Arts at X

Art Electives

So this year I chose to take two art electives, intro to design, and etching 1&2. I've always liked to draw, and create things when I was little, and still do enjoy these things when I have time. I took drawing 100 last year... boy was I surprised. Little did I know there would be homework involved, and forget the creative element, everything you drew had to come from real life, oh, and no drawing from pictures either. As painful as it was though, I did learn a few things, and in the end it was worth the late Thursday night classes. Etching, all I can say is I love it! The class is small, and freedom of creativity is yours. There are four techniques to etching that you will learn during Etching 1, which are, the use of hard ground, soft ground, aqua tint, and dry point. So far I have done a few prints using the hard ground technique, and am set to print using softground this week. I suppose I should briefly explain what etching is. Etching is where you take a copper plate, create a design on the plate which is burned in using acid, and then you apply ink to the plate and put it through a press which transfers the image onto paper. It's essentially print making. I would highly reccommend taking etching to anyone, although you must first take drawing 100. Intro to design on the other hand, has me completely lost. I took this course as a last minute option and also because I'm interested in design (mainly graphic design), but so far I feel like I have learned almost nothing about design. At least the book is interesting and easy to read. We also made paper cranes and collages, which was fun. Hopefully it will become more clear as time goes on. Until next time, thanks for reading :)