Designer Peter Han Emphasizes the Drawing Process Over Details with Chalk Art (Video)

Teaching students to see the bigger picture and to let go.

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Complex Original

Image via Complex Original

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Conceptual designer Peter Han teaches a drawing course entitled "Dynamic Sketching," in which he uses chalk instead of traditional art course mediums like graphite or charcoal. Han believes that learning to sketch in chalk on an actual chalkboard gives the artist freedoms that other mediums don't, such as the ability to fully and physically engage with the piece on a larger scale, paying attention to the bigger design elements of the sketch and understanding the shapes, as opposed to starting small and obsessing over the smaller details. The chalk sketching also teaches students to learn from and appreciate the process more than the end result because the chalk always has to be erased before another sketch can be started.

Han may be the last of dying breed. Not only do most classrooms not have chalkboards these days, but many artists (a title Han rejects) never get their hands dirty. Whether it's for environmental concerns or sheer convenience, digital sketching has become the standard for many art and design industries. It seems that Peter Han, Bart Simpson, and a handful of sidewalk artists are among the very few who are keeping the medium alive, and some things may be lost as a result.

Check out this short film directed by Adriel de la Torre of Han teaching and discussing the practice:

[via Colossal]

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