The drawings below were produced by students of mine in my Intro to Illustration classes at San Jose State University. Both drawings are self-portraits in charcoal, completed three months apart.
Students complete the first drawing over the first weekend of the semester.
The drawings are collected at our next class, and I hold on to them until the last week of the semester when the final self-portraits are due. On the last critique day, as students come in to hang their final piece, I hand them their first drawing to hang up next to it. It's one of the most rewarding days of the semester as the students have truly forgotten what their first drawing looked like, and how far they've come. Of all the thrills I've had professionally, seeing these drawings, and seeing the students, develop over the course of the semester is without a doubt, one of the most rewarding experiences I've been a part of. While these pairs are especially dramatic examples, the typical student makes similar gains over the course of the class.