When I was at Anime Expo in Long Beach last month, I went to a panel about manga/anime drawing being taught by a teacher from the Montecito Fine Arts College of Design in Arcadia, CA. I filled out the requisite form to enter the drawing for a full-tuition scholarship and enjoyed the seminar.

Later on, I got the requisite phone call from their salespeople, and went down to have a look and then signed up for a free demo class—which happened today.

Now, I’ve never done anything artistic in years. I did take some brief oil painting lessons when I was a kid (did 2 canvases) and did the usual kid stuff. But nothing in years. The class I attended was sort of the “Ground Zero” for new students: Drawing 101. I was given a set of artist’s pencils and told to do some shading bars, which was a lot harder than it sounds. Then, I was to sketch and shade a lighted sphere—way more difficult than it sounds. I ended up being fairly pleased with my efforts, too. It actually got my interest up to learn how to draw, though I don’t think I could afford to at their prices…

I also met the same anime/manga Sensei that taught the someinar and chatted with her—she even gave me a set of her handouts. I think I might start practicing on my own a bit and maybe take some more lessons down the road. I’m also keeping my fingers crossed that I’ll win the contest for free tuition!

Later, mom & dad came over for Sunday dinner, and I made a fairly convincing Japanese meal for them—they were quite impressed. We finished by watching yet another amazing episode of Planet Earth on my BluRay player—this series alone made it worth upgrading all my AV equipment.