United States Model looked funny. Then after seeing a seven footer in a travel agency window, it dawned on me .Revells Rails looked like solid walls, painted silver(That’s what the instructions told you to do), But then my creativity really kicked in and I started experimenting with materials to create what I saw.
Turned me into a durned scratch builder for a while. Enough that I entered the Fisher Body Craftsmens Guild contest My Daddy was so proud when I got that regional Scholarship! I mean c’mon a Chef’s kid going to College? That is when I knew where My future was going. Creating or Fixing things in the world. Then the Service and I met my Nemesis. His name Electronics! He has beaten me down and spit me out. But, I will still create, whether in Kit form or Scratch-That’s what a Modeler does, Right??
In grade school every class switched art/music each day during the after-lunch period. Except me, I was either so good at art or so bad at music that it was art every day for me. Since we only had one class per grade, that meant I was alone every other day in the art room and that was great.
Now, 61 years on, I’ve been an architect, a general contractor, an architectural graphic designer and now back to an architect.
I just drew pictures of rocket ships and dinosaurs when I was in grade school. All my report cards said so in the comments section. Also, that I bothered other kids and didn’t follow instructions.
I liked to draw but was never really good at it. Like TB, I was never comfortable drawing human faces and hands. I took Art 101 in college and we did have to do a self portait as well as a drawing of our own hand. We had one exercise where we drew a Picasso sketch of himself, but upside down, which turned out quite well.
I always liked to draw in school and even won a ribbon in elementary school for my poster of the clipper Thermopylae…in eighth grade I drew a WW1 German dirigible and used colored pencils to render the hexagonal cammo!(got an A on that one)in my high school mechanical drawing class I drew a Ferrari GTO utilizing the compass and French curves,was a big hit with the teacher!Can’t draw figures ir faces though.Really was fun!
I don’t think of myself as much of an artist. Where the 3D models stop, my artistry goes off when it comes to realism…unless, that is, you count the “Nerd” figure I tried to replicate off my box of Nerds. Laughable, but I’m kinda proud of that one (and I’m still not sure even that is too great). [H] Who knows, maybe I’d surprise myself if I tried harder to draw and to do so more often.[*-)]
Funny - I have art class 3rd period (it is TERRIBLE, I will join JROTC next year).
In elementary school I drew mostly sea life (hammerhead sharks were a favorite!). I enjoyed art class. Middle school I started drawing in the anime style, and also took shop class and an engineering class as well. The art teacher in middle school did NOT like me! She called my art satanic, promoting drug usage (I had drawn a sugar cookie and she thought it was something else), and overall gave me a hard time. I took art in high school (first 2 years) for the graduation requirements. My teacher is much, much worse. She laughs and berates me for my art (which is now mostly historical-themed), and I kinda have a bad grade in the class even when I do the work.
Funnily enough, as much as I love scale models, I was TERRIBLE in my engineering and shop classes! I was really scared to use all the tools and 3D printing was a nightmare.