The College Works of Ryan Howard

Here are a few pieces I worked on while attending Augustana College.  Most of these are quite primitive and were done in the first two years of college.  It was especially difficult when I began my freshman year art courses, not having very good training in high school.  Another factor that played into the struggle at the time was my Asperger's Syndrome (which I had not been diagnosed with until my junior or senior year of college).  Because of the Asperger's, I tended to be too literal in my art.  For instance, if I was drawing a model, I would tend to start off looking at everything analytically, rather than wholeistically.  If the model had a mole, I may pay too much attention to that instead of the model as a whole. 

Here, in their original glories (or non-glories) are my early works.  It's interesting to compare them to my current works and see how far I've come since then.

Coffee Mountain - Pen and Ink  This piece actually looks like a James Thurber Illustration. 

Keys - Graphite  I did this piece in Design class.  Because I was struggling so much, I had to RE- REDO the piece.

Cat on Buffet - This is an attempt to draw my (now deceased) cat Lucy with a houseplant on top of a buffet.  Notice the crudity in shading as well as the anatomical errors in the cat's eyes. 

Untitled - Graphite Something I did for Carl Grupp's Drawing 1 class during my freshman year of college.

Here is an early figure drawing.  It is unknown as to when I did this, but it would have to have been either drawing 2 or 3. 

Sadie in the Chair - Conte -  This is a drawing I did my freshman year.  Notice that the anatomy and form of the dog are improving.  The chair looks pretty good too, albeit rough-sketched.

Pill Bottles - Graphite - Another sketchbook drawing. 

Odyssey - Pen and Ink - This is my attempt at an abstract piece for Carl Grupp's class.  It doesn't have a pattern and there is no real harmony or balance, but Carl gave me points just for trying.

Trailer Park - Graphite - I created this piece on a trip to the Black Hills when we stayed in a trailer.  The perspective has certainly improved and the shading is getting better. 

Flowers - Pen and Ink - Carl Grupp had us go outside and draw the surroundings nearby the art building.  This was created from some flowers growing by the alleyway of a backyard.  There is some attempt on the shading, but I would not call this A-material. 

Meadow - Ink - This is a piece I created in my sketchbook for John Peter's Drawing 3 class.  The trees definitely do not look realistic, but there is some nice shading in the piece.