College is a lot of fun, yes, but it can also be very tiring – especially at the end of the day after classes when it feels like all of your energy has been spent. Sometimes it can be hard to wind down and relax after being “on” all day.
This past month, my roommate and I started doing something a few nights a week that has made that winding down before going to sleep a little bit easier: we draw. Here’s the thing, though: I am horrible at it. I have always loved creating art but I am not naturally talented with anything related to drawing so I am getting some much-needed practice out of this. I probably wouldn’t take this time to unwind if I was doing it by myself and that’s why I appreciate how much my roommate enjoys it too. It’s a nice time to relax, breathe easily, and not think about school or anything going on in our personal lives. We sit down at our desks, listen to music, and try to make our drawings resemble the reference photo in the slightest.
We play music that we both like and use songs as our timer to tell us how long we’ve got left to draw. My favorite song for this activity is, by far, the Soulwax Remix of “Deadly Valentine” by Charlotte Gainsbourg. With a maximum of half an hour to finish the drawings, it’s enough time to truly relax while not making this yet another thing to complete on our to-do lists. The first time we did this, we drew my favorite actress as a joke just to see how badly we could butcher a simple portrait. It turns out my roommate did quite well and mine was honestly concerning in how little it resembled the photo (my apologies to Erana James). We don’t show each other how it’s going until we’re done, which makes it that much more funny; we laughed for a solid five minutes after that first attempt. This little window of time carved out to relax and recuperate not only gives us a good laugh at the end, it’s also helping me get ever so slightly better in an area I have always hoped to be skilled in.
Did my first drawing look like it was made by a child? Absolutely. Did I try to use a little bit of shading the next time around and it (kind of) worked? Also yes. It’s baby steps, but it’s a lot of fun to both try something new and take a moment to unwind. Give it a try: turn on your favorite music, get out a pencil, and see what happens.
