Yesterday, I was reminded of a drawing class I took back in the early 80's. Now, this was an art school, so all the students were talented in their own right. But the teacher was particularly stingy with his grading. His favorite line for all his students was, " This could be a good piece... ". And then not really explain why it isn't a good piece.

He assigned a project which seemed easy enough at the beginning, but in the end proved very difficult for obtaining a high score. The project was to draw a life sized self-portrait. Again, everyone in the class knew how to draw and he gave us several weeks to accomplish this. Piece of cake, right? Everyone purchased their extra large paper and went to work. Most (if not all) of the students were very hyped about the potential results, including myself. I drew myself in Prismacolor, wearing my little beige windbreaker, which I'm sure everyone recognized at the time. It took me many, many hours of looking in the mirror to get that drawing exactly right. On the day this project was due, all the students proudly showed off what they accomplished to our grade miser. I can't recall, but I believe that particular piece earned me a C+. Sigh. My personal favorite drawing was done by a girl named Lisa. Lisa almost went down the cheesy route by drawing herself in black and white looking in a mirror. However, her reflection was wearing this well thought out, intricately rendered dress from the Victorian age. Brilliant. Because this was 30 years ago, I'm a little shaky on what she was graded, but I believe she earned a B+.

What I do remember is the one person who received an A. I won't say his name because I never really knew this guy, but his idea of a life size self portrait was to draw three or four squiggly lines running down the center of the paper. And that's it. Done. Yes people, that earned him an A. People were talking about that guy for days.

I recently Googled his name (which I still shall maintain as nameless) and apparently he's become some hotshot media design, animation guy... pretty much everything I WISH I was. So, what's the moral to this story? Who knows. But if you want to comment on my little anecdote, just draw a few of squiggly lines in the comment box below. I'll grade it, later. Thanks.