Maker’s Medium: Harlan Goldman-Belsma shares his view of the world through pen drawings
Fourth-year art student Harlan Goldman-Belsma specializes in pen drawings. The drawings intend to capture the world around him as it is, without any of his artistic judgments changing what he sees.
(Courtesy of Harlan Goldman-Belsma) "Anytime, anywhere, Harlan Goldman-Belsma is drawing the world around him.
A Venice, Los Angeles native, Goldman-Belsma said some of his earliest memories are drawing the moon jellies he saw at Marina Del Rey when he was as young as three years old. Now, the fourth-year art and architecture student said he has learned how to pay close attention to his surroundings, his eye for observation coming across in his pen drawings.
“(Everywhere) you are surrounded by interesting compositions,” Goldman-Belsma said. “And when I sit down to draw, that’s usually what I’m trying to capture.”
The medium Goldman-Belsma uses, pen drawing, simply requires paper and pen, but cannot be erased as pencil can. Ancient Egyptians and Romans made the first pens out of reed, a type of grass-like plant that was dried, cut short and shaped to a point. Later on, quill pens were used for writing and illustration from at least the sixth century AD to the 12th century, until they were replaced by the modern-day metal nib.
Since the pen is used ubiquitously, adjunct drawing professor Nick Lowe said he does not need to explicitly teach the medium – instead, students practice using the material in a unit on contour drawing. This style uses less shadow than other forms of drawing and translates the 3D world onto a 2D surface, focusing on the line that defines an object. Lowe said Goldman-Belsma came into his class sophomore year with a strong background in drawing and a distinctive style he was already developing." — David Egan, Feb. 19, 2021
This post is an excerpt. Read the full article on the Daily Bruin website.
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